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The House on the Hill
Judith Kelman Book Review

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Plot Summary of The House on the Hill
"Quinn Gallagher looked into the sightless eyes of a child killer and felt a law officer's outrage-and a parents nameless dread.

Ellie Weir was released from prison after losing his sight and incarcerated in a once deserted home at the edge of the woods. He is under electronic surveillance, but that doesn't prevent his attack on a ten year old child.

Abigail wanders away from home one day and goes by the fence of the old house where the stranger is. After that, she is snatched away and maybe never to return home again.

Quinn then tries to locate the missing girl and solve the case before it's too late for Abby."

Boppy, Resident Scholar

"Quinn Gallagher is a parole officer in charge of one the the most notorious killers known, Elton Weir or "Weird Ellie". He has been secretly placed in an abondoned houseon the hill of a small town, that has been modified with hi-tec sucurity systems that are said to be unescapable. Quinn is burdoned with an FBI agent that wants to interview her psychotic parolee for a research project. As soon as Quinn meets FBI agent he gets under her skin and on her nerves.

Meanwhile in the small town an 11 year old girl turns up missing. Abigail is the same age and description as Weird Ellies previous victims. Elton is immediately questions and the house is searched without sucess. Abigail lived with her mother and her husbands family at the family inn down the hill from where Weird Ellie is finishing up parole. The book leads the readers to believe that Abby ran away even though her mother finds clues that mysteriously disapear before she can convince her family and the local police that her daughter didn't just run away.

Quinn and the FBI cross the state from one prison to another chasing leads that take them into a deep world of illusions and further into the demented mind of a psychopath. The book shows the victims torture and harrowing escape attempts and a mothers determination to see her safely home. It leads to unsuspected adversaries and surprising heros. "

Deb Radtke, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The House on the Hill
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - escape/rescue from kidnappers
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - finding a known killer

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 20's-30's - 60's-90's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - a little - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - criminal
Eccentric: Yes - deluded - eccentric - mentally ill - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an above average amount - throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist - power
The antagonists are: - rednecks
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Genius
Physique - very athletic - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
City? Yes
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting - resort/hotel

Style
Person - mostly 3rd - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths - very gorey references to torture
How many deaths? - 2 - hundreds or more
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - electrical engineering
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The House on the Hill
The Girls He Adored by Jonathan Nasaw
One False Move by Alex Kava
The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning
True Courage by Dee Henderson
Tampa Burn by Randy Wayne White


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Judith Kelman Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Deb Radtke  

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