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2023 Nostalgia Re-readathon | SVH #100: The Evil Twin
Will Margo win the final battle?
Margo's monstrous plan is complete.
She came to Sweet Valley to find a new life, and discovered identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their "perfect" family. If only Margo can get rid of one of them, she can take her rightful place in the Wakefield home.
Now the moment Margo has been waiting for has arrived. The twins aren't speaking to each other. Sweet Valley is in chaos. Mr and Mrs Wakefield are out of town. Margo has just enough time to do what she needs to do.
Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are in mortal danger...
All miniseries long, I've been waiting for the Christmas season to hit, and boom! Here it is. Chapter one, the twins are dressing for their last day of classes before the winter break. They are both musing over the disaster that was the Jungle Prom, Sam's death, and their estrangement ever since. Both twins have premonitions that something bad is going to happen, but they are so mired in their anger and sadness that they can't really tell if its a true feeling or not.
There is another great early canon touch with the Secret Santa candy canes given out during the last day of school, though Margo has slipped some nasty anonymous messages to both Jessica and Elizabeth. Margo has started regularly impersonating both twins - at school, at home, with friends, etc. Margo thinks she's doing a fabulous job of pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, but in reality, everyone she's with knows that she's not Liz, at least if their interaction is more than a few words. She has an easier time impersonating Jessica, and even contemplates switching her murderous ire to the feisty twin for awhile, but ultimately can't shake her ultimate desire to take over Liz's life. She has a countdown clock running, too: she's going to murder Elizabeth at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
The Wakefields have a strained Christmas celebration (with Margo watching from the shadows), and then the parents are off on their wild goose chase in San Francisco that Margo had arranged in the previous book. Margo has figured out how to sneak into the Wakefield home from a basement window, so she starts coming and going with great regularity. She sneaks into Liz's room, reads her diary, lays in her bed, and even hides in her closet when Liz arrives home unexpectedly. It's really creepy. Liz sees her room in disarray and blames Jessica. She's still mad about Jess hiding the note from Todd, but she can't understand "Jessica's" strange behavior in rifling through her things.
Meanwhile, Margo is making dates with Todd, who is having weird flashbacks to his earlier fling with Jessica, and is also wondering what "Jessica" is trying to pull by impersonating Liz. He doesn't trust his instincts (until its too late). Only Enid looks at Margo-playing-Liz and tells her outright that she doesn't believe its Liz she's talking to; she, too, suspects Jessica, though she doesn't understand the motive.
Margo is also impersonating Jessica, especially around Lila. Lila and her family are off to Paris for Christmas, but are returning just in time to throw a huge, formal ball for New Year's. Margo worms her way into Fowler Crest by pretending to be Jessica, and makes plans to kill Liz at the ball and bury her in the woods behind the pool house.
Jessica is wracked with guilt about spiking Liz's punch at the Jungle Prom, but can't quite bring herself to come clean. James has suddenly dumped her, and she has no idea why. He calls one night and asks her to meet him so he can explain, but unfortunately Margo intercepts the call - and the meeting - and pushes James off a pier.
Josh Smith is still dogging Margo's trail, and when she realizes it, she leads him directly to James, and leaves it looking as if he was the one who killed James instead of her, so he's neatly removed from her plans by being arrested for the murder. After all, who arrives just after but the Wakefield twins and Todd, and who do they see but Josh, standing on the pier looking over?
James's sudden death plunges Jessica into pretty deep despair. Margo, being a sociopath, does not have real emotions and goes on impersonating both twins, though each set of friends finds it incredibly odd that "Jess" and "Liz" are so chirpy and talkative. Nobody really puts two and two together though, which is pretty frustrating. Especially since Margo's interactions with everyone are not convincing - if these people had exchanged notes more regularly, they would've figured out what was going on way before the end of the book.
But alas. The Wakefield parents make it to San Francisco and find nothing is as they thought. The letter Mr Wakefield received is confirmed as a forgery by the company, and they decide to return to Sweet Valley early. Mrs Wakefield is beside herself with worry about her children; every time she calls home she speaks with "Liz" (aka Margo), who assures her that everything is fine, but her mother's intuition keeps telling her something is wrong.
Playing against everyone is the fact that it's apparently the storm of the century in southern California, raining seven straight days from Christmas through New Year's, with plenty of electrical storms and fog. It slows the Wakefield parents' return to Sweet Valley, and obscures the actions going on at the New Year's ball.
Margo finagles the dresses that she and Liz are wearing to the party; when Todd arrives to pick Liz up, he has to look and her long and hard to make sure that she really is Elizabeth. He's determined to stick to her like glue for the entire evening, but of course Liz has to go to the bathroom at some point, and that's when they are separated. Todd thinks he finds her in a dark room at Fowler Crest, but instead he realizes that he's with Margo and she knocks him out with a brass statuette (the tiny picture on the bottom left of the stepback).
Jessica goes to the party alone, for once wearing a completely different outfit from her sister. Steven and Billie are at the Wakefield homestead, watching movies/making out to celebrate the new year. Everyone hears the news when Josh breaks out of the county jail in one last attempt to stop Margo, and everyone is fearful that because he knows Todd and the twins, that he'll be gunning for them.
Jessica goes looking for Liz at Fowler Crest and sees her going into the pool house; she follows her and finds Margo standing over Liz, about to kill her. Todd has regained consciousness and is stumbling around; Steven and Billie have raced to Fowler Crest to check on the twins after finding the phones down; Enid spots Josh Smith near the pool house and sends as rescue party to stop Josh in his tracks.
Meanwhile, Jessica, Liz, and Margo are struggling for the butcher knife. Jess and Liz have both had the prophetic dream about the "twin" with dark hair and the butcher knife at Secca Lake, so they immediately understand what's going on. Jess gets the knife in hand at one point and points it at both girls in pink, unable to figure out which one is which. This is the moment that sticks with me, even thirty years later. Jessica realizes which one is Liz a split second too late; Margo grabs the knife and threatens them both. Mercifully, Jess throws herself over Liz, and Josh slams into the pool house at just the right moment, to knock Margo off the twins, through the plate glass window, and onto the patio below. Margo is killed when a slice of glass cuts into her carotid artery and she bleeds to death.
Josh is telling his story to the police, who believe him now that there's a third "twin" dead nearby. Neither Elizabeth nor Jessica can understand it, but they are so thankful to be alive that they immediately forgive each other, and rush into their mother's arms.
This is certainly a thriller, and it works on every level. It's also a standalone; you don't have to read A Night to Remember or #95-99 in order to understand what's going on here - all of the relevant info is recapped. Margo has finally put all of her plans into motion, and while she is clever, she's not nearly as clever as she thinks. No one that she interacts with for any length of time believes that she's Elizabeth, not even Mrs Wakefield or Todd. If anything, she'd have had an easier time slotting herself into Jessica's life, but she thinks Jess is weak and pathetic.
Reading this as an adult, I kinda felt sorry for Margo. She's absolutely insane, but she's also deluding herself for thinking that she'd get away with it. Her answer to not getting her way is to kill, and what makes her think that even if she did successfully off Elizabeth and take over her identity, and anyone would believe that Liz would kill as easily and as often as Margo did? Sure, she was on trial for involuntary manslaughter for Sam's death, but she was acquitted. Only someone who was totally bananapants beyond-the-bend would think that was a good cover for committing murder.
Anyway. Margo is a sad, mad, awful, evil person, but knowing that she'd never get away with it - when she hesitates to kill Elizabeth at the end - takes away some of the suspenseful feeling. Also: no one is as dumb as pretty much everyone acts here, and no way is Josh the only person on Margo's trail throughout all of this.
Other disappointing factors: that Josh never explains how he put together Margo's murderous past; and that Jessica never tells Elizabeth about spiking the punch at the Jungle Prom (supposedly Liz 'intuits' it from a series of dreams, where her subconscious magically allows her to see Jessica doing it, and why she did it).
But, this is rightly considered the best book of the entire SVH series, and it definitely holds up as such. There was no going back to the slim, white-spined, early canon series after this, and indeed, SVH quickly goes off the rails in increasingly dramatic and idiotic ways, but damn. What a helluva way to celebrate reaching a milestone series number!
Unfortunately, one of the terribad books that follows this is an actual sequel to the Evil Twin, which is so OTT that I remember being angry that they even attempted to pull it off. Hopefully I will find it less anger-inducing this time around, as we close out our re-read (and this year)!
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a) she thinks Jessica's weak and
b) she thinks she and Liz both have something in common, considering they've both killed at least one person. Ignoring the whole accident part of the equation would be completely inline with Margo's thought process.
Honestly, I could sit here for hours and spin off a thousand what-if AUs from this arc alone. Like what if Margo did succeed and did keep coping with shit by killing people? That spins off in two directions right away: Margo getting away with it for awhile while "Liz" investigates the crimes and people realizing very early on that uh, dude, Liz ain't right anymore.
Or what if Margo did get what she wanted (Liz's identity) but in her haste to get home before midnight*, Alice went and got herself and Ned killed in a car accident? How would Margo cope with that? HOW, AU? How?
Seriously I could be here forever. I will say that time moves in bonkers ways in this book, just like in the whole mini leading up to it. I always get tripped up over Liz specifically choosing one outfit right away and then later, after Alice has run into Margo, Liz is magically wearing something else.
I either never put it together or forget every few years, but Jess gets to the party really, really late. Even being generous, there's no way she arrives before 10:15/30 at the earliest, and that just seems...late for a NYE party, even if everyone does know you're in mourning (again? Still?). Because as soon as Jess shows up, everything else kicks off. I have always loved how her arrival is handled though, as the ghosty plays with where Margo is or isn't and really this is something that happens a few times this book and it's fun nearly every time.
The constant rain is basically how we spend nearly every Christmas, so it adds to the atmosphere... particularly this year when there were many a flashflood warning going off on my phone. Festive!
It's interesting that Lila's the only one who never seems to catch on that something's funky with 'Jess' aside from talking with Amy as they set up for the party. I'd like to think that Lila brings out the less murdery side of Margo but it kinda says something about you (Jess) when your BFF hangs out with an actual psychopath for hours and never once catches on to the fact that she's not you. It also says something about Lila, really, but I refuse to listen to such things. Lila brings out the rage in everyone BUT Margo. It's how the universe balances things.
The costume ball from the last book is mentioned in this one and EVERY SINGLE YEAR my brain reads it and has not really thought to go back and find it happening. It's just content to be like "yeah, sure, that probably happened, huh". WTH, self. WTH.
We'll never know how Josh tracked Margo...Boo and bullfrogs. How did James know her name was Margo? Did I blink too fast in the last book and that was revealed?
I love the little bit of the dream that Jess has that includes the small room detail, as I'm not sure I recall that from Liz's versions, though Liz does seem resigned to her fate so I guess that's happened in hers as well.
Always a little torn on Margo not realizing how badly she's pulling off the Liz thing because every year I kind of root for her to pull it off, if only to explain the sheer WTF of Liz's actions in the later books... and the hope that maybe the reality that has Margo winning has more fun than this timeline. Her complete and utter inability to read how poorly Christmas at the Wakefields is going is forever sad and funny at the same time. She wants this life so desperately but she's completely and utterly incapable of seeing what's actually going on or understanding WHY the perfection she thinks she's seeing is just not going to happen.
