| Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner, Kay Scarpetta, must autopsy a convicted murderer after the execution. Afterwards, a murder occured with the executed inmate's signature all over it. More murdered victims were discovered, yet all were mysteriously connected to the dead man. When one of Kay's own assistants is added to the dead man's killing spree, fear pushes the investigation even harder. Knowing a dead man cannot be responsible for this, Kay and crime fighting team, FBI Agent Benton Wesley, and Detective Pete Marino, work overtime to solve these puzzling murders and bring this killer to justice. As time races on, however, the murders become more intense. Time is of the essence. | ||
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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? - 60% 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 - 40 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 20's-30's Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - kicks How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Mid-Atlantic states Misc setting - scientific labs Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies A lot of techno jargon? Yes Kind of jargon? - biology/medical Unusual forms of death - poisoning - decapitated - perforation--bullets Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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