Saint doesn’t arrest Patch but rather lets him “escape.” Am I wrong? I need to check but I’m pretty sure she lets him go; that’s how he continues to be a fugitive from justice-never returned to prison.
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Plus, security cameras were large and obvious during both of those timelines. If Grace’s dad had security cameras, Saint would have seen them.
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Whoops, just made the correction
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Kept me from double-checking. Thanks!
She arrests him twice: The first time she shoots him and he goes to prison for six years for armed robbery. (And then goes back to prison again after killing Jimmy.). The second arrest is right after he kills Grace’s father.
She kept the gun out, wiped her tears. “They’re coming for you, kid.”
He smiled. “I think they’re already here, Saint.”
She slipped the handcuffs from her belt (p. 570).
But then she lets him go right after? I am confused on the order of events.
Edited to add: Yes, just opened my book again and you’re right (of course!). Saint never followed through on the second arrest, but let Patch go and told everyone he escaped. Himes “watched her a while, the wheels turning fast and then grinding to a halt because she’d laid foundations so strong she could not be questioned” (p. 580).
I just finished the book the other day, so I should remember all this stuff, but I made the mistake of putting it down a few times for long stretches and “whoosh” – the chronology left my brain.
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Most of the characters, with the exception of Misty Meyer & family, seem to be at the poverty level or just-getting-by end of things. Young Patch is an outcast at school, but I think the fact that he’s an odd duck plays as much a part in that as his economic status.
Misty’s Dad, Franklin Meyer, is portrayed negatively, but at least he was honest with Patch:
“I will die grateful to you, Joseph. There’s so many things I can give you, but my daughter isn’t one of them” (p. 230).
What did you think of Misty? She gets more of Patch than Saint does, but he doesn’t love her the way she wants. At first, she seemed a bit…I don’t know, maybe “vacant” is the word? But she improved with age.
I rather liked Misty’s father. Misty grew on me, one smart cookie but hid it well.
While I think the whole town seemed lower middle class or working class, Patch was a whole level below that. His clothes didn’t fit and his mother was barely eking by before Patch was kidnapped. Afterwards of course it was much much worse.
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I don’t think Misty’s mother did. 
Another mini-reveal was that Sammy had the exact same experience as Patch: He was a poor boy who fell in love with a rich girl who went to Harvard, and the girl’s father paid him off to go away (and Sammy used the money to buy a Rothko). And who was the girl? Mary Meyer, Misty’s mother.
Near the end of the book they re-connect, drifting toward an autum romance. Sammy tells Mary that if he could do it all over again, “I would tell your father, and Franklin’s father, to go f*** themselves. I’d leave the Rothko where it was, because I already had something far more beautiful to make a life with” (p. 573).
That doesn’t sound like the Sammy of the preceding 500 pages and I’m not sure I needed another coincidental side plot, but I hope they find what they’re looking for in each other. Sammy was absolutely fabulous to Patch – he changed his life and (at the end) kept him safely in the money. However, I’m not sure he’s great husband material. 
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Maybe he’d have done less drinking and swearing if he’d been allowed to marry Misty’s mother.
and not @Mary13 was anyone else bothered by the use of adjectives as nouns?
Ch 9, page 19
The pervade of those passing
Ch 112 page 112
The church was a fade of gray.
Ch 122 page 310
A decay of motels, and her navy sedan,
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I did notice that. I give prose writers a lot of leeway because I like poetry and figure it’s only fair that both genres get to mess around with words.
I was more bothered by phrases here and there that did not make much sense – a mash-up of odd sentence structure, missing commas, and/or mixed metaphors. I wasn’t alone; an unhappy Amazon reviewer gave this sentence as an example:
Patch hung over the small town like city smog so turgid mothers ushered their children inside and made sure the news was deadbolted at the door. (p. 19)
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I’d almost forgotten about this very big coincidence – probably because by this point I was ready for the book to end. (And because, for once, I finished the book several weeks in advance!) I agree that tossing in yet another connection/coincidence was a bit over the top.
I think overlapping connections that seem like coincidences can be part of life in a very small town. Everybody knows everybody else and people who’ve been in the same community since birth have history.
But if that’s the case in Monta Clare, I feel like you can’t have it both ways. Everybody would know Misty had Patch’s baby; everybody would know Chief Nix and Dr. Tooms were a couple (even if it was “don’t ask / don’t tell”), etc.
On a related note: Patch was held for 10 months in Missouri, but Eli and Grace’s real home was in Alabama. As I understand it, Eli traveled to Missouri to rent a house as a temporary base for murder and abduction. There were already whispers about him as an icky photographer exhibiting disturbing behavior toward girls. Wouldn’t a creepy outsider in a small town be interviewed repeatedly and watched 24/7 after a girl was assaulted and a boy went missing?
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I totally missed this connection–thanks! 
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By the way, Happy Easter to everyone! 
We’re having 20 for dinner, so I have to go do something productive. 
Also, on Monday I have jury duty, so will probably not be able to post. If I get on a trial involving a one-eyed pirate bank robber, I promise I will vote to acquit.
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My dad was a poor boy who married a rich girl. Her family took quite a long time to warm up to him. We are so glad they were able to stick it out or none of the 7 of us kids would have existed. We were quite poor for a while but as kids we didn’t pay much attention.
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Happy holidays to all who are celebrating. We visited my son and his wife over the weekend and are now visiting my brother.
Here’s my absolute favorite line from the book, which made me laugh out loud.
Sammy reached over, placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and let it rest. “Don’t worry too much. I never knew my father, and look, I turned out just fine."
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Three pieces of art - aside from the missing girls - play a part in the story. (I’m doing this from memory, so please correct errors.)
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The first piece of art that Patch sells - reluctantly - happens to end up in the prison. The woman (the warden’s wife) who purchases it comments that she wants it for her husband’s office.
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Grace’s home. If I remember correctly, Saint owns the artwork. I vaguely remember her looking at it while playing the piano. Patch builds his own house to match it. Saint immediately recognizes the house, when searching for Patch (and Grace), from the painting.
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Possibly my favorite: Patch quickly sketches Misty as she sleeps after their night together and leaves it for her to find. When Misty dies, she leaves the sketch to Charlotte.
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And one more at the end: Patch gives Saint a sketch of the two of them as children, lying together on the ground, watching the stars. It’s as if Patch is finally acknowledging everything Saint means to him.
Also—credit to a Goodreads poster: “Unlike his other art, which often dealt with the missing girls and trauma, this painting represents a move toward healing.”
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Yes, the painting Patch gives to Saint at the end brings the book full circle in a way. Yes, the painting in the warden’s office that one of the prisoners recognizes as a real place. “Grace Falls,” was pivotal in Patch deciding to break out and find Grace & Saint finally finding Patch.
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For what it’s worth, I think in an alternate dimension where there was no abduction, Saint and Patch would have ended up together. Before the trauma, they were everything to each other, perfectly in sync.
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