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Summer Time
Liz Rigbey Book Review

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Plot Summary of Summer Time
"

Putnam, August 2003, 24.95, 384 pp.
ISBN 0399150943

After her six month baby dies from SIDS, Luce Schaffer leaves Northern California and travels to New York where she takes a job as an investment banker. She makes no friends and her co-workers know nothing about the husband back home, the father who visited her only once in three years, or the mother confined to a mental institution. One day while she is brokering the biggest deal of her career she is summoned home by her older sister Jane who informs her that their father died.

When Luce arrives at her father's home, the police informs her that her father, beloved by all, was the victim of a homicide. Everyone in the family is understandably shocked because Eric was so cherished and didn't have any enemy in the world. The longer Luce stays in California, the more family skeletons are revealed, bringing the police one step closer to solving this and other related killings.

SUMMER TIME is a masterful work of psychological suspense as well as a heart wrenching drama about a family who has known much tragedy, especially he protagonist who feels guilty that she left her beloved father when she couldn't come to terms with her own grief. Liz Rigbey knows how to write a compelling story with an ending that is both unexpected and shocking.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Summer Time
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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 - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




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%
Murder of certain profession? - "All in the family" murder
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
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

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - business executive
Age: - 20's-30'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 - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - doctor
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
Motive of antagonist - jealousy
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - California

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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