"I'm often called the young Stephen King," says Christopher Pike. "But I prefer to call King the old Christopher Pike." Pike is kidding, of course, but critics do often compare his books to King's, and the comparison is apt. Both authors write well-crafted, taut suspense novels that fans (and even critics) find nearly impossible to put down; both writers also regularly make the bestseller lists. But, while King writes for and about adults, Pike's characters and his audience are mainly comprised of teenagers.

Surprisingly, Pike never aspired to be "the master of YA macabre fiction," as reviewer Drue Wagner-Mees describes him in a review of Gimme A Kiss. Pike originally had his sights set on a career writing science fiction, which he had loved as a child growing up in southern California. A college dropout, Pike worked briefly as a computer programmer, then turned to painting houses to...