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Taking the Fifth
J.A. Jance Book Review

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Plot Summary of Taking the Fifth
"A murder happens and it becomes pretty obivous who did it. Or is it?"
Ellie Meise-Munns, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Taking the Fifth
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 - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 50%




Tone of story - Dry-cynical
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? - 90%
Special suspect? - lover
Murder of certain profession? - criminals
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect - Big focus on forensic evidence
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
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: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
The antagonists are: - Drug kingpins
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW
City? Yes
City: - wealthy

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 2
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing
Unusual forms of death - dropped from large heights
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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J.A. Jance Resident Scholar Profiles

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