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The Christmas Thief
Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark Book Review

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Plot Summary of The Christmas Thief
"
Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster, Nov 2004, 21.00, 204 pp.
ISBN 0743271556

Packy Noonan is a natural born con artist who is able to talk people into investing over 100 million dollars in his phony shipping company. He and his two confederates were about to cash out and leave the country when the scam was revealed. His two confederates escaped but Packy was caught and sent to jail. After serving twelve years he is freed and heads to Stowe, Vermont to get the diamonds that are hidden in an eighty foot blue spruce tree belonging to his one time employees Lenny & Viddy. He doesn't know that the tree is due to be cut down and taken to Rockefeller Center where it will be seen by millions of people.

Opal, one of the people who lost money in Packy's scam, is also going to Stowe for the weekend, along with Alviah Meshim and her husband, Megan Reilly, her fiancée, and her parents. Opal spots Packy's cohort Benny and winds up kidnapped. When Packy and company go to cut down the spruce they don't realize that Lenny's neighbor Wayne already found the diamonds. Packy is determined to get his jewels or die trying while Opal's friends search for her before something dreadful happens.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Christmas Thief
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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)
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is.... - Get treasure/money from another criminal
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - escape/rescue from kidnappers
Mostly a criminal POV story Yes
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - breaking up gang

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - 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: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 0 (not a murder mystery)
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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