| Plot Summary of Before I Say Good-bye |
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"Clark finds a way to always make you think. A wife being betrayed by the person who she thinks she loves the most in the world. This makes you look at relantinships between husbands and wives. Can you alway trust the one you love?"
Tiffany Taylor, Resident Scholar
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"Adam Cauliff's new cabin cruiser, Cornelia II blows up in New York harbor with him and several close business associates aboard. His wife, Nell MacDermott, is not only overwrought at this loss, but wracked with a terrible guilt because she and Adam had this terrible argument and she had told him not to come home.
The quarrel was started by Nell's decision to try and win the congressional seat long held by her grandfather Cornelius McDermott. She had been raised by her grandpa when she was left orphaned at age 10. Politics was in her blood, and Adam had known her ambitions when they became married. However, he disapproved strongly with her plan to run for Congress.
Nell, like her great-aunt Gert, possesses psychic gifts which her grandpa scoffingly dismisses as 'flight of fantasy.' When she was a child, she had been aware of the deaths of both her parents and grandmother at the exact moment they had died. She sensed at that very moment, their presence near her.
Even though Nell has the rare gift of extrasensory perception, she is much too levelheaded to accept some of these claims made by psychics. After Adams death, however, Gert begs Nell to see a medium, Bonnie Wilson, who has contacted her, claiming she is in touch with Adam. Still, regretting her last words to Adam, Nell agrees, hoping that she will be able to reach him through the medium, and have peace with herself.
As this investigation into the boat's explosion proceeds, Nell is shocked by the official confirmation that it was not an accident, but the result of foul play."
Boppy, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Before I Say Good-bye |
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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 - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 80%
Murder of certain profession?
- businessmen
Kind of investigator
- psychic investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- politics
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
- journalist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Has special powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character:
- can see into the future
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
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- business executive
- artist
Eccentric:
Yes
- wild
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
- money/treasure
The antagonists are:
- rednecks
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- bulging muscles
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City:
- New York
- rude people
Misc setting
- moving train
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 3-4
- 5-7
Unusual forms of death
- drowned
- exploded into bits
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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