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| Plot Summary of A Walk Among the Tombstones |
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"Matt Scudder is about to take a week's vacation in Ireland when he gets the call: a woman has been kidnapped and brutally murdered despite her husband's payment of ransom. He'll spare no expense to catch and personally deal with the killers. There's practically nothing to go on at the start – the killers have even made their ransom calls from pay phones.
A good part of the rest of the book is taken up with investigative procedure – interviewing potential witnesses at the scene, checking newspaper files for similar crimes and calling old favors from the police Scudder once worked with before alcohol, divorce and trauma drove him from the force.
Scudder needs a lot of help, and he gets it. TJ, the street kid who has made cameo appearances in earlier Scudder novels, shown his ability as a natural detective. Scudder's girlfriend, Elaine, takes on the job of tracking down a victim of the rapists and killers who got out alive. Various police detectives trade information to ascertain the serial nature of seemingly unrelated killings. And two computer hackers prove invaluable in tracking down the various pay phones used to communicate the kidnappers' demands and establishing the area in which they must be living.
Scudder is getting close to identifying the killers when he gets another call – a teenage girl has been taken in much the same way as the serial killers' earlier victims. What had been a time-consuming investigation must be wrapped up quickly in order to save the girl's life. The investigation procedural novel switches to suspense-adventure as Scudder must act as a go-between in the exchange of money for the girl, and then to the final tracking down of the killers.
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David Gordon, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Walk Among the Tombstones |
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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 - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
How difficult to spot villain?
- Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 60%
Special suspect?
- chronically deranged person
Murder of certain profession?
- criminals
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- killer purposefully leaves puzzle clues
Kind of investigator
- hard boiled/private eye
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- feelings towards lover
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- private investigator
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
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
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- criminal
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths?
- 8 or more
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of sex
- descript. of breasts
- rape (yeech!)
Unusual forms of death
- diced
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- 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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