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Shadows in the Darkness
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Plot Summary of Shadows in the Darkness
"

Tor, Oct 2004, 23.95, 304 pp.
ISBN: 076530970X

Thirty-four year old Gwen "GiGi" Gelman works undercover for the vice squad when a bust turns ugly. Several people die and Gigi is scapegoated and fired.

Needing to eat, GiGi opens up a private investigative firm. Her current case is to find a missing teen. As the inquiries spin between abduction and runaway, GiGi begins to find she stunningly has psychic powers and starts to ascertain that she is not quite human. As she learns more about her elfish genetic makeup, her investigation propels her to apply her vice squad experience as an undercover operator looking into the Underhill gentlemen only club where children perform erotic dances. The inquiries begin to spin into something more than a missing teen as a conspiracy involving her family ties surface with the club's owner.

Harriet Klausner

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

"Gwen Gellman is an ex-police investigator. Now she's a private investigator specializing in finding missing teens. Gwen, known as Gigi to her friends, looks much younger than her 30-some years, and can see visions of what happened to people when she's holding something that the person had when they were taken/hurt/etc. Her parents were killed when she was young and she was raised by foster parents and homes.

A case of a missing daughter is brought to her, and in the course of investigations she is doing undercover work in a strip club, where the owner of the club recognizes great power on her, and asks her to look into another case for him. This case is to look for a missing heir to a family fortune, the parents were killed in a car crash 30ish years ago and the bodies disappeared out of the morgue. "

Candice Griffin, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Shadows in the Darkness
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 15%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 15%




Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - finding a killer (criminal) - rescue mission/escape from confinement
Inner Struggle Yes
Plotlet: - coping with mental/magical powers
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
If enemy is a group... - cult

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - private investigator - police/lawman
Age: - 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character: - clairvoyant
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - mastermind
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 - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Earth setting: - current (early 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death - moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Shadows in the Darkness
Secret Scroll - Daughters of the Moon 4 by Lynne Ewing
Mad Maudlin by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
The Protector by Jenifer A. Ruth
Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks
The Doll's House - Sandman 2 by Neil Gaiman


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Elaine Cunningham Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Candice Griffin  

SCHOLARS:
Harriet Klausner  


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