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All the Devils Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of All the Devils


An undercover activist finds herself on the run with a retired hitman after a Senator she was investigating is assassinated. Carrie Young, a young beautiful blonde, is the main character. She is a political aide working with Senator McRae, and having an affair with him to get information on a new bill. The Montrose corporation is pushing McRae to vote “Yes” to the bill to allow their patent in the US on a new genetically modified corn developed by their corporation in South Africa.
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One night after another unpleasant rompfest in the office with the aging McRae, Carrie meets a ghetto-looking janitor named Spider Walsh. When she returns to McRae's office, she finds him dead and a man hidden in the shadows tries to get her to undress. She recognizes his accent as South African, and is aware he may be trying to frame her for McRae's murder by setting her up as a jealous lover.

Carrie manages to escape the office and Spider fights off the assailant. Spider takes her to LA's barrio to hide out at his place when they find an intruder waiting at hers. It seems that Spider has a few secrets himself. Upon arriving, Carrie meets Oso an overweight Mexican friend who preps fake IDs for them. Spider has a gun and appears to wield it like a professional. Carrie is nervous about following Spider's getaway plan, but doesn't have much choice as there are unknown killers after her.

Soon, they hear on the TV that a SWAT team is coming to the barrio looking for two missing people (Carrie & Spider) implicated in a murder. They flee on foot going through an intricate maze of backalleys in the barrio. The three arrive at a house, give a special knock, and are led downstairs where there is an underground tech setup. There they meet Ricky and Stanley. Stanley drives a taxi and takes Carrie and Spider to another location.

They arrive at an house with an old couple - Maggie and Henry. It seems they are used to these types of visits. Maggie takes Carrie in to shower, change clothes, and get a makeover. Carrie loses her long blonde locks and emerges with a short black 'do.

When the other three start questioning her, it is discovered that Carrie is secretly an activist working undercover to obtain information on the Montrose corporation. They developed a new corn called “BioStar” that can breed in damp conditions making it a superior crop, but is created with a toxin and will kill the bee population and devastate the ecosystem. If the bill is passed, Montrose would be able to charge a premium on every kernel sold, and charge a toll on every bushel of corm sold. The deal would yield trillions of dollars, so they would do anything to see the bill passed – including murder. They determine that McRae must have asked for a large payout in exchange for his “Yes” vote on their bill, but Montrose must have killed him...

Now we're introduced to Calhoun, a well-dressed man in a suit with a nude woman answering a call from an upset Helga. She is angry with him because McRae was murdered when it was his job to protect him and obtain the “Yes” vote for their client, the Montrose corporation. He is instructed to “fix it”. Calhoun hangs up and turns to his nude lady friend, which turns out to be Marta, an activist friend of Carrie's who was also working undercover. She begs for her life and even offers him anything he wants, including her body. She asks what does he want. Calhoun strips nude and points a gun at her face and blows holes into both of her eyes saying “Stop looking at me.”

Carrie and Spider prepare to leave the next morning with their new identities and fake IDs. His friend Paco arrives and hide in the leaves and landscaping equipment in the back of his truck to pass undetected through the police barricades. They arrive at Spider's old colleague Frankie's facility – Frankie being a young blonde woman with an attitude towards Carrie. They all pull up the video surveillance footage the night of McRae's assassination and discover the killer is South African hitman Andros Steyn. Frankie lets Spider and Carrie take her Cessna plane to evade police and land in Fresno. Next in line to vote on the Montrose bill is Texas Senator Jefferson and they decide to show him the evidence against Montrose.

Back to Calhoun, it is discovered that he has two professional hitmen working for him, Swiss/Thai twins Anna and Eva, whom he sleeps with. Anna and Eva show up at Frankie's and murder her.

Spider and Carrie land safely and quickly get a rental car with a fake ID. They head to the mall to buy a few changes of clothing. Next stop is Carrie's mom's house to retrieve the PO Box key that holds the activist evidence against Montrose corporation. Carrie's mom is frightening and narcissistic. They get into a huge fight, but leave with the key.

Carrie retrieves the evidence from the PO box, but Anna and Eva show up to stop them. Spider shoots the glass window shattering it and drawing attention to the lethal ladies. Carrie and Spider head back to their car to lose the evil twins. They park near Senator Jefferson's office and change into business attire. They make it past security, but Spider doesn't feel right. He tells Carrie to go meet him at the diner for breakfast. She leaves and he is escorted away. After she exits, a security guard grabs her and takes her in to meet Calhoun. She attacks him and is knocked out.

Carrie wakes up covered in a hospital gown and in pain. She is tied to a chair and Spider is as well. Calhoun is there with his deadly femme fatales. The three villans start torturing both their captured victims. Calhoun gets another angry call from Helga and he leaves the room. Carrie attacks the twins and breaks their foot and stabs them. Spider breaks free and attacks Calhoun when he returns. There is a struggle with his gun, and Calhoun makes off with Carrie in a Lamborghini. Spider chases after and is picked up by an accomplice Lina who found him from the tracking device he swallowed. A long chase scene through LA and the barrio happens. Calhoun crashes and Spider comes after him. All his barrio friends show up for an impromptu riot to deter police from breaking up the scene and confuse the helicopters filming. Calhoun pulls a gun Spider and is aware that everyone is watching now. Instead he shoots himself to avoid capture.

Spider and Carrie are taken into protection custody. They meet with Senator McRae's widowed wife who unwittingly admits that she was the one that ordered the hit on McRae because he was having an affair with Carrie. She is arrested.

Carrie and Spider are in a witness protection program and get plastic surgery. They have new identities and are sent to live in Europe for two years as husband and wife.
Best part of story, including ending: I really liked the fast-paced action; lots of scene changes and chases. The villian Calhoun was creepy and very violent. I did not like Carrie's overbearing awful mother.

Best scene in story: The scene running through the barrio alleyways to escape the overheard police helicopters was exciting. And the introductory scene with Calhoun, where he was painted as a handsome man with a naked woman, only to discover he is a sadist and kills her.

Opinion about the main character: I liked that Carrie was flawed, but still likable. She cries and makes mistakes. She has an affair with the married Senator, but the author does not judge here for this behavior. She is still seen as sexy, lovable, and human.

The review of this Book prepared by Molly Celaschi a Level 1 Blue Jay scholar

Chapter Analysis of All the Devils

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 40%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 30%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 20%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 10% Tone of story    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) Time/era of story:    -   2000+ (Present) Spying/Terrorism Thriller    -   Yes Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:    -   kidnap/rescue Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Who's the terrorist enemy here?    -   evil corporation/billionaire

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   government investigator Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Race    -   White/American Unusual characteristics:    -   Super sensitive soggy jelly muffin

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   California City?    -   Yes City:    -   Los Angeles Misc setting    -   fort/military installation

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   very gorey references to torture Unusual forms of death    -   frying (cooking) Unusual form of death?    -   Yes Amount of dialog    -   roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Books with storylines, themes & endings like All the Devils

Harry Shannon and Steven W. Booth Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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