Style Analysis for See them Die, McBain aims to lead the reader into the bleak litter-strewn environment of a crowded American slum with its inherent threat of violence. Two dominating forces, Heat and July, established in the first two words, emerge as double personifications, prostitutes, in the first paragraph, their brazen ‘vengeance’, strutting insolently, garishly, born to make you suffer. Here the tone is aggressive, and menacing as McBain establishes the control his ‘twin bitches’ …showed first 75 words of 491 total…

…showed last 75 words of 491 total…heat in paragraph four, and then to the dissonant sounds, amid the overwhelming heat, in the final paragraph. These two developments add to the overall lethargy and sense of oppression he has built steadily, adding a sensory element to the scene with its underlying feeling of hopelessness and impending trouble. This grim opening framework of the novel leaves the reader in no doubt that what follows in the desolate ‘87th precinct’ will not be pleasant.