Line #41 Literature/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer


1	[[quoteright:294:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_know_what_you_did_last_summer_book_cover.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:294:''"Last Summer" did not involve hook-handed fishermen, by the way.'']]
3	If you're looking for the 1997 slasher movie [[InNameOnly loosely based]] on this book, see ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer''.
4
5	Here is the original 1973 novel from Creator/LoisDuncan. The plot is incredibly different from the slasher film, with the characters' names and the AccidentalMurder being the only similarities.
6
7	Julie James is a high school senior who has just finished up for the summer. Everything seems to be going well for her. She's got excellent grades in her finals and she's been accepted to Smith. Then one day she receives a note in the mail.
8
9	''"I know what you did last summer."''
10
11	What Julie did last summer - along with her friends Barry, Helen and Ray - was accidentally hit a little boy on a bike one night. They pitched an anonymous phone call to the paramedics and left, never turning back. And now it seems someone has found out.
12
13	The novel is largely different from the film that was adapted later on. Rather than a slasher story, this is more of a mystery drama, dealing with the characters' guilt over the incident.
14
15	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Has nothing to do with the song by]] Music/ShawnMendes and Music/CamilaCabello.
16
17	!!Provides examples of:
18
19	* AbusiveParents: Emotionally abusive variety.
20	** Barry's mother is incredibly controlling and really disapproves of his relationship with Helen - to the degree where she accuses Helen of being the one who shot him.
21	** Ray's father makes no secret of how disappointed he is that his son isn't into sports.
22	* AccidentalMurder: Barry is driving fast, but not enough to be reckless or speeding, and he's been drinking, but not enough to be drunk, when his car hits and kills David Gregg.
23	* AlliterativeName:
24	** '''J'''ulie '''J'''ames.
25	** Barry's mother '''C'''elia '''C'''ox.
26	* {{Anticlimax}}: Ray isn't the least bit surprised when he anonymously receives a newspaper clipping about the accident. Not just because of the messages that Helen and Julie have already received, but because he knew that what they'd done would catch up with them eventually.
27	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Helen is beautiful but also kind and compassionate. Her sister Elsa is overweight and described as repulsive - she's also every bit as ugly on the inside. Julie too is described as beautiful, and she's another of the more moral characters in the film.
28	* BeingWatched: Barry gets a spooky feeling about this as he leaves Helen's apartment, but keeps trying to dismiss it as merely coincidence that another car starts up and leaves the parking lot just as he does, even though from the very beginning of the book, we get numerous hints that this is what's happening. [[spoiler: And this is exactly what Collie confesses to when he confronts Helen.]]
29	* BettyAndVeronica: Ray is the Betty for Julie while Bud is the Veronica. Similarly Collie could be the Betty for Helen while Barry is the Veronica.
30	* BigBad: [[spoiler:Collingsworth Wilson, also known as Bud to Julie and Collie to Helen]], is the person sending threatening messages to the four friends and later for the attempts to kill them.
31	* BitchAlert: Elsa in-universe for Julie. When she first met her, Helen was showing off her new prom dress. Elsa quickly informed Julie that Helen got it at goodwill. After Barry is shot, she shows up at Helen's apartment, ostensibly to offer sympathy, but in reality to torment her.
32	* [[BluffingTheMurderer Bluffing the Hit-And-Run Drivers:]] Barry's initial reaction to the note is to assume this. He points out that everyone probably did something last summer that they aren't exactly proud of, and the note writer likely sent this to Julie without knowing about the accident. He tries to invoke this when [[spoiler: talking to Collie several days later--the latter has called him and is demanding money in exchange for not showing the police a photo of the accident]]--but [[YouJustToldMe instead ends up confirming his guilt]].
33	* BrainlessBeauty: Helen veers close to this, though she's more naive than actually stupid. Notably averted with Julie who, since the accident, buckled down to improve her schoolwork. When the story starts, she's been accepted to Smith.
