| The book begins in the bedroom of a 4 year-old girl, who convinces her mother to read her a story. She also convinces her to check for monsters outisde her window. Of course, Sally (the mother) doesn't believe there is anyone there, but has a niggling feeling about being watched. To our dismay, a stranger jumps out of the closet, stabbing Sally and killing her daughter.
Five years later, Sally has married a millionaire and is completely unhappy. Whether it is from her first broken marriage or her daughter's death, she is miserable beyond repair. Thus, she plots a meeting with a hired assassin to convince him to kill her for money. Two weeks later, Sally is shot while driving under a bridge in a bad part of town, and is killed. Tatum, the man who was originally contacted by Sally to kill her, finds he has been named in her will and is at a complete loss as to why, He hires Jack Styweck (the lawyer who saved his brother from the death penalty) to represent him at this meeting. To everyone's shock, there are 6 people named in the will, of which none are relatives of the deceased) and they each have their chance to gain her 46 million dollars, by being the last person living from all six. No one knows who has killed Sally, and it's taking all the energy that Tatum has to convince his lawyer and his brother Theo that he did not accept the request from her. And since it wasn't Tatum who killed her, then who was it? Jack and Theo decide to fly to Africa to visit Sally's only living relative, her sister Rene, to see if he can dig up any answers. It is up to Jack to try and fill in the missing pieces on this case, while other people named in the will are fending off requests and demands to drop out of the running for the millions of dollars. Some of these requests include threats of physical violence to them and their families. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80% Murder of certain profession? Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 10 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - revenge Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes Africa Yes Part of Africa: - Black Africa Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript |
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