Think of a Number (2010) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

• Jason Strunk: Serial killer
• Dave Gurney: Retired superstar detective who is trying to let go of his obsession with his past job so he can focus on his retirement and his marriage.Had a record for the most homicide arrests in the history of the NYPD.
• Mark Mellery: Acquaintance of Dave Gurney who gets Dave involved in the initial investigation.
• Jack Hardwick: Senior investigator and a loud, obscene, red faced man with a prematurely white crew cut and pale malamute eyes. A relentless banterer. But also smart, tireless, and politically incorrect with a vengeance
• Gregory Dermott: His PO Box was being used by the murderer
• DA Sheridan Kline: Politician. D.A.
• Madeleine Gurney: Dave's wife
• Captain Rodriguez: Chief of police
• John Nardo: Lieutenant, Wycherly , Connecticut PD
• Wigg: Police Sergeant with an unusual voice pitched between between a male and female
• Tom Cruise Blatt: Investigator
• Kyle: Dave's son by a previous marriage.
• Mike Gowacki: Detective from Sotherton, Massachusetts. Heavily built with thinning hair.
• Sonya Reynolds: Dave's business partner.
• Dr Rebecca Holdenfield 362: Looked like Sigourney Weaver.Consulting forensic psychologist with the most accurate profiling record
• Dave Gurney: John Verdon set up his super detective for a show down with a super criminal. I haven't come to the final showdown yet, but I'm thinking the implacable Gurney will win.
• Albert Rudden: Out of night watchman and murder victim
• Sotherton: Add a description of this character.
• Dave Gurney: This retired NYC homocide detective fits the role. Great character.
• Mr. Arybdis: This mysterious killer, calls Dave Gurney multiple times, pulling him deeper into the trap he is setting for the hero.
• David
• Richard Kartch
• Stimmel
• Dr. Thrasher
• Tommy Milakos
• Justin Bale: Mark Mellery's assistant instructer.
• Randy Clamm: Homicide detective from the Bronx, energetic, intelligent, dedicated.
• Jimmy Spinks
• Richard Kartch: Lived alone, unemployed, stupid, dirty, dangerous, crazy, stinks, armed to the teeth and usually drunk.
• Gary Sissek
• Bruce Wellstone
• Carl Smale: Caddy's friend
• Mrs Rudden: Wife of murder victim Albert Rudden unemployed night watchman and mother of 12 year old Jonah.
• Pasquale Cachese
• Ellie
• Jonah
• Ellen Rackoff
• Karen
• Duane Merkly
• Susan MacNeil
• Patty Cakes
• Danny
• Mrs. Scylla
• Kalkan
• Paul Plumstone
• Picardo
• Erin
• Caddy Mellery
• Rod Rodriguez
• Michael McGrath
• Peter Possum Piggert
• Arlo Blatt
• X. Arybdis
• Mr. Gurney

Quotes edit see section history

• “Page 121. Bad things happen to good people. But these good people do not then spend the rest of their lives gnashing their teeth and replaying over and over their resentful mental video tape of the burglary. The personal collisions that upset us the most, the ones we seem powerless to let go of, are those in which we played a role that we are unwilling to acknowledge. Tha'ts why the pain lasts -- because we refuse to at its source.”

• “How frequently she'd once looked at him that way in the early years of there marriage, how wonderful it had been to receive so often in so many ways the loving approval of such a fiercely intelligent woman, how priceless was the bond between them. And there it was again, or at least a delightful hint of it, alive in her eyes. 346”

• “The purpose of life is to is to get as close as we can to other people.An isolated life is a wasted life.”

  Gurney's therapist

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “The worst pain in our lives comes from the mistakes we refuse to acknowledge—the things we’ve done that are so out of harmony with who we are that we can’t bear to look at them.

