Shelter Character Analysis

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“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Ghandi recited in hopes of inspiring youth. Mickey Bolitar, the main character in Shelter by Harlan Coben, becomes strongly affected by his words. Mickey takes action when no one else will, and in the end, saves the helpless. Coben’s 2011 suspense novel, Shelter, features a girl gone missing. Ashley's disappearance boggles the minds of many. Until, the crime pulls together a mismatched group of friends. United as one, the three work together through the twisted kidnapping. Visiting Bat Lady, raiding the school's surveillance cameras and visiting Plan B, all in hope to save Ashley before it's too late.Shelter meets the guidelines for a quality mystery. The reader shares in the detectives discoveries, …show more content…

Shelter fulfils this mystery genre requirement because the reader understands the suspect's motive, vengeance. Antoine explains the Ameba Shelter, the secret agency trying to recover Ashley, and the kidnappers under the name of The Club to Mickey. Mickey realizes the criminal's motive for the crime when Antoine subtly states,“‘Ashley's mom… her life was not a good one. She ended up down here, dancing and more for Buddy Ray. Ashley was the only thing in her life that mattered. She protected her daughter as best she could, tried to find her a better way of life’ ‘But?’ I said. ‘But she died. Women like her… they don't last long. And when she died, Ashley had no one. Buddy Ray said that she owed him money. He told Ashley that she'd have to pay off the debts.’”(259-260). This quote clearly shows the criminal's motive, vengeance, because Buddy Ray, the kidnapper, forces Ashley to work for him against her will only because her mother worked at the club and owed him money she couldn't pay off before her death. In conjunction with vengeance, lust also motivates the criminal. The reader discovers this when Mickey discovers Ashley works at The Club, a strip club (201) and again when Ashley gets trapped in the basement of The Club and Buddy Ray caresses her face while flirting with Ashley against her will (273) This example shows the motive lust because Buddy Ray employed Ashley at a sexual establishment. Buddy Ray touching her and flirting with her also strongly shows that lust motivates the criminal for kidnapping. The criminal motives, vengeance and lust, become clear throughout the novel, and the reader clearly understands them. So, Shelter meets this mystery genre