Natural Suspect
William Bernhardt Book Review

Read a book review online (click here to search reviews)

Books

Movies

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Mystery/Thriller

Literature

Romance

Biography

History

William Bernhardt Books	New book search	William Bernhardt Message Board
Get more information about this book

Plot Summary of Natural Suspect

"NATURAL SUSPECT
et al
Ballantine, Sept 2001, 23.95, 192 pp.
ISBN 0345437682

    The Hightowers of Hightower oil may be very rich, but they are not happy. The mother Julia is a drunk; the son is a dilettante with a wife who has a single digit IQ; and the daughter believes play is weed. The patriarch, Arthur, never encouraged them to work, preferring they remain under his control until he was ready to divorce his wife and disinherit his children.

    Before that could happen, Arthur is found murdered, frozen solid in the family's locked freezer. The wife is arrested because the victim's blood was on her blouse and her pearls were found in his hands. She is a heavy drunk who suffers blackouts and had no alibi. Julia hires a no name lawyer who realizes that there is a lot more to this case than meets the eye.

    NATURAL SUSPECT is one story line divided by chapters with each chapter written by some very famous writers in the mystery field including Leslie Glass, Michael Palmer and John Lescroart. The chapters are numbered but no credit is given to the author (except for chapter one written by William Bernhardt) so readers will have a mystery trying to figure out which writer wrote what chapter. The chapters smoothly flow into another, but with different styles making for an interesting puzzle inside a who-done-it that turns NATURAL SUSPECT into a fine read.

Harriet Klausner

Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout.

"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Natural Suspect

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
How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: - power struggle within govt between two factions
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets - finding out whether someone is really guilty
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - finding a known killer

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - none
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 - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books to Natural Suspect
Enemy Within by Robert K. Tanenbaum
Billy Strobe by John Martel
Maggody and the Moonbeams by Joan Hess
The Hampton Connection by Vincent Lardo
Lou Dunlop: Private Eye by Glen Ebisch

Click here for more information about this book

William Bernhardt Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:

Crystal

SCHOLARS: Soliton

Search for another book

William Bernhardt

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

Use our site!
Feedback
About us
Bribe your congressman!
Rudy Giuliani

Most recent discussions:

General Book Talk
Book writing discussion
Off-topic message board
Online Dating Advice
George W. Bush 10:27:53 PM
General Discussion (All Topics) 10:20:53 PM
Wendelin Van Draanen 8:15:48 PM
Suzanne Collins 7:32:34 PM
Sister Souljah 7:16:51 PM
Kate Brian 5:52:28 PM
Dave Pelzer 5:41:28 PM
Barack Obama 5:28:37 PM
Billy Hills and Dale Hudson 5:10:22 PM
Joyce Reardon 4:11:40 PM
Aline Countess of Romanones 3:10:46 PM
Robert Stanek 10:10:58 AM
Linda Berdoll 8:58:27 AM
Eoin Colfer 8:43:26 AM
Belinda Alexandra 11:19:28 PM
Jude Deveraux 10:13:55 PM
Southampton Row 8:57:32 PM
David Clement-Davies 6:05:27 PM
Ivan Doig 1:56:45 PM
Anonymous 11:15:41 AM

More message boards

Natural Suspect William Bernhardt Book Review

Natural Suspect
William Bernhardt Book Review