| Jenna Blake is a brand new freshman at Somerset University in Massachusetts. It was the first time that she would be away from her mother, but Jenna was excited to dive into college life. She loved her new roommate, Yoshiko, and was happy to spend some more time with her father, a university professor of law, whom she hadn't seen very much after her parents divorced. The only problem was that everyone kept pressuring her to decide what she wanted to major in and Jenna just didn't know. She knew that her mom would love it if she became a surgeon, just like her, but she couldn't stand the sight of all of that blood coming out of live people. When her father asked her if the blood was all that bothered her, she thought it was kind of weird, but, before she knew it, he had an interview all lined up with Dr. Walter Slikowski, Chief Medical Examiner with the county. What was even weirder was that Jenna found that she was hired - and that she liked it!
None of her new friends could understand how Jenna could stand to have such a creepy job, but Jenna really got into it. Her first autopsy was for a Nicholas Garson, a congressman's aide, who had suddenly gone berserk in a courthouse and killed a security guard. When Professor Mattei, one of her father's good friends, died under the same bizarre circumstances, prompting the FBI and the CDC to start investigating, Jenna knew that there was a connection, but she didn't know what. Jenna was determined to find out what happened to those people and quickly became a target herself in a winner takes all game set on the stage of international politics... I enjoyed this book, but it just was a little too contrived and a little too far fetched for me to really believe. The author's descriptions of the ME lab were fascinating and I felt that I learned quite a bit, but Jenna spends most of her time on campus going through normal college stuff, such as buying books, doing homework, etc. She makes some pretty weird decisions, too, but I guess we all do at times. I didn't really care too much for Jenna as a character, though, and wished that I felt more of a connection with her so that I cared what happened to her. The other characters were a little stereotypical, too. Still, it is the start of a promising new series and I think that I will give the next book, Thief of Hearts, a chance and see if I like it any better... | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - very upbeat How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 50% Misc. Murder Plotlets - Big focus on forensic evidence - Big focus on autopsies Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % 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 - Female Profession/status: Age: - a teen Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - an organization Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - power The antagonists are: - Latin American/Asian/African Dictator How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Northeast Misc setting - scientific labs Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies A lot of techno jargon? Yes Unusual forms of death - biohazard/virus Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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