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The Switch Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Switch


After two lowlifes kidnap Mickey Dawson, they find out her husband wants a divorce and won't pay the ransom -- and that Mickey is willing to turn the tables on everyone. Mickey Dawson is an unhappy wife who doesn't know she's about to be kidnapped. She just knows she's stuck in a pointless marriage to a rich, often drunk loudmouth, with a spoiled teenage son who barely acknowledges either of them. So she's a bit surprised when Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara kidnap her and ask her husband, Frank, for a cool million to let her go.
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What none of them know, however, is that Frank has a girlfriend in the Bahamas named Melanie, and he's already planning to divorce Mickey anyway. Melanie convinces Frank to ignore the kidnappers' demands and just let them kill her -- no alimony that way. Ordell finds out about Melanie and flies to the Bahamas to pressure her and Frank into paying the ransom, but Melanie convinces Ordell that Frank would pay him $100,000 if he kills Mickey. Ordell decides to do it, even if it means cutting Louis out of the deal.

Back home, Louis is becoming friendly with Mickey, despite their situation. When he realizes there's no ransom coming, and that Ordell may have double-crossed him, Louis helps Mickey escape from the third kidnapper, a white supremacist named Richard Edgar Monk. Mickey goes home and waits for Frank, then accuses him of leaving her to die rather than pay the ransom. While he stammers, she tells him she knows about the illegal scheme he's been running (building apartment complexes with stolen materials) and implies that she could inform on him at any time. Then she leaves.

Free at last, Mickey tracks down Louis and Ordell, who are together again. Ordell brought Melanie back from the Bahamas with him, unbeknownst to Frank. In the final scene, Mickey, Louis, and Ordell are masked up and about to kidnap Melanie, assuming this time that Frank will truly pay up.
Best part of story, including ending: Mickey's character development is not only strong but unexpected. She goes from a housewife unable to speak up to her husband, to dumping him AND kidnapping the girl he's been cheating on her with. What a twist!

Best scene in story: Ordell approaches Melanie in the Bahamas and threatens her as a way of getting to Frank. But she smoothly redirects him into letting her live, accepting a smaller payout, and double-crossing his partners back in the U.S. instead. Talk about a cool customer.

Opinion about the main character: Mickey is a very weak individual at the start of the novel. She's unable to speak up or contradict her husband even when he's completely in the wrong. Not only that, she beats herself up for her weakness. By the end she's changed, but her internal monologue was hard to deal with for much of the novel.

The review of this Book prepared by Mason S. a Level 4 Yellow-Headed Blackbird scholar

Chapter Analysis of The Switch

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 10%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 30%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 50%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 10% Tone of story    -   Dry-cynical Time/era of story:    -   1960's-1970's Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Crime Thriller    -   Yes Crime plotlets:    -   escape/rescue from kidnappers General Crime (including known murderer)    -   Yes

Main Character

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

Setting

United States    -   Yes Island?    -   Yes Island:    -   Atlantic Ocean Island

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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