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 does Hadiyah say her father is cooking for dinner?

2. What does Jimmy take from the potting shed?

3. Why does Gariella say she took Ken's car the night of his death?

4. Who does Ken move in with when he returns to London?

5. What does Helen do for Lynley that she has never done before?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is it easy to believe that Jimmy could have killed his own father?

2. What does Nkata uncover about Chris's alibi?

3. How did Miriam help Ken into the Kent cricket team?

4. How does Nkata help Lynley and Havers at the beginning of chapter ten?

5. How did Olivia's relationship with Chris and Miriam's relationship with Kenneth mirror one another?

6. Why is it difficult for Lynley to believe that Jimmy is the murderer?

7. How does Olivia imagine her reunion with her mother?

8. What information does Gariella give Lynley about the case?

9. How does Havers meet the young girl in chapter eleven?

10. What runs through Lynley's mind as he tries to get to Jimmy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look at the structure of the book.

1. How does the author use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

2. Discuss elements of the narrative structure; Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's themes?

Essay Topic 2

What has happened in Olivia's recent past? How has she managed to get over the problems from her past? How important has Chris been in helping her get over her problems? How has Olivia's past shaped her into the person she is in the story?

Essay Topic 3

How has Jean and Kenneth's difficult marriage effect Jimmy? Why does their relationship make it easy to believe Jimmy's confession of murder?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 950 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample