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A Cold Case
Philip Gourevitch Book Review

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Plot Summary of A Cold Case
"The first time Frank Koehler shot someone dead was in 1945, when he was only 16. In and out of prison several times for this and other crimes, he managed to keep his nose fairly clean through the 1960s. But in February 1970, he shot two men dead. There was a witness, a third man Koehler wounded; but the killer disappeared and eventually the NYPD closed the case on the assumption that Koehler is dead. Nearing retirement in 1997, Andy Rosenzweig, chief of investigations for the Manhattan district attorney's office, decides to make one last effort either to catch Koehler or to find proof he's really dead, 27 years after the crime. "
David Loftus, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of A Cold Case
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
job/profession: - criminal (killer)
Job/profession/poverty story Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - American (!)
How sensitive is this person? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other people
Physique - bulging muscles

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
City? Yes
City: - New York - dangerous
Misc setting - prison
Century: - 1930's-1950's

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths
Book makes you feel? - thoughtful
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Commentary on society? Yes
Commentary on - decency - justice system - wicked men
Is this a biography of several people? Yes
Pictures/Illustrations? - More 6-10 B&W
How much dialogue in bio? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much is philosophy rather than life story? - 0-25% of book
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The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Another City, Not My Own by Dominick Dunne
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Confederacy of Silence by Richard Rubin
And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule


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