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

Short Answer Questions

1. Pounds asks Harry to visit his office for a reason in Chapter 5. What is it?

2. Harry's Lieutenant is called "Pounds." While speaking to Harry, he chokes on an aspirin. Why?

3. During his conversation in Chapter 5 with Pounds, Harry takes his "full measure." What is it that he realizes?

4. In Chapter 11, why does Harry decide he needs to talk to Porter next?

5. Teresa also finds fruit fly larvae in Juan Doe's stomach. What does she conclude about their presence?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Harry's possible identification of the Juan Doe in Chapter 13 confirm that the three cases might be related?

2. What does Harry learn about the way sterilized fruit flies are shipped to the United States from Mexico?

3. What does Harry learn from the crime scene technician in Chapter 8?

4. Why does Harry have to sweet talk the crime scene technician who processed the Moore case in Chapter 8?

5. Give at least two reasons that foreshadow the fact that Harry will go to Mexico.

6. Why does Harry think that solving homicide cases are the only cases that matter?

7. Why does Harry seem so drawn to the teenager he and Rickard arrested when he goes and talks to him after he returns to visit him in jail?

8. Why do the police believe Moore killed himself?

9. According to Harry, why are homicides in Hollywood more difficult to solve than elsewhere?

10. What is the BANG squad?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tunnels and a castle play important plot roles in this story, but also serve a symbolic function. In a detailed analysis, describe how the reader encounters each symbol, what the symbols mean, if they change in meaning as the plot progresses, and what each has to do with the character of Cal Moore.

Essay Topic 2

Point of view technique mediates the flow of information between author and reader. Write an essay that analyzes the point of view of this novel. Offer detailed descriptions of how the narrative voice actually tells the story. Finally, critique the point of view by offering your analytical opinion about how it enhanced (or did not enhance) the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Many of the best and most successful mysteries are structured through withholding information. Whether it is a first person narrator who is unreliable, or characters who lie to each other or the reader, this kind of information mediation is a key technique of fiction writing. Construct a thesis that responds to Connelly's use of this technique and the way he withholds information from the reader or from his characters and write an argumentative essay.

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