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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what city does this story take place?
(a) New York City.
(b) Boston.
(c) Miami.
(d) Los Angeles.

2. In Chapter 7, what does Patty tell Spenser has happened to Paul?
(a) That a strange man approached Paul on his way home from school, and told him that his father wanted to see him. When Paul would not go with him, the man got out of his car and started to chase him.
(b) That the person whom she hired to babysit Paul while she was out, turned out to be one of Mel's henchmen who tried to kidnap Paul.
(c) That his father came to Paul's school and tried to take him out of class.
(d) That Paul tried to run away to his father's house.

3. When Spenser tells Patty that he does not want a personal relationship with her, what is her reaction?
(a) She storms off to her room and starts breaking things.
(b) She gets angry and demands that he leave her house.
(c) She tells him that she understands and that there are not any hard feelings.
(d) She insults herself and him, and then breaks down crying.

4. What does Paul ask Spenser about dinner the first night that Patty is away in New York?
(a) Whether he cooked the meal.
(b) Whether he could have the tuna salad sandwich from the deli.
(c) Whether they could go to the Chinese restarurant where he got the take-out.
(d) Where he got the pizza.

5. Who is inside the building that the narrator enters in Chapter 3?
(a) Patty Giacomin and Paul Giacomin.
(b) Mel Giacomin and Elaine Brooks.
(c) Hawk and Henry.
(d) Spenser and Susan Silverman.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Patty want Spenser to do in Chapter 7?

2. In Chapter 10, Spenser tells Patty that he can put her in touch with the feminist writer, Rachel Wallace. Patty responds that feminist theory is all well and good on paper, but that it is not successful in reality. Spenser asks her what the term, successful means in the "real world"; and Patty's response is:

3. In Chapter 3, what does the man keep calling the narrator?

4. In Chapter 8, when he returned after his respite after breakfast, what does Patty ask him?

5. In Chapter 8, when Patty and Spenser are talking at the breakfast table, what conclusion does Spenser come to about Patty, Mel, and Paul's relationship?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Spenser diffuse the situation between himself, Buddy, and Harold in Chapter 11?

2. What type of person does Mel Giacomin appear to be?

3. If you were Spenser, what would you have done differently in Chapter 2?

4. In Chapter 11, Spenser and Paul have a discussion about why Spenser did not shoot the intruders. What does Spenser tell Paul about his reluctance to shoot Buddy and Harold?

5. What type of person does the narrator seem to be?

6. In Chapter 12 we meet Hawk. What kind of a person does Hawk appear to be?

7. In April, after Mel's thugs try to kidnap Paul, Patty Giacomin calls Spenser for help once again. This time, she asks Spenser to protect her and Paul. Why does Patty desperately call Spenser when she experiences trouble with her ex-husband in relation to her son?

8. In the scene where Paul arrives home, Patty is entertaining a male guest, Stephen Court. How does that scene make you feel?

9. In Chapter 9, Spenser makes an impromptu dinner for himself and Paul. At the dinner table, Paul seems surprised that Spenser can cook. The discussion that follows allows the reader to learn more about Paul and his relationship with the world around him. What did you learn about Paul and how he relates to the world around him?

10. What type of person does Paul Giacomin appear to be?

(see the answer keys)

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