Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. 14 (Chapter 1)

2. George Harvey (Chapter 1)

3. Franny is Susie’s counselor. She has been murdered. (Chapter 2)

4. He is the detective assigned to Susie’s case. (Chapter 2)

5. Susie’s soul touched Ruth on her ascension to heaven. (Chapter 3)

6. He gives two separate names for her–Leah and Sophie. (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. People felt their neighborhoods were inherently safe; more and brutal crimes were rare or unreported. (Chapter 1)

2. Susie’s statement indicates that she is not yet fully aware of the finality of death or the seriousness of her sister’s situation. While Susie is still able to observe her family, Lindsey is left to cope with the realization that she will never see Susie in her life again. The way that Susie wishes to cheer her sister is a sign of her age and immaturity. (Chapter 2)

Chapters 6-9

Reading Check

1. His wife is dead. (Chapter 6)

2. Susie has tried not to reveal herself to Buckley to protect him. (Chapter 7)

3. His father abandons her in New Mexico and his mom chases after them while they drive off. (Chapter 8)

4. An amber necklace with a fly sealed inside (Chapter 8)

5. He places Susie’s studio photo in a volume of Indian poetry and presses flowers into it. (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Harvey feels intimately connected to his victims and even refers to them as his deceased wives on occasion. He probably attends the funeral to relive his crime, which is why he moved Susie’s body in earlier chapters. (Various chapters)

2. Up to this point Jack has been wrestling with the failure to protect Susie as he felt he should have. He is also convinced that he must do something to assist the police in solving Susie’s murder. He is relieved to be at the memorial because he feels that he can be honest about his grief. (Various chapters)

Chapters 10-14

Reading Check

1. Susie must let go of what happened to her on earth. (Chapter 10)

2. He kills lesser beings to curb his compulsion to kill children. (Chapter 11)

3. He believes Harvey is returning to the scene of the crime and is mistakenly beaten by Clarissa’s boyfriend after he believes Jack is trying to harm Clarissa. (Chapter 11)

4. She believes his house oozes malevolence and decides Jack is right in suspecting him. (Chapter 13)

5. She discovers the drawing of the hole underneath the cornfield. (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. Susie mentions early in the novel that she only had one picture of the real Abigail, indicating that Abigail is only playing a part in the family, but not necessarily being who she is. Susie also says that her mother wanted to be a teacher but gave up that dream after her pregnancy with Buckley. Susie says her father grew closer to his children while her mother grew more distant from them.  (Various chapters)

2. Harvey says he is a widower, that he met his wife at the park, and that he has a family. This deflects suspicion because people feel sorry for him because of the loss of his wife and feel that because Harvey has his own family, he is not capable of vicious crimes. (Various chapters)

Chapters 15-Snapshots

Reading Check

1. Harvey claims to have been trying to solve the murder himself. (Chapter 15)

2. Harvey’s crying and the evidence of his extreme loneliness make the cops uncomfortable. (Chapter 15)

3. With a candlelight vigil in the cornfield (Chapter 15)

4. When she finds her mother’s scarf on Fenerman’s desk (Snapshots)

5. The memorial he made for Susie (Snapshots)

Short Answer

1. Harvey appears to have had a terrible childhood. His father and mother were abusive. Harvey describes his father taking him and abandoning his mother. Harvey also describes a time when his mother would ask him to steal for her and would shower him with her love if he succeeded in doing so. Harvey also says he witnessed his mother running over a man in her vehicle. The author might be offering or questioning the idea that evil is not born but is created through the evil person’s environment. (Various chapters)

2. Through the loss of one child Abigail is slowly distancing herself from her other children and “losing” them as well. She also puts her children in danger through her negligence. (Various chapters)

Chapters 17-20

Reading Check

1. In a dilapidated Victorian house he has decided to repair (Chapter 17)

2. By looking at the photos of her that Susie took (Chapter 17)

3. He has a heart attack. (Chapter 18)

4. Because she never wanted a child (Chapter 19)

5. Susie’s Pennsylvania keychain (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Because Jack was so consumed with grief throughout the novel and because he tried to preserve Susie’s things long after her death, Buckley indicates that Jack was selfish by not realizing Susie belonged to all of them. (Chapter 18)

2. She means that Buckley has spent so much time not permitting himself to love his mother that he refused to let her into his life. Rather than feeling the pain of the absence of his family, Buckley has opted to harden his heart to those who neglected him. (Various chapters)

Chapters 21-Bones

Reading Check

1. A police car pulls up behind Harvey when he is staking out Lindsey’s house. (Chapter 21)

2. She inhabits Ruth’s body. (Chapter 22)

3. She was waiting to hear from her mother. (Chapter 23)

4. Grandma Lynn (Bones)

5. Abigail Suzanne (Bones)

Short Answer

1. Not only does Harvey die alone without being discovered for several weeks, like many of his victims, but he is also killed with an icicle. Earlier in the book, Susie says the best way to kill someone would be with an icicle. (Various chapters)

2. She likely means that before she tried so hard to fit the role of being a mother and wife that she would not permit herself to make mistakes, like leaving the dishes in the sink. Because she was so anxious about her role, she did not take the time to stop and enjoy it. (Various chapters)