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Postmortem
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Plot Summary of Postmortem
"Horrific rape/murders bring Marino, Scarpetta, and Benson together. This top rate crime fighting team faces limitations after suspecting an inside trader and possible murderer. Unsure of the murderer, but certain of how to draw him out, a brilliant plan to use the media proves more then helpful when the killer takes the bait. "
Tracey Ray, Resident Scholar

"Dr. Kay Scarpetta, medical examiner, is on the case of a serial killer. She and/or her office is also being blamed for the leaks about the case to the media. Hard edged Officer Marino is also working on the case and believes that what Kay says is true; the leaks are not through her and they develop a kind of love/hate/friendship relationship and start working together to get the killer. The killer is increasing with his level of violence with each murder and the time span between each murder is getting shorter. They plant an article in the paper with news of new DNA evidence bringing them closer to catching the killer in hopes of tricking him into making a mistake.
"

Amy in Wisconsin, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Postmortem
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).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 60%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 10%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - character killed during/after sexing - Big focus on forensic evidence - Big focus on autopsies
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - describing scientific process
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - none - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - killer - police/lawman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount - throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist - jealousy
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - very athletic

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Mid-Atlantic states
Misc setting - scientific labs

Style
Person - mostly 1st - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths? - 5-7
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - rape (yeech!)
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - biology/medical
Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation - perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Patricia Cornwell Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Tracey Ray  

SCHOLARS:
LaPierre  Carol Patton  David Fletcher  Ally  Troy Buerger  Sherry Chen  Shanna Christiansen  danzel  Marianna  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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