| A horse farm in a rural area is torched by a maniacal arsonist who also left a body inside. Cue Kay Scarpetta, Virginia's chief Medical Examiner, who soon learns that her former nemesis Carrie Grethen has escaped from an upstate Psychiatric ward and is most likely involved. When someone close to Kay is murdered under the same circumstances, she must hold her head high over feelings of overwhelming loss as she concentrates on bringing the killer or killers to justice. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80% Special suspect? - chronically deranged person Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on forensic evidence - Big focus on autopsies - Killer purposely leaves clues Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 0 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - jealousy How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Northeast - Mid-Atlantic states Farm/Ranch? Yes Farm/Ranch: - farm Misc setting - scientific labs Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references A lot of techno jargon? Yes Kind of jargon? - biology/medical Unusual forms of death - flamed Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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