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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. What did Charles Gleeson think of Betty Sue's acting ability?

2. Who was with Betty Sue the night she disappeared?

3. What is Albert Griffith's occupation?

4. What does Sughrue recall about his torture technique and his discharge from Vietnam?

5. How does Sughrue describe Albert Griffith?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Trahearne's novels parallel his personality and life?

2. How do Selma Hinds' actions characterize her?

3. What does Sughrue's drastic actions with Jackson say about his involvement in the case?

4. What does Sughrue's interactions with Jackson show about his investigative skills?

5. What tone is set when Sughrue says people in his business need "a moral certitude that I no longer even claimed to possess"?

6. How does Sughrue treat Charles Gleeson? Why?

7. How does Betty Sue have the power to make Sughrue fall under her spell when they have never met?

8. How does Peggy Blain's explanation of Betty Sue contribute to the development of Betty Sue's allure?

9. What prompts Sughrue to say he will "rise and do what [he] knew he had to do, to what [he] owed the women"?

10. How would Sughrue be affected by his experiences in Vietnam and the discovery of the butchered 14-year old boy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Map Trahearne's injuries and hospitalizations. What did each hospitalization symbolize?

Essay Topic 2

How does Melinda's desire to live her own life contribute to her death?

Essay Topic 3

Many characters manipulate themselves out of trouble with the police. Does this happen at certain points during the plot? How does the timing of this manipulation add to the plot?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 779 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample