Mic Breaks Only discussion

***Open discussion of THE WHOLE BOOK below, no spoilers needed. Be sure you have finished the book before reading! Note: if this is your first visit to this topic I recommend you read this post about discussion ideas, then skip down and post your initial response, then read and respond to other people's posts.***

At the very least check in here when you finish and tell us if you enjoyed the book selection. I'll post specific discussion ideas below, along with some general topics. If you have additional ideas post them and I'll add them to this post.

Full Book Discussions:

1) Did Fegan deserve mercy at the end of the book?

2) Post your ideas!

General Discussions:

1) Share your favorite quote(s) from the final section of the book.

2) Who was your favorite or most intriguing character?


GO!

I was so disappointed with the latter half of this book. It was over dense in the beginning, but chapters 11 - 30 hit a nice stride. Ghosts really keyed me into the fact that predictable exposition bothers me to no end.

Disappointment: Overall my biggest gripe about the ending is that it abandons major plot points that comprised the first sections of the novel.

* What were the political repercussions and how were they resolved?
* Fegan's guitar seemed like it was important, but discarded without him giving it a second thought in the end.
* Marie and Ellen can now just safely go to the police? What happened to all of McGinty's underlings who everyone was worried would replace him?
* The ghosts were choosing to haunt Fegan and could stop whenever they chose? What happened after the ghosts were avenged?

There aren't many situations where a Reservoir Dogs ending can apply, and this wasn't one of them.

Mercy? No. The ghosts just didn't have a good logical consistency (I'm not even sure if I'm being sarcastic with that statement). At one point I thought that all 12 might reappear and demand Fegan take his own life after they had all been avenged. It just doesn't click for me that 11 ghosts, including two involved in the same incident as #12, would all feel appropriately avenged - but #12 would not.

Fegan's backstory wasn't filled out enough to justify the original murders. It was consistently implied that there were driving factors that pushed Fegan to commit the original violent acts (beyond The Troubles?)... but there was no follow through on that plot line.

Quotes: What the hell was up with the vampire cannibal ghost: The long-dead soldier sank his teeth into Campbell's skin, tearing at the remains of his body. I wasn't intrigued by Campbell's interactions with the 12, primarily because the book had devolved into a gore fest at that point.

Characters: The only character who I didn't despise by the end was Ellen. The only things I know about her are that she is a child, she can jump pretty well, and she can see ghosts but isn't really bothered by their violent and incessant screaming. She wins by default I guess.

Okay I am finished yay! The book would not be one of favorites I have ever read.

I found myself hoping for Fegan to be granted mercy, I felt like he made an attempt to right some of his wrongs. Don't get me wrong he was a bad seed but he was also manipulated by people he trusted and thought of as friends. I was very happy to see him soften his heart for Marie and Ellen.

I shed no tears for Campbell or any of the other thugs that died that day. I was surprised to see Toner didn't reappear and wonder what happened to him?

The female ghost character was bi polar I think...she almost acted like she cared for Fegan throughout the book like she didn't blame him and then at the end she was the one left to try to get him to kill himself???

I am trying to remember if the ghosts appeared in front of Ellen any other time than at the very end and find it strange that it just came up at that time. I know I have heard that children can see ghosts because they believe in them but it just wasn't believable in this story for me.

Marie I had reserved my opinion for the end because I did agree she came off as rude. Now I really can't understand her. She cares for Fegan, she is angry because he lied to her, she begs for his life then tells him if he ever comes back she will turn him in. She and her daughter are alive because of him how ungrateful.

I agree with Andrew there really is not a lot of closure to the story with the exception of the ghosts moving on.

I like this book,although I was not very 'shocked' by this book I found it somewhat predictable. I do like the character Gerry Fegan. Early on I could see that there would be a lot of killings my question was how would it end for Fegan. Seeing as how he was involved in the horrible crimes would he be made to pay for his actions or not? If he was made to pay what ghost was will be his?

The relationship between Fegan and Ellen kept me intrigued and wanted him to go with her and her mother in the end. Maybe that was his punishment, knowing what it was like to live a 'normal' life and not be able to have it with them....

I enjoyed the book overall because I found it entertaining. Much like Andrew, I got the impression the author intended much bigger things for the story but either found himself over his head or was forced to lean it out by deadlines or economic editors. As it turned out, the plot was rather simplistic and I continuously found myself picturing Bruce Willis as Fegan both for "The Sixth Sense" seeing dead people shtick and also for the "Die Hard"-ish final gunfight.

I had a difficult time accepting Fegan's mercy at the end. The author did not clearly portray Fegan's motivation in doing the ghost's bidding other than to rid himself of the visions, bad dreams and screaming. Whether or not committing more murder is the correct path to mercy is above my pay grade to decide. Although, the Arnold Schwarzenegger line from "True Lies" may be the answer: "They were all bad guys."

I had no favorite character in the book because I felt the author kind of short-changed all of them. If Bruce Willis actually played Fegan in the made for TV movie, had a bitchin' Magnum P.I. mustache and found a way to sneak in "Yippee ki yay mf'er" in the dialogue, Fegan would be my favorite character.

At the end of the day, a fun book and quick read but not extraordinary in any way.

I gave it 3 stars because I had trouble staying interested in the characters. Seemed pretty apparent how things were going to end up with the exception of whether Fegan, Marie and Ellen would be together. Attempts to make Fegan likeable did not work for me.

I keep wondering if there is a sequel to,resolve some of the dangling threads.

This book was definitely more of a marathon than a sprint for me. I found it hard to suspend disbelief for multiple plot points and the characters did not seem completely flushed out for me. I also felt that some of the descriptions, specifically as they relate to "ghosts" and "shadows" were overdone.

NO, Gerry did not deserve mercy. Apparently "everyone pays" except Gerry who actually killed the 12.

I was disappointed by the ending. I did not understand why McGinty was responsible for the butcher and the baby's deaths, and Gerry was responsible for the mother's death. Was this supposed to be a deep statement that Gerry was figuratively responsible for his own mother's death because of his actions? Also, why does the hug of a child grant Gerry mercy from the mother ghost? There were 2 potential endings in my opinion 1)Gerry commits suicide, thus fulfilling his "payment" for the deaths of the 12 2) in a freak accident Marie does not wake up from her chloroform stupor and Gerry is forced to take guardianship of Ellen, thus earning mercy from the mother ghost.

Who sees ghosts in this story? Crazy people, people near death and children? I find it odd Ellen did not respond to the presence of ghosts or ghosts pantomiming shooting living people at any time during the story.

My favorite quote was from Ellen "The secret lady. Where'd her baby go?" Great question Ellen, because this is not making any damn sense. Also picture Haley Joel Osment "I see dead people."

Since Padraig was so viciously and unnecessarily murdered, I will have to pick as favorite character Sgt. Hendry for being a bad-ass flesh-eating ghost and least likely character to be resurrected.

I would have rated this 2.5 stars, but had to round it up to 3.