Time wonkiness! It's always driven me insane that the other Wakefields are 15 minutes away or so from midnight and also from Lila's and yet it's not til freakin' morning that they're all reunited. WTF? And this reminds me, we could add Steven getting himself and Billie killed too. For a family that just dealt with what happens when someone's not driving safely, no one learned a goddamn thing about operating a vehicle properly. o_o
...how does Liz get her lavaliere back? Especially when you factor in the Return storyline. Does one of the twins go "excuse me, that's Liz's necklace, can you take it off the dead nutjob?"
Really, the timeline gets even worse when you factor in Return... so I won't. I will forever be pissed we were robbed of Jess looking cute as she finds Todd's body, though since that doesn't happen in the book I'm not sure...why it happens on the cover art. Speaking of cover art, Liz looks too happy to be staring into the face of ~pUrE eViL~ and also I spent years thinking that was a picture of Alice on the wall, not Margo peeking in the window.
I hope that you find Return more fun this go round or at least entertainingly awful?
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Honestly, I could sit here for hours and spin off a thousand what-if AUs from this arc alone. Like what if Margo did succeed and did keep coping with shit by killing people? That spins off in two directions right away: Margo getting away with it for awhile while "Liz" investigates the crimes and people realizing very early on that uh, dude, Liz ain't right anymore.
Okay, the first idea has some legs (Margo as Liz "investigating" her own crimes, given that she's not immediately killing people too close to the family, like her father for instance). That would be pretty creepy and twisted and believable, in the SVH sense of the word at least. It's more *likely* that if she started killing people, they would automatically suspect that Liz has gone nuts, but you know, that's not a given considering how dense SVers tend to be. Only if they actually started trading notes would they cotton onto Margo-as-Liz-the-deranged-killer. She'd have a better chance of getting away with it if she could get out in front of it as the "investigator."
Or what if Margo did get what she wanted (Liz's identity) but in her haste to get home before midnight*, Alice went and got herself and Ned killed in a car accident? How would Margo cope with that? HOW, AU? How?
Ooh, the irony of that is delicious! She'd have a complete comeapart...and so would the real Liz!
I always get tripped up over Liz specifically choosing one outfit right away and then later, after Alice has run into Margo, Liz is magically wearing something else.
This was what was frustrating about nobody checking in with anybody else. Who changes clothes that often?! Not even Jessica or anyone in her coterie. So WHY THE HELL does nobody question it when "Liz" does it, or believe her when she says she never changed clothes and why are they saying she did?! C'mon, y'all, it's *too* obvious!
Jess gets to the party really, really late. Even being generous, there's no way she arrives before 10:15/30 at the earliest, and that just seems...late for a NYE party, even if everyone does know you're in mourning (again? Still?). Because as soon as Jess shows up, everything else kicks off. I have always loved how her arrival is handled though, as the ghosty plays with where Margo is or isn't and really this is something that happens a few times this book and it's fun nearly every time.
I'd think a NYE party wouldn't start all that early - maybe 8 or 9 pm? So Jessica arriving two hours late is just about right for her, especially in the pouring rain when likely everyone was late. I think stuff was happening already, but it wasn't important until both twins arrived. I mean, Todd and Liz were joined at the hip for the first couple of hours, until Liz decides to visit the powder room. (Granted, it's because she spotted Jessica coming in and couldn't face her, but still. She had to potty sometime, eventually!) Everyone else has already arrived and are mingling, so Jess arrives just in time for the climax of the story to take place. It's how Margo was able to get around so easily (Josh, too, for that matter).
The ghostie did write quite compellingly in this installment - maybe it was the same one from ANTR. A lot of unreality/surreality going on, which totally fits.
The constant rain is basically how we spend nearly every Christmas, so it adds to the atmosphere... particularly this year when there were many a flashflood warning going off on my phone. Festive!
Yeah, it was rainy and gross here this year, too. It usually is. I don't remember the weather being quite this terrible in the book, so that was a surprisingly pleasant element that adds to the suspense. Makes sense, too, to slow down the parental units from returning after they realize the jig is up in SF.
It's interesting that Lila's the only one who never seems to catch on that something's funky with 'Jess' aside from talking with Amy as they set up for the party.
I cut Lila some slack because she's still wrapped up in her own parents' fairytale. I mean, she's nice to Bruce at the BYE party! Actually complimentary!! Obviously she is not 100% herself yet, still floating on cloud nine :D
Lila brings out the rage in everyone BUT Margo. It's how the universe balances things.
Margo's attraction to Lila and her dislike of Enid is just so - Jessica! The first thing she wanted to do was get rid of Enid and make nicey nice with Lila. Gee, that wouldn't have raised any eyebrows now would it?
How did James know her name was Margo? Did I blink too fast in the last book and that was revealed?
No, this was never revealed. I'm guessing he put two and two together and maybe she slipped and revealed her actual name, since he does muse about how she originally introduced herself as "Mandy." He had a couple of brain cells to rub together, even if they didn't start working until it was too late. Honestly, when he called Jessica I was 1000% sure that he was actually talking to Margo, so imagine my surprise when no, he got through to Jess and Margo was just oh so conveniently listening in on an extension. I guess she wanted some witnesses to his death, especially after she decided to frame Josh, and she probably couldn't believe her luck when not just one person shows up, but three! I have to admit, that was a very clever piece of work from her.
I love the little bit of the dream that Jess has that includes the small room detail, as I'm not sure I recall that from Liz's versions, though Liz does seem resigned to her fate so I guess that's happened in hers as well.
I think Liz just dreamed about the "twin" at Secca Lake, but when Jessica had the same dream, she was dreaming about a lot of locations, and she's the only one who foresaw the "small room" aspect of it. That was an excellent detail to include, and came at a great time in the narrative, when Jess was already upset about James's murder. (Margo thinking Jess was weak for having such a reaction to his death is definitely o.O)
complete and utter inability to read how poorly Christmas at the Wakefields is going is forever sad and funny at the same time. She wants this life so desperately but she's completely and utterly incapable of seeing what's actually going on or understanding WHY the perfection she thinks she's seeing is just not going to happen.
Yes! Her delusions of perfection were actually quite sad, and part of why I felt a little sorry for her. She thought she was going to get it all, but in actuality, even if she had succeeded, she wouldn't have been nearly as happy as she dreamed.
we could add Steven getting himself and Billie killed too. For a family that just dealt with what happens when someone's not driving safely, no one learned a goddamn thing about operating a vehicle properly. o_o
Yeah, I get that everyone was desperate to find the twins before Josh did, but he did some really dumb things in the process. If I was Billie, I'd be side-eyeing him something fierce for being so reckless!
It's always driven me insane that the other Wakefields are 15 minutes away or so from midnight and also from Lila's and yet it's not til freakin' morning that they're all reunited. WTF?
I read that as it took the Wakefield parents that long to get there in the old clunky car they were driving. It is still a bit much to think it took them hours to arrive, but I guess the ghostie wanted that whole "new dawn" imagery bad enough to make it stretch. I can definitely see it taking the police that long to get the scene under control!
...how does Liz get her lavaliere back? Especially when you factor in the Return storyline. Does one of the twins go "excuse me, that's Liz's necklace, can you take it off the dead nutjob?"
*snerk* I'm guessing someone sidles over to have a good look at Margo to make sure she's dead and nicks it then - if it didn't come off in the struggle over the knife. Or maybe Jessica made a grab for it when she was lunging in the way to save her sister's life the second time?
I hope that you find Return more fun this go round or at least entertainingly awful?
IIRC, I was mad that they had the audacity to try to follow up Evil Twin and then made such a hash out of it. My standout memory from that book is Jessica being tied up in the basement of the high school the whole time everyone thought she was dead. What the actual fuck?! I mean, the Margo of this book would've had a better plan than that!
I'm sure I'll find it much more amusing this time around, unless the writing is just flat out awful, a la #105.
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Communication? In the Valley? Gasp! Blasphemy!
Ooh, the irony of that is delicious! She'd have a complete comeapart...and so would the real Liz!
And that's when Margo truly became Liz for that AU. But also damn, poor Jessica in this scenario. She thinks she's cursed now? Oof.
Who changes clothes that often?!
Me. As a very young kid. Like maybe til I was 7? Maybe 6? Oh, and my brother would go through three outfits a day, not counting PJs, but that was well into HS and to be fair, he did play sports. But yeah, Liz is definitely not the sort to have spent all that time choosing an outfit only to randomly change and not have a reason. BUT! I think the ghosty also forgot the outfit they chose to begin with, because Liz's defense to Alice is she's wearing the same -whatever- that wasn't the same thing she picked out when the book opened. Not even the ghosties can keep up with the fashion.
Yeah, it was rainy and gross here this year, too. It usually is.
All hail the southern fried Christmas. Boooooo.
I mean, she's nice to Bruce at the NYE party! Actually complimentary!
*snort* Fair, totally fair. But since it gave me a bit of the Lila/Bruce vibe without making me want to kill anyone, it works.
The first thing she wanted to do was get rid of Enid and make nicey nice with Lila. Gee, that wouldn't have raised any eyebrows now would it?
Right? Imagine the shockwaves around the school for that. It's one thing to dump Enid for Maria/Olivia and another thing entirely to dump her for Lila. ...*shoos away plotbunny that involves Enid teaming up with Toddles and Jeffrey to prove that nu!Liz isn't Liz at all*
He had a couple of brain cells to rub together, even if they didn't start working until it was too late
They had to sober up first! Maybe get some fresh-nearly killed Jessica air to start working.
Honestly, when he called Jessica I was 1000% sure that he was actually talking to Margo, so imagine my surprise when no, he got through to Jess and Margo was just oh so conveniently listening in on an extension. I guess she wanted some witnesses to his death, especially after she decided to frame Josh, and she probably couldn't believe her luck when not just one person shows up, but three! I have to admit, that was a very clever piece of work from her.
Every year I forget that it's not Margo (you'd think I'd remember she waits til the perfect moment to strike this one time) on the phone, both when he calls to lure her out to the pier (wtf, James. The DB is far less likely to get you straight up killed by a psychopath wearing your girlfriend's face) and when he's breaking up with her. Part of it's probably because it's fun to forget and be surprised a bit each year and part of it's just the ghosty doing a damn fine job.
Margo thinking Jess was weak for having such a reaction to his death is definitely o.O
To say nothing of thinking that at about the same time she's thinking 'can't think naughty thoughts about Steven, my soon to be brother'! Oh, Margo.
If I was Billie, I'd be side-eyeing him something fierce for being so reckless!
Every other year I've cut them some slack on this because I'd forgotten how new their relationship was at this point but dude. Billie! Depending on the timeline, you've been dating this guy a MAX of maybe 4 months (even less if we believe the timeframes given) and he's out here damn near killing you with his driving! I guess they're still in the honeymoon phase though but still.
It is still a bit much to think it took them hours to arrive, but I guess the ghostie wanted that whole "new dawn" imagery bad enough to make it stretch.
Given how adamant Alice was about getting there before midnight, it's just always gonna be weird. I do love the idea that at some point Ned pulled over again and just said yeah, we can get there later and probably alive, or I can keep pushing this heap and we're gonna die in five minutes.
Or maybe Jessica made a grab for it when she was lunging in the way to save her sister's life the second time?
Ooh, maybe. Or maybe when they're all wrestling around for the knife. That could work. I can also see Todd or Steven or hell, even Josh straight up taking it off Margo in disgust. Not sure I'd want it back though, but you do you, Liz.
