" Leslie Stone is a private investigator whose specialty is missing children. Her experience has left her haunted by hallucinatory echoes of kids who are not coming back. But when her 13 year old daughter, Molly, attempts to hire her to find a vanished friend, the case stirs memories of one from Leslie's own troubled childhood: an unsolved series of abductions and abuse of eleven young girls, who came to be known as the Nightingales.
As the search for Molly's friend Lydia gets under way, it becomes apparent that there's much more to the story. Following a party of eigthth graders at Lydia's home that got out of hand, five 13 year old boys are being charged with assaulting her. For the town of Swifton Woods, as for Leslie, this scandal opens old wounds. But even as the town erupts in anger and calls for justice, Molly insists that the boys are innocent and takes the stand to testify on their behalf.
Leslie's own investigations show that although Molly may be right, someone is guilty. "
Sandra Eubanks, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of Innocence
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 - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- depressing/sad
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?
- 60%
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- solving long-past murder
Kind of investigator
- psychic investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- feelings towards family/friends
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- private investigator
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental:
Yes
Eccentric:
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- none
Setting
City?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 8 or more
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- rape (yeech!)
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
