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Every Secret Thing Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Every Secret Thing




Morrow, Sep 2003, 24.95, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0060506679

In Baltimore, fifth graders Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller were sent home after the latter had misbehaved at a classmate's birthday party. Walking together, they come across a baby carriage with no adult apparently nearby. Ronnie insists “we have to take care of this baby”, but Alice has doubts feeling they are too young. Later the adults question Alice as to the word accented and emphasized by Ronnie when she said they needed to care for the infant as the child died under their tutelage. Neither confessed to killing the nine month old infant that they snatched.
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Seven years later the two teens are freed from the State of Maryland's control, as the law has to let go these juvenile killers. Though the state is forced to forget and perhaps even forgive, people, especially those close to the dead baby like the mom, are not willing to turn the other cheek. Just after the release of Alice and Ronnie, the disappearance of little Brittany occurs that seems eerily similar to what the two girls once did.

The story line is a combination of a police procedural inside a character study as fans slowly learn who killed the infant among other revelations. With a deep cast and a powerful plot, EVERY SECRET THING will not remain secret to the reading public that will seek other fine (but not as dark) works by Ms. Lippman.

Harriet Klausner

The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner



Chapter Analysis of Every Secret Thing

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 10%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 40%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 30%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 20% Tone of story    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain?    -   Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story:    -   2000+ (Present) What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot?    -   70% Misc. Murder Plotlets    -   Proving innocence of very obvious suspect Kind of investigator    -   police procedural, American Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Crime Thriller    -   Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown)    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   accused criminal Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Race    -   White/American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   Southeast

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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Laura Lippman Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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