2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #2 discussion

John’s son Thomas murdered him and the women he’d had affairs with most recently, triggered by him announcing he would seek a second term. Given the violence of each of the murders, perhaps his resentment had been building for many years? What do you think?

Yeah, it has been festering for a long time. He was a smart kid, and he knew that John may have loved his mother once, but he wasn't going to give up the Senate or his swinging lifestyle for her.

I certainly did not want Thomas to have been the murderer. That threw me for a bit of a loop.

I didn't want it to be Thomas either.

Imagine being a “dirty little secret” all your life, not acknowledged by your father’s family or him publicly. Yeah, that rage was building and there was a reason he hired a private investigator. Deep down, he knew his father wasn’t staying true to his mother.

This kid was seriously damaged. And that “talk” John had with him? Big mistake. He equated Thomas to being his mistake.

Thomas was a monster. It takes intense rage to do what he did to his father and those women, and that kind of emotion does not happen overnight.

John's decision to run again triggered Thomas's rampage, but he had obviously had this anger for a long time.

It’s hard to think how someone could just up and viciously rape and murder two innocent women and then commit patricide, seemingly overnight. This kid had to have exhibited signs much earlier.

I think that John staying in their lives and giving him hope was worse than John not being there at all. I agree with Jonetta, there was something seriously off with this kid for him to have done such vicious things. He would have had better revenge if he had gone public and destroyed John that way.

That's true, Anita. The scandal would have damaged the whole family with the political repercussions.

And, no jail time involved!

Anita wrote: "I think that John staying in their lives and giving him hope was worse than John not being there at all. "

I agree. He spent years having his nose rubbed in the idea that he wasn't worthy enough for his father to acknowledge him. This twisted him.

Without John's presence, he might not have developed such intense rage.

Anita wrote: "He would have had better revenge if he had gone public and destroyed John that way..."

I agree.

Lauren wrote: "Anita wrote: "I think that John staying in their lives and giving him hope was worse than John not being there at all. "

I agree. He spent years having his nose rubbed in the idea that he wasn't w..."

This is what struck me the most. He had a father one weekend a month, but all had to be kept secret while his father's "legal" family was flaunted around in headlines, etc. Thomas never felt good enough and had his nose rubbed in it all his life. Does it justify his rage and evil deeds? NO, of course not but it does give an inkling of where they originated. They festered for years and years. And it always begs the question of "nature vs. nurture" for me in cases like this. An age old argument.

This definitely felt nurtured.

I agree. The horrendous murders isn't something a young boy would jump into over night. This was festering for years.