Wow...you are really good at this. Write faster...

Sharon

This is about what I was thinking was going on. Remember when I was talking about being fair to the readers? You were fair to the readers, even as you were adding information that could be used to support different interpretations, and I think by word-count, you began pruning the possibilities at about the right place (too soon would have meant no puzzle, too late would have been too frustrating to be fun), and this payoff is right on time after the major evidence pruning.

I notice that the thing Stephanie recalled about the murderer saying he was from the gas company was not a fluke -- clearly the thing that does this needs to be invited into the house before it can do its thing. So that Joe, who is sensitive to these things, knows that the electric company guy is a fake, is dangerous, but not so dangerous that he can't warn the thing off.

This is about what I was thinking was going on. Remember when I was talking about being fair to the readers? You were fair to the readers, even as you were adding information that could be used to support different interpretations, and I think by word-count, you began pruning the possibilities at about the right place (too soon would have meant no puzzle, too late would have been too frustrating to be fun), and this payoff is right on time after the major evidence pruning.

Hopefully that'll still be the case when the missing bits get added in. Juggling the different storylines and still keeping things moving at a good pace may be something of a challenge. Ah, well, that's what makes it fun.

I notice that the thing Stephanie recalled about the murderer saying he was from the gas company was not a fluke -- clearly the thing that does this needs to be invited into the house before it can do its thing. So that Joe, who is sensitive to these things, knows that the electric company guy is a fake, is dangerous, but not so dangerous that he can't warn the thing off.

Joe knew the electric company guy was lying, something we've established he can do. (Chris too) Interestingly, even if the electric company guy has the same talents, he'll come to the wrong conclusion. After their little encounter he'd assume Joe was onto him, even though Joe actually has no idea. Nothing quite like being inadvertently responsible for what happens next.

I get the feeling that the underlying theme of this novel is "certainly without correctness."