34	* BrokenBird: After David Gregg was killed in the accident, his mother couldn't take it and ended up in an asylum.
35	* ButNotTooWhite: Inverted. Helen worries about staying out in the sun too long in case she shows noticeable burns at work.
36	* CareerEndingInjury: Ray's father suffered a catastrophic knee injury that ended his football dreams after only a couple years.
37	* ChekhovsGun:
38	** When talking about the little boy's funeral, Julie mentions "I sent flowers". [[spoiler: The very thing that ended up giving the culprit a lead]].
39	** [[spoiler: Ray sees yellow paint on Collie's hands when he runs into him. He later recalls that the Gregg's house was painted the same color and deduces that he's David Gregg's brother]]
40	* ChekhovsGunman: Bud, Julie's new boyfriend. [[spoiler: Also Collie, Helen's friend. The brother of David Gregg]].
41	* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Collie is described as having brown hair and eyes.
42	* DeathOfAChild: The victim in this novel is a little boy.
43	* DramaticIrony: Julie's mother and her "feelings". She thinks of one night where she had one of her feelings but nothing happened. The reader is informed that was the night of the accident. Also, [[spoiler: Collie is apparently angriest at Julie, feeling that she "made a joke of it by sending the flowers", when in fact, out of all of them, she was the one most shaken and remorseful]]
44	* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler: Not that Bud/Collie didn't try though, it's only circumstances that keep him from killing anyone. In fact he actually came dangerously close to offing Julie if not for Ray's BigDamnHero moment.]]
45	* EveryoneIsASuspect: The kids all suspect each other of sending the note.
46	* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: After a year of working on the boats, Ray now has a beard and looks more mature as a result.
47	* FateWorseThanDeath:
48	** [[spoiler: What Collie thinks he's doled out to Barry when he learns that the shot merely left him paralyzed rather than killing him. "For a guy like Barry, life in a wheelchair might be worse than no life at all".]]
49	** [[spoiler: Ray's suspicion about what Collie was planning to do to him. When Julie points out that Collie never tried to do anything to Ray, he says, "He did. Tonight," then goes on to explain that life without Julie would have been the worst fate imaginable.]]
50	* FightUnscene: [[spoiler: Julie passes out just as Collie attacks. When she regains consciousness, Ray has come to her rescue and Collie is being taken away by police]].
51	* FirstGuyWins: [[spoiler: Well when the second guy was planning to kill you anyway...]]
52	* FreeRangeChildren: The late David Gregg's sister Megan is left alone to fend for herself since her mother has been committed to an asylum over her grief and her father moved there to help her.
53	* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Elsa is the smart sister - as she has to work hard for everything. Helen is the pretty sister - who gets things handed to her because of her beauty.
54	* GreenEyedMonster: Elsa is jealous of her sister's beauty and how easily things have come to her. Helen seems to inspire jealousy among a gang of school teachers that live in her apartment complex.
55	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Helen has lovely honey blonde hair and is kind and gracious to everyone. She's also quite naive to Barry's faults.
56	* HeelRealization: Literally. After Barry is able to move his foot, he says "I've done a terrible thing" and asks for the phone so that he can make a call. The reader later learns that he called Ray to tell him the truth about the shooting, warn him that he and the girls were in danger, and declare that he is releasing them from the pact.
57	* [[SheIsAllGrownUp He Is All Grown Up]]: Only a year's difference but Barry has this reaction when he sees Ray again. The narration remarks that Ray's face is now "a man's face".
58	* HowWeGotHere: The novel begins the day Julie receives the eponymous note.
59	* {{Hypocrite}}: Barry. See MyGirlIsNotASlut.
60	* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Ray clobbers Collie unconscious with a flashlight.]]
61	* InSeriesNickname: Ray's father Herb is known as "The Booter" given his fame as a pro football kicker.
62	* ItsAllAboutMe: Barry has a way of making it so.