  Highlighted by 143 Kindle customers

• The personal collisions that upset us the most, the ones we seem powerless to let go of, are those in which we played a role that we are unwilling to acknowledge. That’s why the pain lasts—because we refuse to look at its source. We cannot detach it, because we refuse to look at the point of attachment.”

  Highlighted by 141 Kindle customers

• “The purpose of life is to get as close as we can to other people.”

  Highlighted by 105 Kindle customers

• “We each seem to be wired to believe my situation causes my problems but your personality causes yours. This creates trouble. My desire to have everything my way seems to make sense, while your desire to have everything your way seems infantile. A better day would be a day during which I felt better and you behaved better. The way I see things is the way they are. The way you see things is warped by your agenda.”

  Highlighted by 93 Kindle customers

• It was a curious thing about the past—how it lay in wait for you, quietly, invisibly, almost as though it weren’t there. You might be tempted to think it was gone, no longer existed. Then, like a pheasant flushed from cover, it would roar up in an explosion of sound, color, motion—shockingly alive.

  Highlighted by 85 Kindle customers

• How many bright angels can dance on a pin? How many hopes drown in a bottle of gin? Did the thought ever come that your glass was a gun and one day you’d wonder, God, what have I done?

  Highlighted by 76 Kindle customers

• “I do what I’ve done not for money or fun but for debts to be paid, amends to be made. For blood that’s as red as a painted rose. So every man knows he reaps what he sows.”

  Highlighted by 63 Kindle customers

• What you took you will give when you get what you gave. I know what you think, when you blink, where you’ve been, where you’ll be. You and I have a date, Mr. 658.

  Highlighted by 52 Kindle customers

• The mind is a mass of contradictions and conflicts. We lie to make others trust us. We hide our true selves in the pursuit of intimacy. We chase happiness in ways that drive happiness away. When we’re wrong we fight the hardest to prove we’re right.”

  Highlighted by 49 Kindle customers

• matter-of-fact tone, the corollary: “An isolated life is a wasted life.”

  Highlighted by 16 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Wycherly
• Connecticut
• Peony
• Massachusetts
• New York
• Ithaca
• Walnut Crossing
• Catskills

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• barrette: A small clasp for holding the hair in place.
• bucolic: Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic. See Synonyms at rural. 2. Of or characteristic of shepherds or flocks; pastoral. n.
• frisson 58: A moment of intense excitement; a shudder
• baroque: relating to, or characteristic of a style in art and architecture developed in Europe from the early 17th to mid-18th century, emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.
• eponymous: One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g., Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant Julian's
• ersatz: Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement
• eclectec: ec·lec·tic/iˈklektik/Adjective:Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.Noun:A person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
• vacuity: adj. 1. Devoid of matter; empty. 2. a. Lacking intelligence; stupid. b. Devoid of substance or meaning; inane: a vacuous comment.
• ruminative: 1. To turn a matter over and over in the mind. 2. To chew cud. v.tr. To reflect on over and over.The act of pondering; meditation
• picayune pg 107: Of little value or importance; paltry, trivial. 2. Petty; mean. n. 1. A Spanish-American half-real piece formerly used in parts of the southern US.trivial
• malamute eyes pg 141 Description of Jack Hardwick: Eyes are almond-shaped and should be various shades of brown (from dark to light, honey or hazel brown)Malamutes are an Alaskan dog breed
• Chiropractor: A Chiropractor is a Doctor who has extensive knowledge of the neuro-musculoskeletal system.
• larcenous: Guilty of or given to larceny.
• vignette: Vignette is a word that originally meant "something that may be written on a vine-leaf". It may refer to: Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books. , a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object.
• miasma: noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere. 2. a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence
• bilious: Affected by or associated with nausea or vomiting. (of a color) Lurid or sickly.
• stanchion: an upright bar, beam, or post used as a support; ☆ a restraining device fitted loosely around the neck of a cow to confine it to its stall.
• Drywall: Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Shut Your Eyes Tight.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. John Verdon (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers