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| Plot Summary of Darkness on the Edge of Town |
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"
Signet, Jan 2005, 6.99, 368 pp.
ISBN 0451213912
In Bisbee, Arizona, teenager Jessica Parker was abducted near her home and killed. Needing help, the police chief asks the Arizona Department of Public Safety to send an investigator. When Laura Cardinal starts investigating, she is shocked that the girl looks like her childhood friend who was also abducted and killed. Laura finds a matchbook cover with the name Crazygirl12 is on it.
Laura thinks that Jessica met her killer over the internet even though local officer Buddy Hudson believes it was a local man. Two twelve years old girls are raped and killed by a perpetrator using the sane MO as Jessica's murderer. A tip sends Laura to a small Florida town where she finds out the identity of the sexual killer. When Buddy's daughter is abducted, Laura rushes back to Bisbee; he thinks the same perpetrator took his child. Besides the kidnapper, a sexual sadist who tortures, rapes, and kills young girls has plans for the girl.
The author uses the first person to hone in on the perpetrator's thoughts and feelings so that readers will feel a great antipathy towards him.
Harriet Klausner"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, a police procedural, centers around a case involving the death of a fourteen-year-old girl. The location of the body, the way it is dressed and posed, suggests she just might be the victim of a serial killer -- an internet sexual predator.
Laura Cardinal is a criminal investigator and a lead detective in the case. In the rustic town of Bisbee, Arizona, Laura finds herself pitted against an envious female law enforcement officer and this woman's boss, a man who conducts his own investigation. After consulting with a wealthy quadriplegic super-hacker regarding internet sexual predators, Laura follows a lead across the country to a sleepy town on the Florida panhandle.
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Carol Davis Luce, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Darkness on the Edge of Town |
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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).
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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
- police procedural, American
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- rapes
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
- a little
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
- very athletic
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- killer
- police/lawman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
- an above average amount
Motive of antagonist
- insanity
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 2
- 3-4
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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