63	* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Subverted. Julie gets accepted to Smith University and she's still very proud, as are her teachers, mother and boyfriend. It's implied that she was something of a slacker before she worked hard to improve her schoolwork, so an Ivy would probably be a bit out of reach for her. However, Smith is one of the Seven Sisters colleges (aka, the Ivy League for women) and a prestigious university in its own right.
64	* {{Jerkass}}:
65	** Barry. [[spoiler: From the minute the accident happens, his chief thought is getting away from the scene and covering up their role, fretting only about how much trouble he'll get into, as he was the one driving. When Julie gets the note, he dismisses her and Helen's concern--it's pretty obvious he's the only one of the group who doesn't have any remorse over what happened. When he's shot, he not only flat-out lies about why, he lets Helen be blamed for it, all to cover his own ass]]. Plus, he's been stringing Helen along, not only having no intention of making a serious commitment to her, but is cheating on her left and right--yet flips out upon hearing that a male friend accompanied her to the hospital and is ready to dump her instantly.
66	** Also Elsa, Helen's sister. So jealous of her that she's downright happy that Barry got shot, "This will show Helen that she can't have everything."
67	* JerkassHasAPoint: Elsa is spiteful towards her sister, but she makes some valid points that an unbiased person can agree with. This includes the obvious red flags about Helen's relationship with Barry, that she went through life coasting on mostly her looks, and how their parents spoiled Helen rotten. All this accumulates to the assertion that Helen is an extremely selfish person, a point which even their own parents agree with her on.
68	** Collie himself calls Helen out on the fact that she's self-centered, pointing out that she knows nothing about him because ever since they met, they've only talked about ''her''. [[spoiler: It's a little undercut by the fact that he's the guy who's been stalking the group, but he's right. He's equally right when he confronts her later on and reveals who he is, describing how the group's actions have destroyed his family]].
69	* LamePunReaction: Helen has this reaction to one of her own puns, remarking she doesn't normally use them but this one was too easy to ignore. Specifically the joke is referring to Collie as "well trained".
70	* TheMakeover: Helen gave herself one while in high school. She stopped eating junk food to get her body down to a slimmer figure and used some rinses to really bring out the blonde in her hair.
71	* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Collie, in a couple methods. He chooses specific items to remind Julie, Helen, and Ray of the death of his brother. He knows that Barry would never confess to it, so he uses the concept of more concrete evidence (pictures) to blackmail him, luring him out and attempting to kill him. Collie also wormed his way into Julie and Helen's affections to observe their behavior.]]
72	* ManlyFacialHair: Ray grows a beard during the year he spends away, prompting Barry to think "Ray's face was now a ''man's'' face" when he sees him again.
73	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Helen is just one of six children, [[PracticallyDifferentGenerations two of whom are toddlers at the oldest]] during the book's main events--at one point, Elsa even yells at them in a manner more akin to her being their parent rather than their older sister.
74	* MickeyMousing: The gunman who [[spoiler:shoots Barry]] times the shot with Memorial Day fireworks.
75	* MiddleChildSyndrome: Inverted. Helen is the middle child in her family, sandwiched between a bitter older sister and siblings who are still children. She is a successful weather girl, while Elsa has to work hard in their family's store.
76	* MyBelovedSmother: Barry's mother. When he gets shot, he muses that his mother probably deep down loves that she'll have him under her control as he recovers.
77	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Barry is stringing Helen along into thinking they're exclusive yet he is seeing other girls on the side. When he hears that Helen came to the hospital with another guy, he's furious and vows to dump her immediately.
78	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After Ray and Julie visit David Gregg's family, she states, "We didn't just kill a little boy, we wrecked a whole family!", noting that the boy's mother has been institutionalized, leaving his sister to fend for herself as her father is staying close to her.
79	* NeverMyFault: Helen has this moment at one point of the story, blaming the boy for walking home at night rather than admit any responsibility for the accident.
80	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Julie sending flowers to David Gregg's funeral tips off the culprit, essentially resulting in the events of the book.
