Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Top 10 List: Outside Reading

Top 10 List:

1. Lucas is one of the most important characters in Broken Prey. He is the lead detective in all of the murders that suddenly start to occur in Minnesota, and they're all some how linked to one another. Lucas is based in Minneapolis, MN but works all over the state and has assisted in the arrests of many high profile killers. This new killer though is quite intriguing, mainly because his victims are not clearly linked to one another. This detective has really got his work cut out for him this time; having to make trips all over the state to different mental health hospitals, different cities to pick up information on the victims and possible suspects, and then having to somehow piece together everything that is going on before another murder happens.

2. Sloan is another of the important characters. Like Lucas he is one of the lead detectives in the Larson and Rice murders that happened in Minnesota. Unlike Lucas, he is the one that does most of the behind-the-scenes work on these cases and doesn't stay out in the spot light. Sloan is the guy who gets all the background information and analyzes the evidence found in the crime scenes. But similarly to Lucas, he has arrested many high profile serial killers; such as The Big Three, who are later found out to be the main influences of this new killer by the name of Charlie Pope.

3. Charlie Pope is probably the most important character based on the fact that he is the one causing all the commotion. Pope was kept in a mental health facility for many years because of his known violence mixed with his stupidity and uncontrollable need for sexual activity. He was always under constant surveillance. When he was released on parole he took up a job as a garbage man and was fitted with an ankle bracelet. He was doing well for quite sometime but then suddenly disappeared from all knowledge. Being under the influence of The Big Three from the psych ward had helped convince him that he wanted to commit murder and have that feeling of being all powerful like God.

4. The Larson murder is the first event in the book that starts the story line. The Larson murder was the first of Charlie Pope's killings, and it was a very gruesome scene to see. Angela Larson was found by a creek at the end of the street that she lived on; but the way the murder was done and how she was left was what really caused everyone to get a tingle down their spines. Larson was first stripped of her clothing, raped a few times throughout the killing, whipped with what appeared to be a metal of some sort and a very sharp metal to add, her throat was slit, and then finally Pope had posed her body in such a fashion that was most pleasing to him. This is what first caused worry throughout the Minnesota police department since no prints or anything useful could be found at the scene of the crime.

5. The Rice murder was the second consecutive murder from Charlie Pope. This was the next event that caused Lucas and Sloan to believe that this could be the beginnings of a new serial killer. The murder of Adam Rice and his young son was eerily identical to that of Angela Larson in many ways. Adam Rice was found in his living room of his Dakota County farm home; he too was stripped of his clothes, raped several times throughout the entire event, whipped with the same sharp metal as Angela had, and his throat was slit as well. But there were few differences in this case, such as the fact that Adam was hung by his arms from the ceiling light during his killing and Pope had taken a souvenir with him, Pope had cut off Rice's prostate after he had killed him. Another difference between the two of the murders was the fact that Adam's son was killed, according to the scene, his son had surprised Pope and tried to run out of the house to get help, but while he was running Pope had smashed the kid's head in with a metal baseball bat which he had later cleaned and threw into a near by bean field.

6. When a Star Tribune writer, Ruffe Ignace, was contacted by Charlie Pope himself, it set the entire investigation on high speed to catch him. While talking to Ruffe, Pope had given away a few details that were desperately needed, but weren't as helpful as they would've hoped. Charlie had told Ruffe that he had his next victim and that it was another female and he also gave his intended place of killing her. Pope explained in great detail how he was planning on taking her up to the Boundary Waters area out in the woods somewhere, do as much as he pleased with her, and then the next morning strip her down and give her a head start out into the woods then go and track her down. While Charlie is explaining this, Ruffe is taking down exact notes of the entire conversation and word for word as well. Ignace soon finds out that his last article about the killings had inspired Charlie to up his game and get a straight razor to kill his victims with, and he had also warned them that he was getting smarter and more carefully planning his murders down to a T.

7. After a long and failed high speed car chase after Charlie Pope is finished and done with, Lucas receives a call informing him that they have infact found Carlita Peterson. The scene was a terrifying one to see; Carlita was found hanging from a bar on a near-by building. Her murder was different than all the rest of them, she had her throat slit much like the other two, but after she was dead she was slashed open and then completely gutted. So Pope had left her carcass just hanging out for her entire community to see. This one was by far the most brutal and gruesome to see. This had made everyone realize that Pope was becoming more uncontrolled with is killings and it worried them that there would be another one within the next few days.

8. This event is one of the most shocking discoveries in Broken Prey. Immediately after the Peterson murder, Lucas was brought in to talk to his boss John Hopping Crow, and they had a serious matter to converse about. Crow had informed Lucas that there was a body that was discovered in the Minnesota River a few days earlier. The body that was found was that of a male and according to the medical examiner it had been there for a little over a month now. They got some DNA samples from that body and it had matched up with some DNA they already had registered for Charlie Pope. This turning point makes everyone realize that they've been looking for the wrong guy, because the guy they've been looking for was dead. The weird thing though is that the DNA matched the blood that was found under Rice's fingernails. When that blood sample was further studied they came to realize that the blood cells had bursted, which meant that the blood was previously frozen.

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