This is a hard book to read. Not difficult but hard. It might be easier if its elements took more time to develop but they do not, they are simple and relentless.

The title to this chapter is generous to say the least. There was a monster at the Sandman. A monster attacked and killed a man there. The monster had been following its victim, stalking him, using him.

A very disturbing chapter! I don't even want to think about the killing. I will not sleep well tonight. Forget about Jigsaw, meet Capt. Harvey.

It seems longer than 3 weeks since I read Alone. Since completing it I have lent it to two other people. Sorry Richard, as an author I don't like people borrowing books but it might broaden the interest.

I have thought a great deal about Harvey in the weeks since reading the book but I still can't get my mind around him. Perhaps it would be easier if we knew what precipitated the murders but I suspect not. Is there any motive to justify drowning children?

Some say that suicide is a coward's way out. In Harvey's situation, with Tere found he would be facing a trial for murder so he had a reason to kill himself, but the method he chose inflicted so much pain that it is hard to imagine he could have continued. I thought he might have been in a rage against himself but the feeling I have now is one of resignation. Now my belief is that perhaps Harvey was trying to show he was not a coward. He did not succeed.