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[This is a discussion topic for the March 2016 book of the month Eating Bull by Carrie Rubin.]


Were you surprised to find out Darwin's identity? Did you see it coming? If so, at what point?


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I had a pretty good idea pretty early on, but I do that
I did waver a bit throughout, but kept coming back.

I suspected toward the middle, but wasn't sure till the end.

I had absolutely no idea. I about jumped out of my chair when it was revealed who Darwin actually was. Completely caught me off guard!

I was pretty certain it was going to be someone they already knew, and narrowed it down to the "statistician" and "lawyer's boyfriend". However, I dropped "lawyer's boyfriend" because he was Jeremy's mothers' boss and Darwin had been having issues with his own boss and his co-worker, and I would have thought the Jeremy's mother would have had issues with him there too.

I remained dubious about the "statistician" until the end though since no one in the health department mentioned the lady having a "heart attack" and connecting it with anything suspicious or coincidental. It also didn't seem likely for Darwin to be able to have a close relationship with anyone considering his OCD and phobia of germs. He wouldn't have been able to completely hide it and I would have thought Jeremy's mother to have at least noticed a few irregularities with the man, even if she didn't connect him with the murders.

I think Darwin's identity and keeping it hidden was the most rough-edged part of this book. I'm not sure how it could have been better handled, but I still felt something was missing with the identity connection.

I had my suspicions, but I tried hard to reserve my judgement. I like to be surprised when it comes to twists, and I was certainly not disappointed!

I just finished the book a few hours ago. He was one of my suspects, but I was all over the map on this one. I also was suspicious of Mr. Sneekers, Jonathan (the lawyer's boyfriend), and Calvin's dad. At one point early in the book, I even suspected the janitor. I didn't get serious about George as a suspect until he tried to persuade the grandfather to leave the house.

I suspected early on (I probably read too many Mary Higgins Clark books) so I was not surprised when it unraveled, instead I was glad my suspicion was correct.

He was on my short list of suspects, so I wasn't too shocked. However, I was leaning more toward the lawyer's boyfriend.

LivreAmour217 wrote:He was on my short list of suspects, so I wasn't too shocked. However, I was leaning more toward the lawyer's boyfriend.

I suspected him at first too. He was a good candidate.

I was shocked. I completely thought it was the doctor (Mr. Sneekers) or Connie's old boyfriend (Rex). I kept focusing on the hand sanitizer comments. Both of those characters kept using it, but there was no mention of George ever washing his hands.

KAV wrote:I was shocked. I completely thought it was the doctor (Mr. Sneekers) or Connie's old boyfriend (Rex). I kept focusing on the hand sanitizer comments. Both of those characters kept using it, but there was no mention of George ever washing his hands.

Good catch! I don't remember the little mentions of who used hand sanitizer. I sometimes think there is a reason why a minor character is put in the story. That's why I thought of Mr. Sneekers, the lawyer's boyfriend, and even the janitor early in the story. The author did a great job of misdirection.

Though I was fairly sure of who it was, I kept thinking some small character that I'd completely forgotten was going to be Darwin. I always love those face-palm moments, where it's been staring you in the face, obvious as can be, but you miss it anyway

I also suspected the doctor, and the boyfriends, and wouldn't have been at all surprised if it had been one of them.

I think it would have been totally twisted if it had wound up being the nurse. I actually thought very early on that Darwin could have been a woman.

Scott wrote:[This is a discussion topic for the March 2016 book of the month Eating Bull by Carrie Rubin.]


Were you surprised to find out Darwin's identity? Did you see it coming? If so, at what point?


***
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Usually I tend to stay away from the mystery genre as a whole because within the first 100 pages or so (sometimes more if the book is long) I figure out whodunit. This book though...WOW. I did not see it coming. Perhaps it was because George had so little description or portion within the story, but it had me guessing all the way through. The way that Rubin described his rituals, workplace...it was shrouded in mystery and wonderfully done. It's very rare that a mystery keeps me guessing all the way to the end, and this was done so beautifully. Definitely impressed. Once I read the story all the way through I actually went back and could piece little clues together but for the most part I honestly kept thinking it was someone else. I'm still in shock - I want to reread it now that I've analyzed it properly.

-- 07 Mar 2016, 21:13 --

KAV wrote:I was shocked. I completely thought it was the doctor (Mr. Sneekers) or Connie's old boyfriend (Rex). I kept focusing on the hand sanitizer comments. Both of those characters kept using it, but there was no mention of George ever washing his hands.

Wow I didn't even think about the hand sanitizer but now that you mention it that was a huge theme throughout the story - great catch! I personally thought it might have been Gloria, the Dr.'s assistant from the beginning, for the longest time, regardless of gender.

bookowlie wrote:

KAV wrote:I was shocked. I completely thought it was the doctor (Mr. Sneekers) or Connie's old boyfriend (Rex). I kept focusing on the hand sanitizer comments. Both of those characters kept using it, but there was no mention of George ever washing his hands.

Good catch! I don't remember the little mentions of who used hand sanitizer. I sometimes think there is a reason why a minor character is put in the story. That's why I thought of Mr. Sneekers, the lawyer's boyfriend, and even the janitor early in the story. The author did a great job of misdirection.

Yes. I was definitely looking at the minor characters for connections. They usually make the best culprits.