Oh! I remembered my other issue! When just reading The Evil Twin each year, I'd missed how much the arc itself hammered home the idea that Liz was so traumatized by Sam's death, the accident itself, and the aftermath that she couldn't write at all... including her diary. Yet Margo's got a whole treasure trove of diary material just waiting to walk her through Liz's thoughts during the same time. I get why they'd need it for Margo, but... just don't have Liz despair over being unable to write and specifically mention the diary as something she can't face either? Which is a shame because it's one of the things I did relate to- when my brain gets too crowded, my writing in any form cuts out completely or way, way down, so it always made sense that Liz would too.
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Having just read the sequel, oof indeed! Especially when we see how quickly Margo decides that Liz is too boring and Jessica's life would be much more interesting.
It's one thing to dump Enid for Maria/Olivia and another thing entirely to dump her for Lila. ...*shoos away plotbunny that involves Enid teaming up with Toddles and Jeffrey to prove that nu!Liz isn't Liz at all*
Not even Lila would be that oblivious, either. And if Jeffrey was involved, I'm sure Lila would be interested in helping suss the situation!
he calls to lure her out to the pier (wtf, James. The DB is far less likely to get you straight up killed by a psychopath wearing your girlfriend's face)
Pretty sure he chose the marina because he was planning to immediately jump on a boat and get out of town. It would've been harder in a public place, but you're right, it would've been way safer. He'd have a chance to escape when he realized it was Margo instead of Jess.
the ghosty doing a damn fine job
Agreed! I'm guessing this ghostie is the same one from ANTR. I like that it can be read as a standalone, but it also kinda sucks because what's the point of the preceding 5 books?!
To say nothing of thinking that at about the same time she's thinking 'can't think naughty thoughts about Steven, my soon to be brother'! Oh, Margo.
Seriously. That was a totally ugh moment.
Given how adamant Alice was about getting there before midnight, it's just always gonna be weird.
True. Maybe the police wouldn't let them near the twins until five hours later because of the death scene?
hammered home the idea that Liz was so traumatized by Sam's death, the accident itself, and the aftermath that she couldn't write at all... including her diary. Yet Margo's got a whole treasure trove of diary material just waiting to walk her through Liz's thoughts during the same time. I get why they'd need it for Margo, but... just don't have Liz despair over being unable to write and specifically mention the diary as something she can't face either?
I just read the entire miniseries and somehow this completely escaped me. I guess I was on board with Margo reading Liz's diary as the best way for her to finally get the inside scoop on Liz's life, since all she got from James was endless Jessica (and she still decided she'd rather be the boring twin).
But I get it, too. When I get down in the dumps I can't do anything creative at all, much less write for fun.
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I wonder how long it would take for Margo to decide she wanted to be Jessica instead. Would she decide to forgo the twin or would she just Senior Year it up and have Liz become more Jess? She'd probably get away with it more in the aftermath of Alice/Ned dying. *muse*
And if Jeffrey was involved, I'm sure Lila would be interested in helping suss the situation!
I can just see Lila deciding to impress Jeffrey with how much she's changed, too.
Pretty sure he chose the marina because he was planning to immediately jump on a boat and get out of town
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh... welp, I'm an idiot. All this time I just assumed he'd planned on having Jess hop on the back of his bike and they'd ride off into the storm.
but it also kinda sucks because what's the point of the preceding 5 books?!
Wacky hijinks and sideplots that will mean nothing because they'll be abandoned ASAP! And Margo being not as cool as memory made her out to be. So really, just some interesting cover art choices, really.
Maybe the police wouldn't let them near the twins until five hours later because of the death scene?
I'm guessing this might be it, though there's no way in SVHell I believe Ned wouldn't get them back to see the girls as soon as they got there, or very soon thereafter, or that Alice wouldn't just move heaven and earth to get through. But this might be the angle being used.
Which still doesn't explain Margo's body lying there for 6/7 hours and somehow she survives for Return. The. Hell.