Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror was published by Bradbury Press in 1986. Andy Zadinski, a fifteen-year-old, answers the phone and hears a stranger confess to murdering a college student named Nina Klemmer. When Andy reports the call, no one takes it seriously — not the police, not his father, not his friends. Nina Klemmer is alive and well. But Andy is convinced the caller was telling the truth about what he intends to do, and his increasingly desperate efforts to prevent a murder that nobody believes is coming drive the novel to its climax.
The thriller mechanics were Hitchcockian — a lone protagonist who knows the truth but cannot make anyone believe him — but Avi grounded them in the specific social dynamics of adolescence: the way adults dismiss teenagers’ perceptions, the way institutional authority defaults to reassurance rather than investigation.
Collecting Wolf Rider
First edition (Bradbury Press, New York, 1986): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $20–$50
- Very good: $8–$20
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Phone Call
The premise is terrifyingly simple: fifteen-year-old Andy Zadinski answers the phone and hears a stranger confess to murder. When Andy reports the call, no one believes him — not the police, not his father. The novel follows Andy’s increasingly desperate attempts to prove that the caller is real and the victim is in danger. Avi ratchets the tension with relentless precision, and the novel’s power comes from its central question: what do you do when you know the truth and no one will listen?
Frequently Asked Questions
What age group are Avi’s books for? Avi writes for a range: early chapter books (Poppy series), middle-grade historical fiction (Crispin, The Fighting Ground), and young-adult novels (Wolf Rider, Nothing but the Truth, Charlotte Doyle). His ability to write convincingly for multiple age groups is one of his distinguishing qualities.