Chapter Summaries

1-2

Lonely high school student Susan McConnell feels like an outcast who longs for social acceptance, making her sensitive to peer pressure. Popular students Mark, Jeff, and Betsy express their extreme frustration with their strict English teacher, leading Mark to suggest kidnapping Mr. Griffin to teach him a lesson.

3-4

Mark explains the plan to kidnap Mr. Griffin to make him suffer for the harsh work and his strict teaching. After Mark successfully convinced Susan to participate by reminding her desire to fit in. The group then organizes the details, assigning roles, establishing alibis, and positioning Susan as the post-class lure to set the kidnapping in motion.

5-6

The group puts their plan into motion, with Susan playing the role of the trap. She stays behind after class, needing extra help with her English assignment, keeping Mr. Griffin as a distraction. She does this until the other teens arrive. Mark, Jeff, and Betsy eventually corner Mr. Griffin in the parking lot, force a bag over his head, and tie him up in the back of a car, ignoring his demands to stop. They drive him away to an abandoned spot in the mountains, but Susan is overwhelmed with guilt and doubt about what they have done.

7-8

Driven by a deep desire for peer acceptance, Susan and the other teenagers execute the kidnapping under the manipulative influence of their group dynamics. They take Mr. Griffin to a creepy mountain trail, but his refusal to show fear deeply frustrates them. Unaware that the pills they find in his pocket are essential medication for his severe heart condition, the group succumbs to groupthink. They decide to leave him tied up in the woods to "think about it" while they return to school, convincing each other that they haven't done anything truly dangerous. When Susan and David go back to the site later that evening to release him, they make the horrifying discovery that Mr. Griffin has died."

9-10

The prank turns into a nightmare when David and Susan return to the mountains and discover Mr. Griffin has died from his heart condition. Panic sets in, but Mark ruthlessly takes control, convincing the group that their only option is to hide Mr. Griffin’s Body. Under Mark's strict orders, they bury Mr. Griffin’s body in a shallow grave, hide his car, and coordinate strict alibis. However, the cover-up immediately begins to fracture in Chapter 10 when the police launch a missing-person investigation.

11-12

The teenagers face the horrifying aftermath of their prank following the discovery of Mr. Griffin’s corpse. The panicked group gathers near an apartment building to figure out their next move, and while Susan desperately wants to leave the body where it can be found so Mr. Griffin's family can give him a proper burial, Mark manipulates the group into agreeing to cover up the crime by burying the body in the mountains. The group digs a shallow grave to hide the corpse, where a grief-stricken David silently recites the Lord's Prayer and takes Mr. Griffin’s distinctive Stanford ring as a strange form of penance, while Mark plans out how to dispose of the car and keep Mr. Griffin's credit cards to later frame someone else. The teenagers then leave the car unlocked with the keys inside at an airport parking lot in hopes it will be stolen, and though they attempt to return to their normal lives, Susan is left completely consumed by guilt and terror over what they have done.

13-14

The teenagers' cover story begins to unravel when Mrs. Griffin confronts Susan, catching her in a lie about Mr. Griffin checking his watch—a watch he had actually left at home that morning. The situation grows even more dangerous at David's house when his grandmother discovers Mr. Griffin's stolen class ring in his room and adamantly refuses to give it back. Panicked by this concrete evidence linking them to the crime and the growing suspicion around them, Susan and David realize they are losing control and turn to Mark to handle the mounting crisis, since Mark has shown more leadership recently.

15-16

Dave tells Susan that he took Mr. Griffin’s college ring because he feels connected to it, but the ring later disappears. Susan realizes that Dave and his grandmother may be hiding important information and contacts, Mark. Meanwhile, the police discover bruises on Mr. Griffin’s body and order an autopsy, suggesting that his death may not have been natural. Jeff’s parents worry that Mark is taking advantage of Jeff, while Dave’s grandmother becomes more suspicious about the ring. The arrival of a mysterious boy at her house adds even more suspense.

17-18

Jeff and Betsy visit Susan and ask her to give them an alibi while they plan to sell Mr. Griffin’s car. Susan then learns that Dave’s grandmother has died suspiciously after supposedly falling and hitting her head. A neighbor saw a young man in a brown sweater at the house, and because Mark often wears one, Susan suspects that he killed Dave’s grandmother to get the college ring back. Susan decides to contact the police, but Mark arrives and becomes threatening. He orders Betsy to find a knife so they can tie Susan up, then questions Susan about what she has told the others. Susan accuses Mark of murder, but he denies it and insults her, showing that he is becoming more dangerous.

19

The students begin to feel the serious consequences of Mr. Griffin’s kidnapping and death. Susan is especially upset because she knows the group’s secret could be discovered. The students try to act normally, but their fear and guilt make it difficult. As the investigation continues, the pressure causes the group to turn against one another. The chapter shows that their plan has gone terribly wrong and that they can no longer control what happens next.