2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #2 discussion

Steven Thomas quickly rises to the top of the investigative team’s suspect list. Was it plausible for him to not understand that his lies would be discovered? Were you suspicious of him?

I was never suspicious of him. It just seemed too easy to suspect him. I think Steven by who he was dating and continuing to stay in school at his age, was trying to stay young. Just the way he lied to his brother who was there to help him showed how immature he was.

At first I was biting but then I stepped back, thinking just that...it was too easy. He was just behaving stupidly.

He was definitely strange - a grown man acting and thinking like a young college student, but I never suspected him. His life experience just didn't mesh with the chapters from the killer's POV.

That was it, too, Lauren. He didn’t fit that voice.

Jonetta wrote: "That was it, too, Lauren. He didn’t fit that voice."

Yes, I just could not reconcile a man who risked his life to save people in wartime, torturing young women. He didn't appear to have the misogynistic bent that the killer was depicted as having.

Perfectly stated, Lauren!

Lauren wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "That was it, too, Lauren. He didn’t fit that voice."

Yes, I just could not reconcile a man who risked his life to save people in wartime, torturing young women. He didn't appear to..."

I agree, Lauren. I was never suspicious of him, but it was obvious that he was hiding something. He so badly wanted to help, but did not do it in the correct manner.

I never once looked at Steve Thomas as the killer. One big reason is that it was way too easy for him to be. The story would virtually be over before it really got started. And as we got into the killers head, it just didn't feel or sound like him to me.
I guess he was a little naïve in thinking he'd get away with not being truthful to the police - but it spoke of his immaturity and also, for me, that there was something broken in him - but not in the way of a murderer. I just saw him as an aging man chasing his youth.

Steve was just sad. But, as you say, he just didn’t “fit” what we were getting from the killer’s point of view.

Ditto, Sandra. This would have been a very short short story!

Jonetta wrote: "for me, that there was something broken in him - but not in the way of a murderer. I just saw him as an aging man chasing his youth. "

Agreed. This is the picture that I got of him as well. It was clear to me that he was suffering from a form of PTSD. I think he had had enough of killing in the war and wanted to return to a more "innocent" time of youth.