I'm flabbergasted by today's chapter. Not because of the content - there's nothing that could shock me at this point, good or bad - but because of its immense, massive, mouth-watering girth! Beginning on page 309 and ending on page 313, Chapter One Hundred and Three packs more words per chapter than any of the previous 102. JPatt's been saving up his 103 mph fastball for the bottom of the ninth. Or maybe it's the Bugs Bunny slowball. Either way, this one's a doozy - oh my, how will I ever be able to give it the proper attention?
Heidi shows up to talk to the FBI about her husband, the Lipstick Killer. After talking to Lindsay and Agent Dick Benbow for awhile, they tell her that she needs to enter Witness Protecion with her kids. She wants to bring Sarah Wells with her. After a bit of muttering, Benbow agrees. That's it. I don't know who the hell wrote this chapter, but at twice the length, there's no way it was James Patterson. Here are my favorite passages - the whole chapter is from Heidi's perspective:
1) How had she lived with Pete Gordon and never known who he was? Pictures kept coming into her mind, images of cooking for Pete, reasoning with him, trying to keep his lid on.
2) And now her husband had both literally and figuratively blown up their lives.
3) "He said that when he was driving around, he was planning to kill Stevie, but then he saw something in Stevie's face. He said, 'He looks just like me. But you, Heidi. You look nothing like me at all.'"
"That was pretty ugly."
4) Heidi's mind flooded with thoughts.
5) Benbow was saying that, for her own protection, her life as Heidi Meyer was over. That for the safety of her kids, she had to disappear, delete her real life and start over as a new person. It was damned near inconceivable.
6) Heidi was overwhelmed by the enormity of this immediate and complete break with her past - and with the idea of a future without Pete. What would it be like to love without fear, to be with Sarah every night and in the light of day?
7) Tears filled Heidi's eyes again and spilled down her cheeks. She covered her face with her hands and let the tears come.1: Please keep the lid on that thing.
2: Oh, right, he blew up your house. (I really did forget that part.)
3: "That was pretty ugly." Thanks, Lindsay.
4: Quick, build an ark!
5: Her last name's been Meyer all this time? Inconceivable.
6: "Every night, all night," you mean. Am I right, JPatt?
7: Tears filled Seth's eyes and spilled down his cheeks. Two and a half months of his life was completely gone and there was no way to get any of it back.
Go to Day 104
3. Instead of "You, Heidi, look nothing like me," did he maybe mean "Stevie looks nothing like you, Heidi?" I mean, why would there be a resemblance between Pete and his wife? I don't get that line at all. Now I'll be up all night, ruminating. :D
ReplyDeleteNate, the reason he didn't kill the stink bomb is because he looks like him, but Heidi doesn't look like him so he's trying to say he would have no problem killing her. It makes perfect sense...to JPatt.
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