81	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Collie taunting Ray about how he intends to steal Julie from him unnerves him. He keeps thinking about it--and recalls that the paint on Collie's hands matched that at the Gregg house, meaning that Collie is the one who's been stalking the group]]
82	* NoEscapeButDown: Helen barricades herself in the bathroom when Collie attacks her, then breaks the window and jumps out when she realizes that he's taking off the hinges.
83	* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: Barry's mother snootily tells Helen this when she calls to find out what time he's picking her up. Afterwards, Helen makes sure to call only when necessary, which is how Barry knows something is seriously wrong when she calls and insists that he come over (Julie has just shown up at her house with the note).
84	* PetTheDog: Helen remembers a moment that Elsa once suggested they move in together. She describes it as "a rare moment of sisterly friendliness".
85	* PracticallyDifferentGenerations:
86	** Elsa and Helen Rivers are young adults with younger siblings who are toddlers.
87	** [[spoiler:Collie and Megan Gregg]] are also young adults while their younger brother David was six years old.
88	* RagsToRiches: Sort of. Helen comes from a large family with very little money. She wins a contest to become the local weather girl, which means she's able to rent a nice apartment in town.
89	* RedheadsAreRavishing: Red-haired Julie is courted by two boys. She's even referred to as a "hot redhead".
90	* RedHerring: A few, though the biggest one would have to be [[spoiler: Collie and Bud since they're the same person]].
91	* SettingUpdate: Duncan rereleased the book in the 2000's, but surprisingly had to do little but throw in a few mentions of the internet and of the characters having cell phones, as well as having Bud return from Iraq rather than Vietnam.
92	* ShellShockedVeteran: Bud is a returning soldier from Vietnam and carries the scars of it. Julie's mother is anxious about her dating him for this reason.
93	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Because she's beautiful, Helen is hated by many of the other female characters for this reason. Barry's mother views her as a manipulative GoldDigger, her own sister Elsa is jealous of everything her beauty gets her and a gang of school teachers in her apartment complex are jealous that the boys all love her.
94	* SurvivorGuilt: David Gregg's mother has this, feeling that if she hadn't refused to pick him up from his friend's house, he wouldn't have been out on the road on his bike.
95	* ThrowItIn: Discussed in-universe. Helen has been learning how to ad-lib and notes that if she does suffer a sunburn, she could say "It was good and hot today. I hope you viewers showed better sense than I did."
96	* TitleDrop: When Julie opens the note she received in the mail, to her horror, it reads:
97	--> "I know what you did last summer."
98	* TragicKeepsake: Ray notes that the newspaper clipping he received is probably one, given the smell of the paper and creasing.
99	-->"The clipping was yellowed from exposure. Someone had handled it often and read it many times. It was creased down the middle and had the smell of old dollar bills. Someone had kept it in a wallet, perhaps, drawing it out at odd times during the day to look at it, to dwell upon it. Someone had finally come to a decision and had addressed an envelope and mailed the clipping to an eighteen-year-old boy named Raymond Bronson."
100	* TwistEnding: [[spoiler: Bud and Collie are the same person, and he is the brother of the murdered David Gregg]].
101	* WHAMLine: From Julie's mind [[spoiler: "This is the same old Bud Wilson. The same old Collingsworth Wilson".]]
102	* WhamShot: Helen returns to her apartment after being at the pool. . . and stares in shock at the picture of a little boy riding a bicycle that has been taped to her door.
103	* WomanScorned: Discussed; the first culprit for [[spoiler:Barry's shooting]] is speculated to be a girl whose heart got broken.
104	* YouJustToldMe: [[spoiler: Collie]] believed that he'd found the people responsible for the accident, but he wasn't absolutely sure until he saw Julie's reaction to the note. Similarly, while he strongly suspects that Barry was the one driving, he doesn't know for certain until Barry takes the bait offered--when Collie calls him and claims to have a picture of the accident, Barry blurts out, "You can't take pictures at night", thus confirming his part in the tragedy.

Context Literature / IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer