The Patterns of Paper Monsters

by Emma Rathbone

Jacob Higgins's teenage rage rarely simmers below the surface for long. He despises his negligent mother and her alcoholic boyfriend, Refrigerator Man, and he's indifferent to school and his friends -- though a little less casual about girls and marijuana. His antics have landed him in a North Virginia detention center, where nihilism, freedom, and redemption all take on unexpected guises. In a voice filled with confusion, yearning, and sardonic humor, Jacob narrates his improbably sweet romance with Andrea, an inmate with whom he shares rare glances, melodramatic conversation, and waxy cookies at rigidly chaperoned "socials." But when David, a mysterious, conniving adolescent, handpicks him to assist in a plot to bring about the center's demise, Jacob has to weigh the frail new optimism of his relationship with Andrea against the allure of destruction, rebellion, and escape.

In her pitch-perfect debut, Emma Rathbone adroitly captures the drama, both comic and deadly serious, of growing up.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

206 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2010

Reviews

[Kelly]

I think this being published as adult, rather than YA, is maybe why it hasn't been as widely read and discussed as it should be. This is a funny (!!) story about Jacob, a boy in a juvenile detention center in Northern Virginia, following a failed robbery attempt he made out of what was essentially boredom. The voice in this novel is outstanding, and Jacob's story, despite how monotonous it is -- that's purposeful and well done in that regard -- it is hard not to love him and want him to figure himself out. And yet, that's also the big thing of it: he wants the same thing, but he isn't convinced it'll ever happen.

When he's given an opportunity to change the course of action of another individual in the facility, he steps up, and that makes all of the difference in the world...even though he never feels that it does.

This reminded me a little bit of Recovery Road with a mix of Dirt Road Home and a bit of about ten thousand other juvie-set YA books I've read. This one is totally about the voice. Loved it.

[Cheyenne R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly came across this one so didn't have too many preconceived notions about the content. I will say I found it hard to put down! I really liked the journal entry style and the character development of Jacob. However, I had to knock off a couple stars for lack of development of the other characters, and a rushed feeling ending. Still recommend for a quick read!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

According to the blurb from Publisher's Weekly on the cover, this is "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Napoleon Dynamite." Well, dang. Count me in.

Jacob Higgins is in a juvie detention center, after a convenience store robbery went awry. He's not interested in anything much, in fact he prides himself on not caring about anything. His experiences in life have taught him not to get too emotional or... optimistic, I guess, about what he'll get from the world. The book covers several story arcs: his fascination and growing friendship/romance with fellow inmate Andrea; the changes within him, pulling him out of criminal territory and dangerously close to someone who cares; and the lurking presence of David, another inmate whose complete awfulness threatens to destroy everything.

The best part of this book was the writing. Emma Rathbone knows what she's doing. Every page, when picked apart, delivers a gem of pure, unadulterated, darkly funny insight. Like literally, if someone shouted a number from 3 to 206 at me, I could cooly open up to that page and find something awesome, no problem.

One other thing I really, really loved was the exploration of morality. Within the walls of a juvenile detention center, there are so many variations, degrees of good and evil. Jacob has to figure out how to react to a world that, he feels, will always take from him and never give. Is he still responsible to protect this world, the people in it? Jacob's troubled life has led to him not having a true understanding of his "duty" as a human being. He's disillusioned and has no expectations, so when he sees something going wrong, he can't bring himself to care. It's not his job to help. The slow change and growth over the course of the novel was believable.

(That last paragraph probably made no sense... my bad.)

Great book. Challenging and thought-provoking, as well as a joy to read. I doubt its characters will stay with me for long, but it was completely worth a read.


There will be slight spoilers below (maybe?) but the quote's from page 61, so I personally don't think it's a big deal.

Book Quote

Here's Jacob describing his crime...

"What It's Like To Hit an Old Man in the Head With a Gun"
"It's like anything else. You ever check out a library book? Or buy something at a store? Or jump off some steps into a lake? It's just something that happens in time and space; you do it and then it's done. Except in this specific instance, you happen to have a crumpled person at your feet getting smears of blood on the dusty linoleum floor. But it's not like you've changed. You're still you, in your same body. You can still spell. The basic society of your brain is still the same. You're breathing. People do things. Things happen all the time."

[Trevor Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

"So here's this variety of nice guy. Here's the prototype of a good person. But I still don't really understand what the like, undertow of his intentions is; what everything he does is based on. Is it the desire to minimize pain? To find happiness? Or to be helpful? Is he adding to something or taking away from it? And also - is that the way Jim is, the way I'm supposed to be?"

The consensus regarding the levels of inspiration within the walls of juvenile detention centres is one of hopefully optimistic from casual citizens to one of low grade from the perspective of frequent offenders. It is not a place for the impatient suburban psychopaths in training, the children that are angry, cynical, impulsive and stubborn eventually turn to violence if the listed qualities are triggered. Jacob Higgins is all of these things and it doesn't take long for him to realize that the hope for some sort of stimulation was laughably found only in the wall decor. His main gripe with the JDC was temperature control, he has noticed for the five hundredth time that it's cold and ingeniously put his hands underneath his arms and rocked himself to comfort, but there was no saving the food like him it was truly a lost cause. Everything in the JDC was designed half-assed, it was as if the overseers were cutting corners in every way imaginable outside of the administration of medications. He is told that being on medications brings you closer to understanding how you should truly feel. The JDC was nothing but revolving chores, escorts everywhere and over prescribing therapists, the last thing Jacob wanted was to get into his own head. A botched armed robbery had put him in this mess but outside of his apathetic malaise and drug fueled haze there was a lot of blame to go around. The Patterns Of Paper Monsters is a story about the day-to-day experiences in a northern Virginia youth corrections facility and the past that brought him to this crossroads. The narrative acts as a commentary on the monotony of the routine, the strict procedures that must be followed within the confines and the hopelessness felt by the way ward young people. With no opportunity for independent rehabilitation or higher learning, Jacob must bide his time and behave accordingly to ensure his release is granted buy the ruling authority.

"I'll say this for the JDC: it is well lit. There is light everywhere. Beams of fluorescent light flood the painted cinder-block hallways at all times, casting a surgical brightness so that you can see the green in people's eyeballs, which is gross. I'll also say this for the JDC: it exceedingly accomplishes the task, like most buildings, of being a series of rooms."

Jacob is an angry, sarcastic and petulant seventeen-year old narrator that became grating the more you got to know him and the feeling didn't change much as you got to learn about his past and understand the difficulties he came from. There's a reason for everything, a cause for each action and the most pressing questions throughout the story were why do people end up the way they do? And what would make Jacob happy in a life that won't get any easier? The journal entries are supposed to represent the honest and innermost thoughts within the character, not what he wants to represent to others, and what's strange is that there was no real difference. He actually earned the honour of being one of the few characters that I didn't necessarily hate, but I didn't care for much, which is a shame because I try not to let a characters actions determine my feeling about a story but this was too much to overcome. Coming from a broken family, bad influences and boredom for an adolescent trying to find his place in the world is a recipe for disaster for the most sensible of people, but Jacob gives off the impression to the reader that he would be too wily for that, he didn't seem vulnerable enough to me and as a result was a disappointment. The one sympathy I had for him is that of feeling like he's a stranger in a strange land, having a difficult time becoming what others were hoping he would become, failing to live up to the expectation of truly feeling he belonged. He doesn't have the required emotional tools to develop and needed time to adjust from a life of hardships; hard to imagine a six month stint changing much but you never know, he's dangerously smart, he's liable to do anything. There was also common tool used to garner interest which fell flat, and that came in the introduction of a young woman who is the first source of inspiration and a check mark on the positivity scale heavily weighed down by the inadequacies of the JDC.

"It's not like I don't know how to be a person who functions outside of here. I'm pretty well schooled in the deadened adult compromise it takes to secure some valid state of being in the world. But I don't fucking care, because I know something already that most people learn only once they've reached the end of whatever personal development corridor they've started on, a secret shoved way down deep into the butt pocket of the universe, which is that everything, no matter what, is totally sad and completely pointless."

What good is a story without a semblance of a plot and one that discusses days in the life of the narrator as he navigates his way through a juvenile detention centre that he can't go what seems like a page or two without telling the reader how terribly boring it is being locked up in there. To me this is a horrible decision by the author because I became terribly bored by the book and the primary character's limitless bound for angst and smart ass responses which quickly became annoying and intolerable. At a third through the book I still had no idea what the purpose of the story was: was it to opine about the state of the judicial system for children and its lack of true rehabilitation? Or was it discuss that with broken homes and abusive relationships as children these young delinquents never have a chance for success? I was confused and it became increasingly evident that I made a mistake and was locked in and bound to the book like a Chinese finger trap and was not allowed my literary freedom until completion. I was beginning to sympathise with Jacob more and more at the turn of the page, this was my sentence and it was a miserable experience. What broke up the monotony of this young adult drivel was of course, a love interest, sound the alarm, no wait don't do that there's really nothing to see here, moving on.

"It was here that I started to think about where I could insert what I consider to be the secret weapon in my arsenal of anecdotes. It's a little story that has the three pronged effect of making me seem dangerous, tragic, and kind of thoughtful. It's about how when I was a kid, I was so sick of listening to my mom and her then boyfriend fight that I got really high, fell out of a window, and watched an ant stumble back and forth across the hairs on my arm and thought about how maybe I should be a farmer."

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first heard excerpts from this novel at my writing camp, where its author had been invited to read as a visiting artist. The sardonic wit of Monsters' teenager protagonist made it one of the most arresting and enjoyable readings. When I sought it out yesterday at my local Barnes and Noble, I was surprised to find it shelved on the first floor under "Fiction" rather than downstairs in the Teen/Young Adult section. The subject matter -- life in a juvenile detention center -- is of interest to teens, and the book's plot, which is neither involved or particularly original, seems more appropriate for a YA book.

I'm guessing it's Rathbone's undeniable talent as a writer which upgraded her to adult fiction. Monsters exemplifies the type of smart, funny, and creative prose I wish was the norm for YA books. The book is split, not into chapters, but sections headed by emboldened titles like "In Which Andrea And I Basically Have Sex" and "Jim Analysis II". Within scenes, the author experiments with form, adding interest to a book that's already fun to read.

Like many first novels, it's somewhat self-aware. Rathbone apologizes for clichés in the plot via Jacob's self-deprecating sarcasm, and most of the time, he's funny enought to gloss over technical inconsistancies. Still, the plot's predictable, and by being sparse and artistic, Rathbone leaves out information that would have left the reader more satisfied. I suppose the shortness of the book increases its selling power, but I felt as though, if it had taken more time to digest Jacob's story, I could have been more emotionally connected with him. Without that strong connection, his voice, entertaining as it is, is forgettable.

[Caroline Quek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't the type of book that I would normally read, but I'm still glad that I did. At first I was confused as to why Jacob was in the JDC; it was hard to relate to him. I liked the fact that there was no romance involved, it wouldn't have been 'right' to put him and Andrea together for some reason. I also loved the way the author portrayed David through his creepy mannerisms and his twisted mind. A good read, but I wouldn't read it again.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm reincarnated as a person I'm going to read it when I'm 18

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, the book was an easy read that kept me entertained. If you're looking for a book to read in spurts over a long period of time, this is not a bad choice. The story has some key factors you need to remember, but there aren't too many pieces you need to look into in order to feel like you understand the novel. I wouldn't say it is a book that stunned me, but I would definitely say I still loved reading it. You have fun looking in Jacob's mind and following his life in juvenile detention, and the characters are easy to follow although not ones you'd get immensely attached to (except Jim. Loved Jim.)

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm..I really liked the tone in this book. I enjoyed the humor and Jacob's views on things. I also liked how descriptive Rathbone is of the juvenile center. However, there were many points where I almost fell asleep. I didn't really get into it and felt that mostly it was lacking in plot.

[Susan Coleman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got through 50 pages of petulant teen angst and just couldn't any more.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but depressing

[Moi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, really well done. It’s hard, though, to be in Jacob’s head for so long.

[Bill Breedlove · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book at the library while waiting on someone. I liked it so much I ended up checking it out. The author really nails Jacob's, the 17 year old boy narrator's voice, perfectly, which is quite a bit more than just adding "like" into every sentence. I really enjoyed about the first 100 pages, as the narrator described things and experiences from his unique point of view. After that though, I found the book easier and easier to put down and harder and harder to come back to, if that makes any sense. It seemed like Ms. Rathbone spent a great deal of time setting up her main character and giving him several challenging situations, and then those either drifted away, or felt rushed in their completion and then the book was over. Perhaps it's because we've (or maybe just me) been conditioned to have certain expectations when reading a novel. For example, there is a great deal of set up and discussion about many of the secondary characters, particularly his therapist, Lane, as well as his substitute history teacher and even his "mentor," Jim. With all of the set up, I was expecting to these characters to play a larger role than they ended up actually playing. The antagonist (for want of a better term), David practically does everything but wear a junior-sized Hannibal Lecter mask. But, perhaps most unforgivable of all, is what happens--or doesn't happen--with Jacob's "love interest," Andrea. The "courtship" section of their relationship is wonderfully done, with all of the stops and starts and fumbling that ring true. But then, she just disappears from the book. Again, perhaps this is a problem with my expectations and not the author's execution. But, I will say that the ending felt forced and rushed, a huge event that has been foreshadowed and hinted at takes place and then 1.5 pages later the book is over. I literally looked to see if someone had torn pages out, but no, it was the end, followed by "reading group/book club notes" and a suggested reading list of the author's favorite books. I liked the beginning of this book very much, and it is very clear the author has much talent, and the main character is very well done, but I think this book needed a bit more polish or editing, which in this case I think called for a bit more work on the concluding sections. I recommend this book with four stars for the great writing and the perfect pitch of the narrator's voice, but I also leave the caveat that the denouement may leave some readers wanting.

[Vel Veeter]

I know about this author because she worked at bars and restaurants in my girlfriend’s college town. And so when her second novel came out this summer, we went to a reading. The second novel was pretty good. A little light, but otherwise interesting. I also really like sour, not super likeable narrators.

So this story, then, which is a richer novel in general, and has a sympathetic but considerably malcontent narrator works for me. In addition, since this is about teenage boy in a detention center, and since I work with teenagers, various of them having been in and out of foster homes and youth detention centers, I am set up to be a sympathetic reader, and I am.

It’s not a perfect novel, but I will get to that later.

As far as the descriptions of the life in a detention center, carved out into structured time and events, into 30 minute chunks, I get it. As a high school teacher, I think a lot about how overtly structured my students’ lives are in the school and how bizarre and constraining that is. I do NOT buy the argument that school is training for an office because, well it’s just not. Instead, it’s about a lack of imagination and cycles of action and reaction. We put students into an overly structured environment, and after time, especially in reaction to poor planning and wasted time and meaningless tasks, students react and react. So we tighten control, and as they react further and further the attitude gets more and more sour and hateful and stressed.

That is the world that Jacob Higgins lives in. His criminal acts in the real world were a reaction to violence and instability in his life. His life in the detention center, which is constraining, is simply a practice for an overly controlled world he already rejected. His observations of his world, his rejections of the actual philosophies behind it, and his searching for the little pleasures and emotional experiences of this world are small and sad.

The only complaint I have about the novel is that in a few moments I feel the author reacting, not the character. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it takes me out of the novel.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventeen-year-old Jacob Higgins is bored. He’s bored with good reason, of course. He’s been locked up in a Virginia juvenile detention center for the past three months. He was thrown in for, what should have been a simple armed robbery that went a little bit askew.

Over 200 pages, Jake winds through the antiseptic, over lit hallways he shares with his fellow detainees (psychos, for the most part) and staff members (idiots, all of them). He mopes about, giving a sardonic, yet eloquent tour of the place, occasionally sidestepping to discuss his “home” (containing his constantly battered mother and his refrigerator of a stepfather, Steve).

This is, far and away, one of my favorite books from this past year of reading. There isn’t one, specific thing I can point out, indicating why I loved it so much but I think, as a package, it works.

Jake is lovable, even at his most cynical. There is also more emphasis on the clarity of inner monologue than creating some sense of teen angst, which could easily have been a down fall. There are hard parts, dealing with domestic violence, but Rathbone approaches them through Jake’s eyes in a refreshing, albeit, difficult way.

I know that writers either have what it takes to make their stories work or they don’t. I know that no amount of time will improve something that simply isn’t there. Still, I just can’t believe that this is Rathbone’s first novel. It simply stellar. Period.

Publisher’s Weekly compared the book to Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and that cinematic darling, Napoleon Dynamite but I have to differ. I think it stands alone. I highly recommend the story to almost anyone. Trust me; it’s just that good.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacob Higgins is a jaded 17-year-old serving a sentence in a Virginia juvenile detention center for attempted armed robbery. His mother is an alcoholic, battered at the hands of her husband. In a journal, Jacob records bitter observations about day-to-day happenings; the cafeteria, his therapist, a budding romance with Andrea and goings-on in the classroom. Author Emma Rathbone’s knack for clever phrasing kept me reading:

My anger is wide and nuanced. It is gaping and ancient. It’s stronger than when you’re in the ocean and a wave pulls you down and you get a sense of some gravitational hinge powering things. It is stronger than that. It is all-encompassing and more glinty than five hundred suburban pools at midday.

Usually my mom is a photocopy of herself printed out on sandpaper. But today she was in color, normal, shifting around in the confines of her own noonday box of sober thought.

While there isn’t anything particularly profound in The Patterns of Paper Monsters , it provides a snapshot into the world of troubled youths. Jacob slowly comprehends the consequences of an individual’s actions on others. He reflects on what will happen when he gets released and slowly understands his rage. When David attempts to get Jacob involved in a plot to destroy the center, Jacob's conscience kicks into overdrive. The Patterns of Paper Monsters may not become the next classic literary record of disembodied youth but it’s well worth a read.

[Melissa Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3 stars!

Basically a tame, YA version of the Netflix show "Orange is the New Black". Seriously, this book is that brand of funny, without the raunchy jokes. In fact, I was surprised by how tame this book is, given that it takes place in a juvenile center (or the JDC, as Jacob and the inmates call it).
Maybe I'm just too used to the shocks of OITNB, and all those other crime/jail shows...this book is written as a YA novel; and I definitely think it shines as one. Jacob Higgins is a troubled kid with an abusive background; but his sardonic wit is perfect, and I must say, he and I got along very well, as reader-character-relationships go.

3 stars, for a solid debut; but I definitely think Rathbone could've added some extra punch to it, violence-wise. I know, I'm a terrible person. These are kids, and I know that. It's also an easy, breezy 206 pages, and I know it's not meant as a character study. But the most 'danger' I felt was within Dave Keffler; and even then, he seemed rather anticlimactic. Give me some teenage turmoil, some real angst - a glimpse into their psychological state - these are kid criminals, after all.
I know, I know, that's not really what the book is about, or was even supposed to be about. We as readers aren't meant to care so much about Jacob's "Before the JDC" life...but that doesn't mean I can't still be curious.

[Hashim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid fast read. Enjoyed Rathbone's peek into the mind of this teenage male character. Humboldt might recognize this youth; as might Meursault. Lolita meets the Stranger in an angst-filled room and had a baby. That baby is this book.

An easy read that balances the disconnected and emotionality of teenagers, while exploring the difficulties of defining a personal moral compass in a superficial world. The book suffers from character tunnel vision though and some great characters introduced are ignored or just not developed in ways that would give us more insight into the protagonist. Perhaps, the author was trying to demonstrate teenage selfishness and self-centeredness, but I just felt disappointed.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author did a great job of putting the reader into the head of Jake, an older teen in a juvenile detention center. That was what I most liked about this book. It was a narrative about life in the JDC with interesting plot elements, Jake's attraction to a girl, his relationship with his sponsor and therapist, and the mysterious David, another teen at the center. Unfortunately, the climaxes of the story are not very climactic. Now, on reflection, I wonder if that is the point. things just are. Either way, I was losing interest by the end.

