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A Choir of Ill Children
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Plot Summary of A Choir of Ill Children
"

Bantam, June 2004, 5.99, 227 pp.
ISBN 0553587196

As much of a hold Thomas has on Kingdom Come, an inbred small town located in the Deep South, Kingdom Come in turn has as strong a hold on Thomas. His brothers Are Siamese twins that share a brain but have separate faces and bodies are his responsibility as is the mill of which he and the brothers are the owners. Thomas, the only mobile somewhat sane one, makes sure it is making a profit for it is the only source of income the town has.

Except for incest it's a place where anything goes. Thomas loves the woman who takes care of someone he once loved, but evil times are ahead for him as he learns why she spends all her time in the swamp. A child killer who Thomas left to die in the swamp returns to take his revenge and he finds the body of the child that the murderer killed with the body of his mother locked away in a trunk in a long forgotten room. His brothers disappear and the father he thought dead is alive though not of sound mind. Unable to solve the town's problems, Thomas quits feeling he is the savior of Kingdom's Come and in doing so finds his own freedom.

The main character in CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN is the town of Kingdoms Come; a place that represents all the depravities that mankind is known to have accumulated as if Pandora opened the box here. Tom Piccirilli's dark gothic is frightening because it vividly exposes a way of life most people find abhorrent.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of A Choir of Ill Children
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Family, caring for ill Yes
Who is sick? - Brother
because he/she is - physically ill
Crime & Police story Yes
Story of - being hunted by killer/stalker - catching a killer
Kind of sex: - incest
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Taboo sex story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - wealthy
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality - 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 - very athletic

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

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 (a significant amount)
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards - a lot of stream of consciousness - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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Tom Piccirilli Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Harriet Klausner  

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