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The Night is Alive Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Night is Alive


Abigail Adams saw her first ghost when she was only 10 years old during an extended visit to her grandparents in Savannah, Georgia. He was her ancestor who stayed in the family home to guard it and his family, hundreds of years after his death. Even after her parents died, and she lived full-time with her grandparents, she occasionally saw the benevolent ghost, affectionately known as Blue.
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However, he was not the only ghost she saw and over time, she tried to forget that she had an unusual gift that most people did not. As an adult, she is accepted into the FBI training program and returns home for a visit and goes to the tavern her grandfather owns. Upon her arrival, everyone in the tavern her grandparents own greet her warmly, but her grandfather, Augustus Anderson, is no-where to be found. She sees Blue, remembers that he is only there when is needed and goes to a rarely-used tunnel to find her 90 year old grandfather dead.

She is convinced he was murdered, but is not taken seriously, given the lack of evidence and his age. She quietly begins an investigation of her own, which brings her into contact with Malachi Gordon, who has a similar gift to hers. Malachi was in law enforcement, until he got sick of having to explain why he "knew" things. Obviously, explaining that ghosts told him secrets was not the best idea for a successful career.

However, he recently came to the attention of a group known as the Krewe of Hunters, after he received ghostly assistance to retrieve a kidnapped boy when there were no clues or evidence that would have found him. He also owns a very old home, with a full-time roommate, who happens to be a ghost.

The Krewe of Hunters is a governmental group that investigates paranormal activity. Few people know about them and fewer discuss them. Malachi is invited to join their group and does so on a trial basis, when he is asked to investigate Abby's grandfather's death.

It is important to remember that in this book, and throughout the series that feature the Krewe of Hunter, psychic abilities are not consistently available. Sometimes, they can see dead people and other times, there is nothing. As sparks fly between Abby and Malachi, a romantic relationship quickly forms.

Ghosts have some information, but they do not automatically have knowledge of murders, crimes, deaths, etc. unless it occurred while they were there. Therefore, there are several scenes throughout the book where even though both Abby and Malachi are psychic, they still don't have much more to go on than any other investigator would.   

An interesting coincidence is that the police officer investigating a string of crimes in Savannah is Malachi's ex-partner from when they were both police officers. He is aware of Malachi's unique gift and asks for his assistance, above and beyond that of a consultant, which is what Malachi is technically doing.

There is a string of kidnappings and murders, so finally law enforcement begins to wonder why a 90 year old man was in his tunnels, where he normally did not go and that were usually locked. One death was of a young woman whose corpse was also found in a tunnel, with a missing finger, who showed marks of being held and bound prior to her death. There were some survivors who were found, but little evidence could be verified.
Each victim had, at some recent time, eaten at the tavern.

Although at various time there were other suspects, including members of law enforcement, at the end it is disclosed that the murderer was her grandfather's old, dear friend who was a regular as the tavern. His name was Bootsie and essentially, he did it because he was crazy. He loved Abby, but hated women and children.

He trapped Abby and Malachi before they escaped and caught him. She was forced to kill him to save them both and after many questions, the case was closed. Malachi and Abby became engaged and went on to see ghosts together for years to come.
Best part of story, including ending: liked that there were no clues about who the murderer was until the very end. I truly had no idea and even when I read the book the second time, it was still was not very obvious. This is a series of books including the Krewe of Hunters and they are a fascinating group of investigators who play an important role in the way everything occurs.

Best scene in story: When Abby is still doing most of the research on her own, she follows a tunnel that has always been closed at a certain point, because it comes very close to the water. When she gets inside and finds that the latch is open, she realizes that there is a body and she instinctively follows the water. I just found it fascinating that she almost die, trying to solve the case. Part of it had to do with loyalty to her grandfather, but part of it was just the need to make things right. That was nice to read.

Opinion about the main character: I love that Abby Adams is smart, motivated and intelligent enough to be in the FBI, yet loving and loyal to her family. Combined with her willingness to ask old Blue for help when necessary, she is a multi-faceted character who was fun to read about.

The review of this Book prepared by Roberta Still a Level 7 Marbled Godwit scholar

Chapter Analysis of The Night is Alive

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 30%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 20%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 40%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 10% 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?    -   60% Special suspect?    -   best friend Misc. Murder Plotlets    -   local police w/ IQ of a houseplant Kind of investigator    -   psychic investigator Any non-mystery subplot?    -   squabbling with fellow investigator(s)/police boss Crime Thriller    -   Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown)    -   Yes Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story?    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   government investigator Age:    -   20's-30's Has special powers?    -   Yes Magical/mental powers of main character:    -   clairvoyant Ethnicity/Race    -   White/American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   Deep South

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   moderately detailed references to deaths Explicit sex in book?    -   Yes What kind of sex:    -   touching of anatomy    -   licking    -   actual description of sex    -   descript. of breasts Amount of dialog    -   significantly more dialog than descript

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