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| Plot Summary of Five O'Clock Shadow |
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"Five O Clock Shadow
Poisoned Pen, Feb 2004, 24.95, 272 pp.
ISBN 1590581040
She is married five days and is honeymooning in Albuquerque so her husband can ride in a hot air balloon. While he is in the air, Pauly Caton is distracted taking photographs so it takes her a moment to comprehend that the noise she hears is the balloon losing air and dropping quickly. When she reaches the crash site, she sees the pilot and her spouse are dead.
Things turn surreal when a naked boy dressed only in her husband's jacket leaves the basket. She has no idea who he is or when he entered the balloon. Pauly learns at the hospital that her husband who said he wanted children had a vasectomy. As his heir, she inherits his share in a company and intends to take over the study of the feasibility of selling New Mexico's water rights. As she looks through his files, Pauly finds a sealed envelope that contains pictures of naked children with a New Mexico Congressman. She investigates the circumstances surrounding her husband's death because she needs to know what kind of monster of a man she married, a decision that almost costs her life, not once but twice.
This crime thriller is very different from the Pecos mysteries that Susan Slater is renowned for. FIVE O CLOCK SHADOW is much darker in tone, a gritty urban noir in the tradition of Dennis Lehare. The protagonist elicits sympathy from the readers almost immediately because she is a new widow who keeps finding ugly revelations about the man she married. Susan Slater has written an exciting amateur sleuth tale that is fast paced and action packed, but clearly Pauly driven.
Harriet Klausner
"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Five O'Clock Shadow |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain?
- Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 60%
Kind of investigator
- amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- business executive
Age:
- 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- a lawyer creature
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 1
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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