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The Midnight Band of of Mercy
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Plot Summary of The Midnight Band of of Mercy
"The Midnight Band of Mercy

Soho, Sept 2004, 25.00, 384 pp.
ISBN 1569473714

Max Greengrass is a stringer for the Herald getting paid by the column inch and he thinks he has the perfect story that will get him a permanent job as a Herald reporter. Someone is killing the stray cats in New York City in 1893 and leaving their bodies in a certain pattern beside particular buildings. He tracks the cat killings which are taking place all over the city to THE MIDNIGHT BAND OF MERCY who believe they are treating the starved, feral, and diseased felines in a humane way.

When Max goes to meet an informant who has information about the group he finds the man dead, a bullet destroying much of his head. One of the men who were in the bar where the meeting took place is later found in a barrel, cut up into pieces. Max is sure that there two people weren't killed over dead cats; he starts another investigation which takes him into the city's worst slums where he finds financial predators preying on the city's poor as a way of cutting the undesirables from the population.

THE MIDNIGHT BAND OF MERCY is a riveting historical crime thriller that captures the ambience of New York City during the gay nineties of the nineteenth century. The protagonist is a flawed but heroic figure who wants to right wrongs through his journalistic writings. What starts out as a simple human interest story turns into something so depraved and ugly that the hero is willing to risk his life to make sure his findings sees the light of day.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Midnight Band of of Mercy
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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 - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - animal antics
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - journalist
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 - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - power
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
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 8 or more
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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