[Sarah Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written, and honest narrative. Didn't give the characters false hope or positivity, but didn't get trapped in moroseness either. Plus the title - I love both the title and the cover a lot. The first person narrator is complicated and really well developed, but the other characters stay pretty flat. This might have been intentional though, giving us a perspective on these characters from a biased narrator's filter. I didn't pull this from the teen section, but I think it would be very successfully marketed to YA audiences.

[Beth Dailey Kenneth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a narrative of 17 year old Jacon's life in the Juvenile Detention Center after a botched arnmed robbery. It is very detailed about the JDC and Jacob's background / homelife but is greatly lacking in other character development. More info is needed on Andrea, David, workers we meet from the JDC. The ending feels rushed and lacking.

GREAT "clarity of inner monologue"

WARNING: contains cursing, sexual connotations and situations, spousal abuse (including hospitalization), alcoholics, forced religion, crimes, and doesn't seem to take rape or its victims seriously

[Sarah Honenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New Yorker was right in their Book Bench blog/column last summer: Emma's use of language is stunning. Jacob, not likeable at first, but obviously hurting, finds himself by the end, in a very realistic voice, appropriately tense narrative, and those amazing descriptions of emotions and people that make you ache for him. While the sexual slang evokes the place and Jacob's character, I found it a little too literal, and not as necessary to the tale as the underlying emotions. But . . . I recognize it may be more the norm than my experiences. I'd read anything she wrote, it's that good.

[Susan Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fabulous. It's the story of Jacob, stuck in a juvenile detention center, hating the center and skeptical about life and falling in love with a girl named Andrea. The novel is staged as Jacob's diary entries, thoughts and memories and observations recorded each night with the pen he has to check out from the residential monitor. Incredibly engrossing, thoughtful and flippant and funny and sad all at the same time.

[Forever Young Adult]

Graded By: Poshdeluxe
BFF Charm: I'd Try, But He Wouldn't Take It.
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: Straight Up Raw with a Splash of Beauty
Bonus Factors: Mysterious Loner Dude, Murderer Convention, Adult Cover
Relationship Status: Strangers Brought Together By Saturday Detention

Read the full book report here.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, I don't think I can say enough how much I dislike this book!

The characters were not developed, except for Jacob. I was really looking forward to reading about Andrea, but she never had anything really revealing told about her. She woulda been an amazing character, and so would David..but it just didn't happen.

The plot, or lack of, was SUPER boring. I thought this book was really bad

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was boring at first, but then I really got into the main character and his worldview. Narrator is a teenage boy in juvenile detention for armed robbery. He's obviously had a terrible upbringing, and while that messes him up, he's not irritatingly sorry for himself or entitled. I liked the end because it was optimistic while still being realistic.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have given 3 1/2 stars if possible - the protagonist's voice is very engaging and mostly entertaining, but occasionally a bit overly precocious (see casual usage of words like "quotidian," etc. - yes, he's supposed to be gifted, but isn't he also supposed to be really tough? Tough & $10 vocab words do not go together...)

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fast and furious read for me. It is a stark and almost too realistic narrative of a youth in a correction facility. I found the main character to be endearing and comical, but his life story was harrowing at times. Having worked with juvenile delinquents, this novel proved an engaging read as it allowed me to further envision the theoretical life of a delinquent youth.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Touching coming-of-age story without pretensions of grandeur comprising a believable send-up of the so-called "helping professions" and the juvenile "justice" system. The young narrator, Jake Higgins, manages to combine qualities of cowardice, honesty, humor, cruelty and intense pain in a manner that is both believable and touching. The author demonstrates a keen understanding of human frailty.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the style of Jacob's journal entries about daily life in juvie. Other than that, there wasn't much character development/growth and plot was lacking. It read like an indie movie, which I didn't mind, but not when nothing's going on. I wished the relationship between him and David had the chance to grow before that very rushed, unsatisfactory ending.