Ransom Written by Lois Duncan
Setting: The story takes place in New Mexico
Time: The story occurs during the winter.
Characters: Buck is one of the three people who are kidnapping the children. He is tempered easily. He doesn’t really care for others much. Rita is Buck’s wife. She is not very pretty and gets drug into schemes by Buck. She feels he will leave her if she doesn’t follow directions. Juan is the other kidnapper who does more of the dirty work. He is the one who calls the parents for the money. He’s the one who shot the bus driver. Glenn is one of the boys who were kidnapped. He’s very popular and has friends and thinks that nobody dislikes him. He’s handsome and very athletic. Glenn’s brother Bruce is into more technology stuff. He is not very handsome and looks up to his brother a lot. He is physically challenged because his body is underdeveloped. Dexter doesn’t have a mother or father. He lives with his bachelor uncle who’s always away on business trips. He is liked fairly well. He is happy with his life. Jesse is new to everyone. She moves around the world quite a lot. She’s very mature compared to the others. Marianne has two brothers. Her parents are divorced and her mother remarried another man. She thinks that her real dad still loves her and will rescue her and doesn’t care much for her new father.
Conflict: The group’s main problem is that they are being held ransom and they don’t know whether they’ll ever be rescued. The group is concerned that their parents won’t be able to get the whole amount of money so they are faced with the fact of having to runaway in order to escape their kidnappers.
Plot: The kids are getting on the bus to go home after another ordinary day at high school. They noticed they had a substitute bus driver. He missed a couple of stops so Bruce volunteered to show him the way. When only the five kids who live on Valley Gardens are left, the bus driver drives past their subdivision without stopping. The kids complain and he tells them to shut up. The bus pulls off to the side of the road next to a waiting car. He orders them to get off the bus and into the car. By this time the kids realized they were being kidnapped. A woman is in the car, whose name is Rita. She drives them to a cabin about two hours away. When they arrive, the kids are fed stew. The boys were sent...
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...ased the brakes until coming to a complete stop. Juan and Glenn, knowing where they were going, went to the door leaving the dad alone to get the money. Upon entering the cabin, Juan asked him for the money. He replied quickly that first he needs to see his daughter. The children came out. There was a sudden movement by Glenn which attracted the attention on him long enough for Marianne’s father to pull out the pistol. He pistol whipped Juan and held the gun towards Rita. Rita suddenly started screaming in Spanish asking where Buck was. They told her he was dead and ordered her to put her hands above her head. He handed the gun to Glenn motioning him to stay here and watch the two as he went for the cops and took the others.
Evaluation: I thought the book was very exciting and suspenseful like her other books. The book had very good detail and an interesting plot. I liked the twist when Juan and the girl’s father came upon Glenn walking down the road. I also liked how the author described the action in great detail. It made me feel like I was right there seeing it all happen firsthand. I don’t think that the author could’ve made this book any better than she did already.
Bill goes to trial for the death of Mary and they sentence him guilty. Mary’s mom cried after the verdict was announced. Ralph hears the news about Bill and he begins to break down and feels guilty, he keeps saying that he needs to see Jack. Ralph finally sees Jack and beats him up, which finally escalates till Mae to call the police. The drug raid was busted and all the people involved in the operation were arrested. Blanche tells the police what really happened, that Bill was framed by Ralph and it was all their faults. Bill got off of trail because there was new evidence that corroborated his innocence. Blanche then jumps out of the window right before she was going to either be prosecuted for accessory to murder or going to be used as a suspect against Ralph. Before she actually jumped she reminisced about how she affected and basically ruined Bill’s life since he cheated on her then got his girlfriend killed. Then Ralph is put through a mental institution because they believed he had to be crazy to act the way he did. Then the original guy at the beginning says his last few words about how marijuana could take over anyone’s
The main characters in this story are 6 friends from Cedarville Middle School, a crooked businessman, and a Doberman Pincher. Griffin Bing is, “The Man With The Plan,” and he organizes the missions this group of friends get involved in. Ben Slovak is Griffins best friend and he has a ferret that goes everywhere with him to help him with his narcolepsy or sleep disorder. Pitch Benson is an expert at mountain climbing and she helps them get into impossible places. Melissa Dukakis is a computer expert which comes in handy for eves dropping. Logan Kellerman is an actor and he is good at distracting people. Savannah Drysdale is an animal whisperer which has helped them get past guard dogs. S. Wendell Palomino or, “Swindle” is a crooked businessman who has caused these friends a lot of problems. Luthor is a huge temperamental Doberman who be...
I really enjoyed all of the characters and this book tremendously. Both Lupe's and Juan's mother were very strong and God fearing women. They had a very strong bind between their children who were taught values and morals. This book made me want to know my ancestral routes and learn more about my culture. Since this book was a true story about Victor Villasenor's family, it made the stories even more real. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves to read.
