Sample of literary figures
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Tom Ripley
Male
He is charming, handsome and cultivated as well as being a ruthless serial killer and psychopath totally lacking in empathy, the main character in five classic thrillers by Patricia Highsmith. Thomas ‘Tom’ Ripley became an orphan when he was five years old, and was brought up by a callous female relative. He later marries the wealthy Héloïse Plisson, but nevertheless has successfully continued his criminal career.
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Gereon Rath
Male
A police detective and war veteran in Köln, who after a fatal mistake in his work in 1929 is transferred to Berlin. According to author Volker Kutscher, Gereon Rath is between 30 and 40 years old, slim, skilled, stubborn and a morphine addict on account of traumatic war experiences. In Berlin he meets police stenographer Charlotte ‘Charly’ Ritter; they start a relationship, get married and build a family.
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Martin Beck
Male
Few Swedes can have escaped Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police department. A principal character in Maj Sjöwall’s and Per Wahlöö’s ten police novels, he is the typical meticulous, unhappily married, ulcer-suffering inspector in contemporary crime fiction. He has won international fame through the books and a string of adaptations for film and television.
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Amos Decker
Male
A former professional footballer who has been a police officer but who had a breakdown when his wife and daughter were murdered. He is not handsome, but is athletically built and has dark hair. After the murders, Amos Decker stopped taking care of himself, became fat and shabby, and lost his job. He pulled himself together, however, became a private detective and later is employed by the FBI. He has hyperthemesia which means that he can remember in detail everything that happens to him.