What burning questions, observations, or comments do you want to share?

I think what might make this book so dark is the fact that most of the horrible stuff that was happening is what we are living with in the US now. Misogyny, child trafficking and sexual abuse, and gun violence to name a few. I don’t know how one can write about a psychopathic personality and not know it would be a gruesome tale.

reading the series has re-awakened an interest in poetry for me.

Lovely analysis! I was struck by that poem, too, throughout the story. I love that you saw something I failed to consider in that first reciting of the poem — I felt that Armand was using it as an instructional tool for Jean-Guy, trying to get him to see that the victim was a person with a reason behind their behaviors; what one sees on the surface is not necessarily all there is to know about them, and all people have “more than meets the eye” within themselves. And that dawned on JG fully after he learned more about Armand and realized his first impressions were all wrong. I didn’t look at it as Armand also telling JG that he saw that there was more than met the eye to him as well. I like that thought! And of course, Armand would be thinking that about JG — he was already intrigued by him and wondering what made him tick. That’s a great observation. As for that poem, it reminded me of one that has stuck with me through the years called “Richard Cory,” (by Edwin Arlington Robinson), about a rich man-about-town who was admired and envied by all who went home and committed suicide. A good example of “there is more than meets the eye…”

I would not characterize your comments as disloyal; the point of a discussion is to read different points of view. I thought LP integrated Fiona into the Gamache’s lives more than Harriet’s into Myrna’s. Still, they are new characters without previous references. I think some of that becomes necessary in an extensive series. I also missed Stephen, or to be exact, the Stephen and Ruth as a couple.

It’s not disloyal of you to voice your concerns — you are expressing your opinion in a reasonable manner, without snark or a destructive agenda. And I agree that all the points you mentioned took me a bit of adjustment time as well, though I can understand and accept that some things were necessary in order for this story to work. I do think a sentence about Stephen would have been nice to include, but I know that the process of writing a book can be pretty complicated, and there are editors and word counts and all sorts of things involved that I can’t begin to figure out. I can imagine that some things were left out or truncated just to fit the parameters of getting the book published, and maybe the people involved didn’t feel certain things were necessary. So that’s what I’m telling myself. I was able to enjoy the story for what it was, but I do understand what you’re saying!

I believe he did care about her. It seems so at odds with his otherwise monstrous behavior and technically inconsistent with a designation as a psychopath but I still think he cared for her. I think he ultimately killed her, as Armand said, as a mercy killing. I think he suspected he would be unlikely to survive all he planned to do to exact his revenge on Armand and that would leave her entirely alone and vulnerable.

I think it’s interesting that Sylvie was able to go along with the whole masquerade in Three Pines without screwing it up. Fleming was psychotic, so it was easier for him.

I saw that relationship as Fleming being dominant; Sylvie being fascinated and manipulated willingly out of what she saw as love. Some people will do just about anything in order to be loved, sadly. I don’t think a truly psychopathic personality like Fleming could feel love as an equal, or feel true empathy, except in as it applied to himself. If he found someone who worshipped him, like Sylvie seems to have done, he would think that’s love unless they crossed him, and he would go through the motions of love and think he was really feeling it because thinking he was capable of it would stoke his ego, but would have no true concept of the depths that real love has. I think he was fond of Sylvie, perhaps like a compliant pet, but I don’t think he killed her out of true mercy; he would like to think that, but she really had outgrown her purpose and was a potential threat, else why take that particular moment to do her in? She was doing OK at that moment; wasn’t suffering more than usual, and had some life and hopes still in her (she wanted to read that long book!) I think that if you looked behind Fleming’s mask, you’d see nothing but darkness and a void where a heart should be.

I think it’s in the book that Armand told “Robert” about sending the family to the lake house.

Good questions. My only thought is that Fleming had influence with a lot of people, who may have known people… I attributed it to him having a wide network of contacts and his ability to trick (or in some cases, threaten) people into giving him information. If he were another type of villain, I would suspect him of using tech to bug Armand’s home or tap the phones, but I don’t think he had those capabilities (unless he knew someone who did, but that leads the story in a whole other direction!)

I think Sylvie and Robert blended so well into the Three Pines community that they were fully aware of what was happening with everyone. They spent a lot of time in the Bistro where they would have been able to overhear all types of conversations.

LP truly has a sense of humor which infuses her writing and characters.