P e n g u i n R e a d e r s A n s w e r K e y

l e v e l

INTERMEDIATE

Seven

1 a

pride

b

sloth

c

greed

d

lust

e

gluttony

f

wrath

g

envy

Open answers
2 a

homicide

b

fingerprints/victim/evidence

c

retired/precinct

3 a

Somerset

b

Mills

c

Mills

d

Somerset

e

Somerset

4 a

Somerset. He doesn’t want to go back to
the city. He wants to go back to his new
house in the country.

b

Mills. He thinks Springfield is too small
and unimportant. He wants to be a ‘real’
detective.

c

Somerset. He doesn’t want to see any
more murders, and he feels that a
policeman can’t do anything to change
things.

d

Tracy. She doesn’t like the city’s noise,
dirt and crime. She’s also worried about
her husband because the city is more
dangerous.

e

Mills. He’s angry because he is taken off
the ‘fat man’case.

5 Open answers
6 Open answers
7 a

investigation

b

serial

c

defense

d

link

e

clue

8 a (ii) b (ii) c (iii)
9 a

They were both forced to kill themselves
at gunpoint. The name of a ‘Deadly Sin’
is written at both scenes of crime.

b

Somerset moves the refrigerator and
sees the word ‘Gluttony’written on the
wall. He realizes that this is the work of a
serial killer. He doesn’t think Mills is
experienced enough to manage the
investigation without help.

c

There are circles of blood on the
photograph around the eyes of Gould’ s
wife. This clue suggests that Mrs Gould
can give the detectives some useful
information. When they show Mrs Gould
photographs of the murder scene, she
notices that the modern oil painting is
upside down. Somerset discovers a
message left by the murderer written in
fingerprints on the wall behind the
painting.

10 a

Somerset, when he finds the envelope
and writing on the wall behind the fat
man’s refrigerator. Mills, when he realizes
that there is a link between the murders.

b

Mills, when he sees the note from behind
the fat man’s refrigerator.

c

Somerset, when he decides that he
cannot leave Mills to manage the
investigation alone.

d

Mills (twice), when he thinks that

Answers to Book activities

Somerset believes he is a fool.

e

Mills, when he takes Somerset up to his
apartment for dinner.

f

Tracy, when she sees Somerset’s gun.

g

Mrs Gould, when Mills and Somerset
want to talk to her about her husband’s
murder.

h

Mills, when sees there is nothing on the
wall behind the painting.

i

Tracy, when Somerset tells her that his
marriages didn’t work. Mills. When
Somerset discovers the fingerprint
message behind the painting, Mills
realizes with surprise what a good
detective Somerset is.

11 Open answers
12 a

bandage

b

plead

13 a

True. Mills promises Mrs Gould that they
will catch the killer. Somerset cannot
make that promise.

b

False. They belong to Victor Dworkin.

c

True. There are fifty–two photographs of
him tied to the same bed, one for each
week.

d

False. It’s Somerset’s idea.

e

False. He agrees with some of Doe’s
thoughts, but knows that Doe is a
horrible man.

14 a

When they look at the photograph of
Victor Dworkin, they realize that he
doesn’t look like a killer. There are
fifty–two photographs of Dworkin pinned
to the wall. He is thinner in each
photograph. John Doe develops his own
photographs. He takes pictures of his
victims while they are dying. The
detectives find a photograph of a woman,
who will probably be Doe’s next victim.
There are also photographs in Doe’ s
notebooks.

b

The detectives find John Doe’s name
from a computer list at the library. John
Doe has taken out over thirty books
about death and murder.

c

They find Dworkin’s hand in a glass jar in
John Doe’s apartment. Doe used this
hand to write the fingerprint message
behind the painting on Gould’s office
wall.

d

John Doe writes his thoughts in
thousands of notebooks. Somerset reads
some of them to try and understand
Doe’s mind.

15 Open answers – but possibly because his

plan is for Mills to kill him.

16 She will probably be his next victim.

Because she is sitting on a bed, the sin may
be lust.

17 The police question them because they think

they might be guilty of a crime.

