View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What evidence is Alec waiting for before he can be convinced that the police have the real killer?

2. What new jewelry is Regan sporting at the end of the book?

3. At the end of the novel, who is taking over Regan's job?

4. Once at the ravine, the killer is trying to find Regan, but can't. Who bursts through the trees coming at the killer?

5. Why is Regan concerned that Lewis will take policemen off her case?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Regan stops to tie her shoe and spots the killer in the park, he yells at her to run. Why does he do this?

2. As Nina watches the news bulletin on TV she sees the body of Eric being loaded into the ambulance, but is unmoved. What is Nina waiting to hear or see, and why?

3. When it is revealed for the first time who the "beast" is, and how does that change the story?

4. According to Morris when talking to Regan from the bar, who put the pictures of Sweeney on Aiden's desk? What does this tell us about Emily? How is Emily involved?

5. What happens to Sophie when she publishes her article about Dr. Shields? How is she rewarded? What in her life changes? Is there more to the story of Dr. Shields?

6. After Morris is caught, Gil, Alec's old partner, is still snooping around. What does he discover that could mean that the police have arrested the wrong man?

7. After making love in Chapter 35, Alec gets up to go to the bathroom. What does Regan think and why? How does this reaction play into Regan and her family dynamics?

8. Why does the killer want to prolong Regan's death? Why does he want her to suffer?

9. After Regan and her brothers argue in Spencer's office there is an air of joking or kidding around afterward. What breaks the ice? Will it continue?

10. When Alec and Regan are flying to Boston for Regan to meet Alec's family, why does she tell him about her first day at kindergarten and the bully and the barrettes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Regan's relationship with her brothers and how it changes throughout the story. What does the killer chasing Regan have to do with her change in her behavior toward her brothers? Do her circumstances make a difference or are her changes more ties to Alec and the relationship with him?

Essay Topic 2

Alec and Regan both have their weaknesses. Alec is afraid of being involved. He likes his life uncomplicated. Regan has fear of intimacy. Discuss Regan and Alec's childhoods. How are they different? The same? How is that affecting their issues with intimacy and involvement? Or does it play a role at all?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Regan's computer, fax machine, and cell phone as separate entities called the technology character. They seem to almost have a personality of their own. What information do they provide in the story that keeps the story moving along? What cryptic information does Melissa, the computer technician, deliver to move the story along? Why is it important when Regan finds the computer on and Melissa finds other people in the "loop?" How would this story have been different without this technology, especially the cell phone?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,109 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample