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Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Raise the Dead by Jane Rubino



Llumina, 2004, 18.95, 237 pp.
ISBN: 1595263411

Ray Stites has six weeks to live if he fails to receive treatment; he has fourteen if he does, but he owes $50K and heath care is very expensive. He worries about how his beloved Kathleen will pay the bills he leaves behind when he receives a unique offer. If he kills three people, his debts will be paid and Kathleen will receive money to live off of. He agrees to kill a woman, a cop and himself.

Three years later in the Delaware Valley, widow reporter Cat Austen raises her two children alone. Cat overhears her lover, Cape May County Homicide Investigator Victor Cardenas, tell an associate that he loves her, wants to marry her, but must tell her the truth about her late husband Chris, a murdered cop. Stunned Cat begins making inquiries after confronting Victor who hides behind national security. She finds a tie to Kathleen Stites and the State of Art Fertility Clinic where she got pregnant, but the link to murdering Chris remains vague; Still someone wants her to back off from learning why her husband was killed. The audience learns along with Cat why Chris was murdered and whether her new love Victor was an instrument in her late husband's death.

Harriet Klausner


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? - 70%
Special suspect? - lover
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
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 - 40 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - power
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: - Mid-Atlantic states

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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