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| Plot Summary of The Killing Kind |
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"
Atria, Sep 2002, 25.00, 376 pp.
ISBN: 0743453344
Graduate student Grace Peltier is working on her Ph.D. thesis centering on religious zealots, the Aroostook Baptists, and their unexplained disappearance in 1963. Her research takes Grace to Carter Paragon, founder of the Fellowship. Not long after meeting Carter, Grace is found dead in her car parked on an isolated dirt road. All evidence points towards a suicide.
Grace's father Curtis rejects the notion that his daughter killed herself. He hires New England private investigator Charlie Parker to make inquiries and find out what really happened to Grace including as Curtis expects the identity of her killer. While Charlie works on the case, a mass grave containing the remains of the Aroostook Baptists has been discovered that ties back to Carter and his Fellowship. Charlie notices a link between the Aroostook, the Foundation, and his client's daughter that leads to malevolent beings informing him to drop the case or die.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Private investigator Charlie Parker is recruited by former senator Jack Mercier to investigate the death of Grace Peltier, the daughter of Curtis Peltier, a former business partner. Although the police believe Grace's death was suicide, Parker finds evidence that she was murdered. At about the same time a mass grave is discovered containing what may be the moral remains of the Aroostook Baptists, a religious community which mysteriously disappeared some 30 years ago. At the time of her death Grace was writing a thesis about the disappearance of the Aroostook Baptists and investigating a shadowy pseudo-religious organisation called the Fellowship. Is there a link between Grace's death and a 30-year-old crime? To find the answer Parker must face the sinister and ruthless killer who calls himself Elias Pudd, a man with a fondness for spiders and an utter contempt for humanity."
Stephen Coombs, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Killing Kind |
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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 - 15%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 45%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 25%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 15%
Tone of story
- scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain?
- Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
- Very obvious
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 50%
- 60%
Special suspect?
- chronically deranged person
Kind of investigator
- hard boiled/private eye
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Horror Story?
Yes
Religious overtones?
Yes
Any non-mystery subplot?
- life in that culture
Horror plotlets
- the ghost chased me!
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- private investigator
Age:
- 40's-50's
Has special powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character:
- clairvoyant
- is very quick
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- killer
- mastermind
Has special powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- super strength
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
The antagonists are:
- cults
Monster of some sort?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
- dangerous
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 1st
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
How many deaths?
- 8 or more
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Unusual forms of death
- poisoning
- impaled
- decapitated
- perforation--bullets
- blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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 Stephen Coombs
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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