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.
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BetaPart 2, Chapters 51-63Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “At Times, You Won’t Believe Your Eyes”
Part 2, Chapters 51-63 Summary
At Coopers Chase, Ibrahim and Kendrick review CCTV footage of the train station lockers. Kendrick asks Ibrahim how he felt during the attack, and Ibrahim admits the extent of his fear. In the video from the day before the murders, they see a figure in a motorcycle helmet open locker 531. The figure inspects the potato chip packet and returns it.
The Thursday Murder Club repeatedly views the CCTV footage but cannot determine the gender or age of the figure in the helmet. Kendrick then observes that the person is wearing one of Joyce’s friendship bracelets. This clue narrows the suspects to Sue, Lance, Siobhan, Bogdan, and the members of the Thursday Murder Club. Martin is ruled out, as he acquired his bracelet after the date of the footage.
Joyce has an idea of how to identify the suspect. Without telling the others, she returns to the train station to talk to the girl at the lost luggage desk. The girl tells Joyce that there is a camera behind her desk; if a customer wore a helmet, she would ask them to remove it. Joyce reports back to Elizabeth, who asks Donna to requisition the extra CCTV footage.
Chris meets Ron and Bogdan at Maidstone Crown Court, where Ryan’s trial is about to begin. He tells them about Connie’s threats, admitting that he loves Patrice and is worried about her safety. Ryan’s defense lawyer arrives with the news that Ryan did not turn up for his trial. Unbeknown to the group, Ryan has fled to his cousin Steven’s house in Scotland.
Elizabeth meets Sue for lunch and shows her the letter Douglas left in the tree. They agree that, between them, they should find the diamonds. Meanwhile, Donna visits Coopers Chase with the new CCTV footage. She consults Ibrahim alone, asking for the benefit of his experience as a psychiatrist. Donna admits that her only friends in Fairhaven are Chris and the members of the Thursday Murder Club. Ibrahim confesses that he is also going through difficult life challenges but advises her to keep going. After their discussion, Donna and Ibrahim watch the CCTV footage. When the mysterious figure takes off the motorcycle helmet, she is revealed to be Siobhan.
The Thursday Murder Club meets Chris, Donna, and Sue by the lake at Coopers Chase. Ibrahim shows them the footage of Siobhan opening locker 531. The group tries to work out how Siobhan could have known the location the day before her daughter was killed. They conclude that Poppy must have told her. Joyce remembers Poppy was wearing headphones when Douglas pointed out the dead-letter drop to Elizabeth. She suggests that, like the girl at the train station, Poppy heard everything and then read Douglas’s letter. Elizabeth theorizes that when Siobhan discovered the empty locker, Poppy killed Douglas and faked her death. Siobhan then falsely identified the body as Poppy.
Part 2, Chapters 51-63 Analysis
These chapters continue to trace Ibrahim’s slow psychological recovery from his assault. In Chapter 51, we again see him bonding with Kendrick, and, for the first time, he speaks honestly about how vulnerable the attack made him feel. A standard TV crime trope is evoked as Ibrahim and Kendrick review CCTV footage, with the twist that one of the investigators is an eight-year-old boy. Donna’s consultation with Ibrahim in Chapter 57 proves therapeutic for both characters. Utilizing his skills as a former psychiatrist, Ibrahim points out the importance of friends and perseverance during difficult times. Advising Donna to “climb the next mountain” (304), he realizes he should apply this wisdom to his own life.
In Chapter 54, Joyce’s character displays growth as she takes the initiative to return to the train station alone. She considers telling Elizabeth but thinks, “no, Joyce, for once in your life why not fly solo? You don’t always need Elizabeth” (289). This decision marks a new confidence in Joyce, who is accustomed to following Elizabeth’s instructions.
The Ryan storyline continues as the date of his trial arrives. However, justice is thwarted when he goes missing. Chris and the Thursday Murder Club are deflated by this development, believing that Ryan will elude punishment. However, in Chapter 62, readers are given an insight into Ryan’s activities in Scotland. Believing he is a criminal “genius,” Ryan goes by the aliases “Kirk” and “Pablo,” although his use of both names is inconsistent. Ryan’s thought processes reveal his naivety, leading readers to suspect that he will not evade the police for long.
More mystery is introduced to the plot when Ibrahim and Kendrick find footage of the unidentified figure wearing a motorcycle helmet. In discussing who could have known the diamonds were in the locker, Ron comes ironically close to the truth by joking that Douglas “probably told […] all his ex-wives” (285). The motif of the friendship bracelet again becomes crucial to the plot when Kendrick notes the suspect is wearing one.
The case appears to be almost solved when the suspect is identified as Siobhan. However, Siobhan’s role as an accomplice misleads the Thursday Murder Club into assuming that Poppy is involved and is still alive. None of the characters consider that Siobhan may not be Poppy’s mother.
This stage in the novel exemplifies the popular crime trope where investigators appear to be making progress only to find they have taken a wrong turn. Elizabeth is shown to make several errors of judgment, the most notable being her trust in Sue. As she shares her incorrect theories, Sue actively encourages her to pursue them.
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