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Search the Shadows
Barbara Michaels Book Review

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Plot Summary of Search the Shadows
"When Haskell Maloney takes her premarital blood test, she finds out that she is a carrier of the Tay Sachs gene. Since neither her late mother nor the late soldier whom she always thought was her father carried this gene, she questions her true parentage. This quest leads Haskell to break off her engagement and travel to Chicago, where her mother studied at the Oriental Institute.

Luckily, Haskell studied Egyptology as her undergraduate major, so she has an excuse to pursue employment where her mother's life existed prior to her birth. She accepts an unpaid clerical job in the private collection of Victor Nazarian and carries on her investigation among former friends of her mother.

As it becomes clear that her mother was murdered, Haskell finds herself running for her life, hoping to solve the mystery of her parentage and her mother's death before it is too late.

The author's background in Egyptology and archaeology help to create vivid descriptions of various artifacts and incidents in Oriental scholarship."

Samantha S., Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Search the Shadows
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).
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 - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 30%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - art/artifacts
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - search for valuable art/artifacts
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - scholar
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race - 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

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - wealthy
Eccentric: Yes - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest
City? Yes
City: - Chicago

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 2
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing
A lot of techno jargon? Yes
Kind of jargon? - archaeology
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Barbara Michaels Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Samantha S.  

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