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Book Review By dena farquharson
The Killing Room by Peter May

Beijing detective Li Yan is called in to investigate a series of 17 murders, all women found in a mass grave in Shanghai and one in a Beijing. This leads the police to think another killing spree is starting in Beijing and they want to stop it before it progresses. Another female detective Mai Ling is also attached to the case as is a forensic coroner Margaret Campbell, an American.

They must first identify the murdered women,a difficult task as they have been "autopsied" by someone and cut into pieces, perhaps when they were still partially alive, and some of the deaths occurred as long as a year ago.

They must determine what the women have in commom.

They must discover who the muderer is, a demented surgeon or perhaps a group of people involved in an organ harvesting scheme.

To futher complicate matters Li Yan and Margaret have worked before on a case, have fallen in love and are having all the misunderstandings associated with a new relationship.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
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 - 50 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Setting
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - China
City? Yes
City: - dangerous

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - homosexuals doing their thing
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - biology/medical
Unusual forms of death - diced - frozen - decapitated
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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