Mystery novels are based on brain twisting events or scenarios. A high percentage of mystery novels are fiction, which creates mystification of the reader and the creation of uncertainty between the reader and the story. Steven Owad's Bodycheck is a mystery novel that evidently demonstrates its genre. Mystery novels can have many different categories, Bodycheck falls under the category of a detective mystery. Detective novels are when a character "of amazing deductive intellect follows a trail of clues to solve a puzzle involving a crime" (Hubbin 2). Behn McAvoy, the main character of Bodycheck, he is the deductive intellect who uses vital clues to solve a mystery. The author, Steven Owad, creates suspense and mystery through the structure and organization of the novel. This plot organization creates an effect that mystifies its readers. Suspense, "the state or condition of being unsure or in doubt of something" (Encarta Dictionary), is the uncertainty Owad exploits to his readers.
Bodycheck is a novel that categorizes itself as a mystery through the use suspense.
The structure of a novel is crucially important, sometimes as important as the storyline itself. The typical structure of a novel usually begins by introducing the main characters, and then slowly begins to unravel the story and events over time. The plotline introduces the rising action until it reaches the climax and then finally results in developing a falling action which leads to the resolution. However, Bodycheck significantly differs from other novels from the structure perspective. This novel introduces action early on where Behn is threatened and uses his knowledge of self-defense to save his own life, "Adrenaline fired off jumbled thoughts: You killed a man, you ended a man's life, this cannot have happened" (Owad 6). This unexpected attack on Behn introduces a number of questions such as, who...