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| Plot Summary of Boy in the Water |
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"Frank LeBrun is a psychotic murderer looking for a new start, while Jessica is a 15-year old stripper escaping her abusive father and apathetic mother. Both wind up at Bishop's Hill Academy, a school in New Hampshire for rich, troubled students; one as an assistant cook, the other as a pupil. The uninspired and jaded faculty seems to be marking time until the schools imminent closure. James Hawthorne is selected as the new headmaster with emotional and psychological baggage of his own. He has been offered the chance to turn around the beleaguered school in one year or it will be forced to close its doors.
The troubles for the headmaster, recently relocated from San Diego, begin quickly and escalate as one of the schools faculty commits suicide and a young student is found floating in the schools indoor pool. Hawthorne is constantly tormented by thoughts of his own failings in the past, an extramarital affair and a relationship with a troubled student that may have resulted to the deaths of his wife and daughter. The state and local police are piecing together a profile on a killer who murders with an ice pick and they are following that trail to Bishop's Hill. With a bitter, snowy winter enveloping the remote school the mystery of who is sabotaging the school and trying to frighten Hawthorne is not really a secret. The key antagonists are known but it is the extent to which they will go that remains to be seen."
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Boy in the Water |
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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 - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
General Crime (including known murderer)
Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here?
- finding a known killer
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- physically sick
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- scholar
Eccentric:
Yes
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist
- money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths?
- 5-7
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
- descript. of breasts
- descript. of other female areas
Unusual forms of death
- impaled
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Stephen Dobyns Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Fletcher
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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