Swan Peak

[gwilhour]

My question is what happened to the real Leslie Wellstone in this novel. Sal took over his identity and I didn't think Harold Waxman was Leslie, so where was Leslie?

[mlerc]

I just finished SWAN PEAK... Not sure I am right, and if you wish the answer from JLB, you need to post your question on the comments from him, as that is the only place he checks now...my take was that there never had been a Leslie before, or that the real Leslie was killed in the battle where he was supposed to have been wounded...and Sally Dio was around at the time... just guessing...I stopped to think about that when I was reading, but there was a great deal of action at the time, and I stopped worrying about it..chuckle...

[mlerc]

I just finished TIN ROOF BLOW DOWN and then read SWAN PEAK...Mostly I need a sherbet break between JLB books...and I am not the only one to say that while most authors' books slide down levels as the series continues, the opposite is true of Mr. Burke...

He laid out a great deal of philosophy about life and death and and views on humanity, maybe more so than in earlier books...

p 398...I have known police officers and soldiers who I believed to be sociopaths. I have also interviewed sociopaths in [multiple prisons]. They have one commonality that never varies from individual to individual, replicated in such exact detail that you feel they all know one another and have rehearsed their statements and are taking you over the hurdles. They not only lack remorse for the deeds they have committed; they are bemused when you indicate they should.

p.401...(talking about two con artist families) Perhaps the greater problem is their consituency. A confidence man chooses only one kind of person to be his victim--someone who, of h is own volition, invites deception into his life......The faces of the actors may change, but the story is ongoing, and neither religion nor government has ever rid the world of sin or snake oil.

SPOILER....Most of the villains stay villains, but as Dave says at the end of the book..."It was Troyce Nix who proved to be the surprise in the Cracker Jack box." Only book I really remember that a true bad guy converted and lived in a JLB book...