18 a

Somerset to Tracy. The fact that she
can’t sleep and doesn’t feel safe.

b

The doorman of the Hot House Massage
Parlor. The fact that everyone looks
strange and there is a lot of screaming.
(page 35)

c

The policeman at the Massage Parlor (to
Somerset and Mills)
The victim and the suspect. (page 35)

d

The suspect in the Massage Parlor (to
Somerset and Mills)
John Doe (page 36)

e

Mills (he thinks this). Deadly
Sins/murders. (page 37)

f

Mills (to Somerset). The fact that John
Doe comes to the police precinct and
lets the police catch him. (page 40)

19 a ... not to tell her husband if she doesn’t

want the baby.

b ... he doesn’t want to see the dead body

again.

c ... John Doe put a gun in his mouth and

forced him to kill the woman.

d ... she can decide whether to live without

a nose or kill herself.

20 Open answers
21 a

Lawyers and businessmen. (Doctors
have patients, shopkeepers and
taxi–drivers have customers.)

b

doctors/policemen/soldiers

22 Two: envy and wrath
Open answers
23 John Doe has to go straight to the public

lawyer’s office because he isn’t denying the
murders.

24 If Somerset doesn’t agree, John Doe will

plead madness and the two other bodies will
never be found. Then the newspapers will
criticize the police for not trying.

25 The head of Mills’s wife, Tracy.
26 He is afraid that Mills will shoot John Doe.
27–33 Open answers

■ Communicative activities

Open answers except:

Activities after reading a section

Chapter 7

The exact point in the book where Doe talks
about his final plan is in the middle of page 43,
where he says, ‘I envy you, Detective.’

■ Student’s activities

Activities before reading the book

1 (a) in the country

(b) 23 years
(c) the ‘fat man’
(d) no

2 (a) murder

(b) probably not
(c) a difficult one
(d) open answers

3 It is the number of murders that we expect.

Activities while reading the book

Chapter 1

Page 1 to near bottom of page 5
(a) Somerset, (b) Somerset, (c) Mills, (d) Mills,
(e) Mills, (f) Somerset (g) Somerset
Near bottom of page 5 to end of chapter
(a) True
(b)False. He had always been heavy, but not

that heavy.

(c) True
(d) True
(e)False, Somerset thinks there will be more

murders than this one.

(f) False, he puts Somerset on the case.

Chapter 2

Page 10 to near bottom of page 15
(a)Greedy – he defended terrible criminals for

the money.

Answers to Factsheet activities

4

© Pearson Education 2001

P e n g u i n R e a d e r s A n s w e r K e y

Seven

(b)An envelope with a note in and the word

‘gluttony’on the wall.

(c) The words ‘greed’and ‘gluttony’make a

link with the seven deadly sins.

(d)Because they will do the investigation

themselves.

Near bottom of page 15 to end of

chapter

1 (a) When they were at school.

(b) Because he is not easy to be with.
(c) He made him cut out a piece of his

body and weigh it.

(d) It is upside down.

2

The blue stuff is important because it
shows that someone forced Eubanks to
eat.
The painting is important because it
shows that the killer left a clue for the
police.
The fingerprints are important because
the police think they will lead them to
the killer.

Chapter 3

1 (a) (iii), (b) (i), (c) (i), (d) (iii)
2 (a) He has kept Dworkin alive for a year

and has paid the rent on his
apartment.

(b) To use Dworkin’s fingers to put

fingerprints on the wall in Gould’s
office.

(c) It is the name used in the USAto

mean ‘the ordinary person’.

Chapter 4

1 (a) from the public library list

(b) Doe attacks him.
(c) Open answers
(d) Dworkin’s
(e) Doe
(f) because there were photos of his

victims in his apartment

Chapter 5

(a) Tracy calls Somerset.
(b)They meet near the precinct house, in a

coffee shop.

(c) She is not working in a school at

present; she’s looking for a job.

(d)He advises her to tell Mills if she wants

to have the baby.

(e)It reminds him of a scene from hell.
(f) The girl is covered in blood.
(g)The victim is a blonde-haired girl.
(h)Doe had a gun.

Chapter 6

1 (a) John Doe, (b) Somerset, (c) Tracy,

(d) John Doe, (e) Somerset, (f)
California, (g) Mills, (h) John Doe

2

Open answers

Chapter 7

(a) bodies/victims, (b) desert, (c) helicopter,
(d) delivery van, (e) Somerset, (f) box,
g) Tracy’s head, (h) envied, (i) angry,
(j) prison, (k) baby, (1) retire

Activities after reading the book

(a)The last four victims, as Somerset sees

it, are: Tracy and her baby, the victims
of Doe’s envy; Doe himself, the victim of
Mill’s wrath; Mills, the victim of his own
wrath because he will be sent to prison

and he will lose the job he feels very
strongly about.

(b) and (c) Open answers

© Pearson Education 2001