People like Christopher Pike

Kevin Christopher McFadden (born November 12, 1955), known by his pen name Christopher Pike, is an American author. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction. Known for mystery-thrillers and supernatural horror aimed at young adults, he has also written adult fiction.

McFadden was born in New York City in 1955, but grew up in California. He attended college briefly before dropping out and working various jobs such as house painting and computer programming. He initially tried his hand at writing science fiction and adult mystery, but later began writing teen thrillers due to an editor's suggestion.

His first novel, Slumber Party by Christopher Pike, was initially written as a supernatural thriller containing a character with pyrokinesis, which he later removed upon the request of his editor. The book was then re-written as a mystery thriller about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. His editor sold the book to Scholastic Press, which released it in 1985. Pike's next novel, Weekend, was also published through Scholastic. He would go on to publish one more novel through Scholastic, the 1986 Chain Letter, before moving to Simon and Schuster.