59 pages • 1 hour read
Richard OsmanThe Man Who Died Twice
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
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BetaPart 1, Chapters 21-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Your Friends Are Sure to Visit”
Part 1, Chapters 21-29 Summary
Poppy and Douglas are moved to a safe house in the seaside town of Hove. Douglas realizes that an insider must have leaked his previous location to Martin. He considers Lance, Sue, and Poppy as potential sources and decides he can only trust Elizabeth. He thinks about the many affairs he had when they were married. His final indiscretion with Sally Montague ended the marriage, and Sally briefly became his next wife.
At Coopers Chase, Joyce calls Poppy’s mother, Siobhan, to tell her what has happened to her daughter. She invites Siobhan to visit the retirement village and asks for her address. Shortly afterward, Joyce receives a visit from an old friend, Yvonne. As Yvonne lives near Poppy’s mother, Joyce asks her to deliver a friendship bracelet to Siobhan’s door.
The next day, Ibrahim is discharged from the hospital and returns to Coopers Chase. Feeling unready to face his friends, he goes for a haircut. As he is about to pay, he realizes his credit card is missing. Meanwhile, Bogdan goes to Connie’s house and exchanges Elizabeth’s money for cocaine. He meets Ron, who is dressed as a plumber, and gives him the bag of drugs. Ron gains entry to Ryan’s address, claiming he has come to check the water pressure. While Ryan plays video games downstairs, Ron hides the cocaine in the toilet tank along with Ibrahim’s credit card. Afterward, he calls Donna to “anonymously” report the cocaine in Ryan’s toilet.
On the same day, Elizabeth and Joyce travel to Hove to see Douglas. Elizabeth obtains a key from an MI5 operative in a van outside his address. When they enter the safe house, Elizabeth observes that it is suspiciously quiet, and the back door is open. She goes upstairs, armed with a knife, and finds Douglas and Poppy dead. Both are barely recognizable, with bullet wounds to the face. After photographing the scene, Elizabeth informs Douglas’s bodyguard in the van. She hides her phone behind a loose brick in a wall as she knows MI5 will confiscate it.
Part 1, Chapters 21-29 Analysis
In Chapter 21, Douglas reflects on his marriage to Elizabeth. While his regrets about his infidelities indicate his continued love for her, they also reveal a vital clue. Readers learn the affair that “ended the marriage for ever” was with “a junior analyst named Sally Montague,” who went on to become his wife (114). It later emerges that Sally Montague is posing as Poppy’s mother, Siobhan.
Meanwhile, in Chapter 22, Joyce calls Siobhan to inform her what has happened to Poppy. The introduction of Sally and Siobhan close together in the narrative is deliberately misleading, reinforcing the idea that they are two different characters. Joyce’s decision to send a friendship bracelet to Siobhan is a crucial plot point as the bracelet later confirms Siobhan’s identity on CCTV as she tries to retrieve the diamonds.
The tone of Chapters 24 and 25 is primarily humorous as Bogdan and Ron carry out Elizabeth’s plan to frame Ryan. Connie’s attraction to Bogdan is eventually her downfall, and this weakness is displayed in their encounter. While Connie unsuccessfully attempts to flirt with Bogdan, he wonders if he should tell her “she had lipstick on her teeth” (130). Equally humorous is Ron’s call to Donna after planting cocaine and a credit card in Ryan’s home under the alias “Jonathan Ovaltine.” During this conversation, Donna appears to follow the letter of the law while actively participating in the framing of Ryan. Pointing out that “we can’t break into a private residence without due cause” (141), she prompts Ron to claim that someone is being attacked. Donna’s cooperation with the Thursday Murder Club is driven by frustration at the inadequacies of the legal system.
In Chapters 27 and 29, tension builds as Elizabeth and Joyce enter the safe house and sense something is wrong. The suspense climaxes with the discovery of a bloody crime scene. The murders of Douglas and Poppy introduce two compelling mysteries: Who killed them, and where did Douglas hide the diamonds? The declaration, “So now there are diamonds and killers to be found” (146), highlights the enigmas driving the plot forward from this point. However, a red herring is also planted here to misdirect the investigation. The facial gunshot wounds that leave Douglas and Poppy almost “unrecognizable” lead Elizabeth to conclude that at least one of them may have faked their deaths.
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By Richard Osman
