Blog Post #5: Marked

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     A suspenseful moment in my book, “Marked” by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, was when Zoey was visited by the Vampyre Tracker waiting for her at her locker. In my opinion, the authors created a very good moment of suspense in many different ways.

      First off, the authors made the moment so that the book was written in first person so the main character was the narrator as well as us being told her opinion on the setting and scene. So, while Zoey was walking towards the locker and first sees the tracker, Zoey thinks about him and in her mind is saying, “Then I saw him. The dead guy.”. This shows us that she's aware of what may happen and we slowly get fed details about what could happen in the story also. This adds to the suspense since we aren't fully shown what will happen.

      Secondly, the mood also adds a lot to the suspense when the authors describe what the Tracker looks like and the feelings being felt around the Tracker. Specifically when the authors write, “There was no mistaking what he was and even if I hadn't felt the power and darkness that radiated from him, there was no frickin' way I could miss his Mark, the sapphire-blue crescent moon on his forehead and the additional tattooing of entwining knot work that framed his equally blue eyes.” This one sentence describes that the mood has automatically deepened and felt darker and scarier which definitely adds to suspense of what will happen to Zoey, the protagonist.

      Finally, the suspense is created greatly by the placement of paragraphs and sentences. The final sentence before there's a large space in the text is, “He lifted one long, white finger and pointed at me. As my forehead exploded in pain Kayla opened her mouth and screamed. “ This sentence adds a lot of fear as the conflict escalates and therefore suspense is created because we still are not positively sure of what has happened to our main character. Since there is also a huge space in the text after this sentence, this creates almost an “ending” to a scene but still the ending is muddy and vague. This helps the suspense continue because of the muddy ending our protagonist could still be in danger but as readers we're unsure.

      Overall, the suspense in this novel is huge and created using many different factors. Falling asleep at night after reading this novel is definitely a challenge!

Cast, P. C., and Kristin Cast. Marked. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007. Print.