RIDE THE LIGHTNING

RIDE THE LIGHTNING

1. Setting

   • Witnesses
   • The couple's flat
   • Jail
   • Missouri
   • The judge court

2. Vocabulary

   • Pump:
     • to force liquid, air, etc. into or out of something.
   • Ruffle:
     • to push a hand quickly and gently through someone’s hair (often to show fondness for that person).
   • Trigger:
     • the part of a gun which you pull to fire it.
   • Cripple:
     • someone who cannot move their body properly because of an injury, illness, or disease.
   • Graze:
     • scratch or slight injury to the skin.

3. Questions

   • Who said this, and to whom? Who or what were they talking about?
     • ‘Curtis doesn’t belong in it, and I can prove it.’
       • Holly Ann, to Nudger, about the electric chair in which Curtis was going to be executed next week.
     • ‘Why should I worry about it any more?’
       • Randy Gantner, to Nudger, about the Curtis Colt case, in which he had been a witness.
     • The jury didn’t believe it. Neither do I.’
       • Police Lieutenant Jack Hammersmith, to Nudger, about the idea that it had been the car driver, and not Curtis Colt, who shot the storekeeper.
     • They don’t want to live knowing they might have made a mistake and killed an innocent man.’
       • Holly Ann, to Nudger, about the fact that none of the witnesses wanted to change their mind about identifying Curtis as the killer.
     • Watching her trailer would be a waste of time.’
       • Hammersmith, to Nudger, about Nudger’s suggestion that Holly Ann’s trailer should be watched to see if ‘Len’ turned up again

4. Plot

   • No one thought Curtis Colt had been railroaded for the shooting of a liquor store owner, least of all St. Louis private investigator Alo Nudger. It had been an open-and-shut case of cold blooded murder, and the people of Missouri were just waiting for Colt to be strapped into the electric chair—after all, three eyewitnesses couldn't be wrong. But as time runs out on the convicted killer, Nudger receives a call from Candy Ann Adams, Colt's fiance, who insists he's innocent, because she knows who really pulled the trigger. Despite his better judgment, Nudger takes the case, finding the trail cold and witnesses colder still. But, just as he prepares to abandon the case and leave Colt to his fate, Nudger comes across new evidence that convinces him that maybe Candy Ann is right, maybe the wrong man has been sentenced to 'ride the lightning'.

5. Opinion

   • Nudger gets hired by a woman to prove that her fiance, who is about to be executed, is innocent. John Escott 'Curtis Colt didn't kill that liquor store woman, and that's a fact. It's not right that he should have to ride the lightning - that's what prisoners call dying in the electric chair. Curtis doesn't belong in it, and I can prove it.' But can Curtis's girlfriend prove it? Murder has undoubtedly been done, an d if Curtis doesn't ride the lightning for it, then who will? These seven short stories, by well-known writers such as Dashiel Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, and Nancy Pickard, will keep you on the edge of your seat. I think that is an amazing story.

6. Characters Description

   • Lee
   • The woman
   • Curtis Colt
   • The fake eyewitnesses
   • Alo nudger
   • Holly Ann

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