In my eyes I loved the book I rate it a 9/10, its had a good twist and turn to it. I loved this
Strange things began to happen the next couple days. First, Joey was in the living room of Grandma’s house making a jig saw puzzle. He heard the sound of a horses hooves walking slowly on the street then the sound stopped in front of the house and heard someone put something in Grandma’s mail box. Joey heard the horse walk away and a little while later Grandma’s mailbox blew up. Next, Ms. Wilcox’s outhouse was destroyed by a cherry bomb. Then, a dead mouse was found floating in the bottle of milk that was delivered to the front
After a basketball game, four kids, Andrew Jackson, Tyrone Mills, Robert Washington and B.J. Carson, celebrate a win by going out drinking and driving. Andrew lost control of his car and crashed into a retaining wall on I-75. Andy, Tyrone, and B.J. escaped from the four-door Chevy right after the accident. Teen basketball star and Hazelwood high team captain was sitting in the passenger's side with his feet on the dashboard. When the crash happened, his feet went through the windshield and he was unable to escape. The gas tank then exploded and burned Robbie to death while the three unharmed kids tried to save him.
A hit was put out on Taylor and Zavala by leaders of the Mexican drug cartel because they were becoming a nuisance. This hit was carried out by the same Latino gang members who had previously done a drive-by shooting of a rival gang. The officers were enticed towards their imminent deaths with a car chase which was set up by the Latino gang members. This chase led them towards an apartment complex which was rigged with many gang members and artillery to ensure that neither Taylor nor Zavala would survive. The two were ambushed but decided that gunning their way out was their best option. When the officers made it to an alley they were met by another Latino gang member who fired at Taylor and Zavala, hitting Taylor once in the chest before being shot and killed by Zavala. Zavala went to aid Taylor who appeared to be quickly dying and called out for help. Before police back up arrived the original Latino gang members found Zavala in the...
After they found that they thought there's more to this and they started adventure to find the person this belongs too. Without giving away the plot, the story rapidly gets better. Plus, it leaves you with clues to work out. Also explains how the boys feel about searching for the person whom bag this is and etc. Also teaches to stay a couple step of the police officers and other criminal justice people. The 3 boys life is based on who just wanted simple life and get away from the corruption government who cares. The author Andy Mulligan has fitted this story to be a perfect plot to keep the reader guessing like he did me. Andy, use a twisting plot to make sure if you do anything make sure you stay ahead of the law enforcement. He, also used a unique setting of his story in such a good detail so you can image it in your head. But if you're not at a certain age some parts are disturbing to little kids. One part that scares ad disturb a lot of people is the “Prison cages” because when you a little kid you don’t see yourself in jail nor behind bars. Another thing that can have you scared is “ Police Brutally” because we supposed to look at cops are people to save us and help us. Not to hurt us and etc. And, this book is for both boys and
A couple days later, Buck is outraged. He goes to Tracy’s house again screaming for her to come out of the house. This time he doesn’t let up. Tracy then calls the police again and tells them that Buck is outside her house again and wants a patrol car to come by the house. The officer takes a detour back to the station. The officer takes forever to get to the house.
There are six main characters in this story: Mark, David, Susan, Jeff, Betsy, and Mr. Griffin. The most influential would be Mark. He is the one who comes up with the plan to kidnap Mr. Griffin. He is not a very good student and has a reputation of being a "bad boy." Next there is David. David is supposed to be one of the better kids in the story. He is a senior who is in the same class as Mark and the other characters. His role in the kidnapping is to get Susan to go along with the plan., and to help with the kidnapping itself. He seems to be a rather good kid in the beginning of the story but he progresses to be one of the bad ones. He has a very stressful home life with his mom and grandma. Then there is Susan. Susan is the good student and kid of the group. She is thought of as unpopular and a geek. She is very bright considering that she is a junior and is taking an English IV class. She is supposed to distract Mr. Griffin by having a meeting with him after school on the day of the event. She then gets pulled into the conflict even further when she wants to go to the police when Mr. Griffin dies. She almost gets
After breakfast Lizzie went outside to the barn to find some metal of some sort so that she could use it on her planned fishing trip that day. In the twenty minutes she spent in the barn her parents were murdered (Martins, Michael, and Binette 78).
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
On one side, there is Kathy Nicolo and Sheriff Lester Burdon who want the house from which Kathy was evicted. It previously belonged to Kathy’s father and she is reluctant to relinquish possession of it. Then there is the Behranis, a Persian family who was forced to flee to America in fear of their lives. They want the house because it symbolizes their rise from poverty (they had to leave everything behind and were quite poor when they arrived in the United States) back to affluence which, to this family, will help to restore their family’s dignity, lost when thrust into poverty. The story centers on gaining possession of the house. Unknowingly, all of these characters are doomed to tragedy by their inability to understand each other, hurtling down an explosive collision course.
have chosen it for my report. Finally, I will give my reactions to the novel
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