Nov 10, 2025
To:Mario Nakano 64
Ya got me, it is sequel bait. Not even my first choice as an ending actually. At first, I wanted her to be kidnaped or something, but that didn't really work. Then I wanted him to have a happy ending and then something terrible happen in the beginning of the next book. All of the other options felt cheap or predictable. Also, John has to suffer. The tone that I'm going for is that being a spy, while action packed, is actually not fun at all. It's a horrible, terrible, thank-less job that is often unfair. John is also a guy who has attacked and killed a lot of important people, in this book alone after leaving his mafia family, who knows that he's flipped. Like in so many mafia movies, books and tv shows, the ending has some tragic sense of loss. Either of the main character or of someone close, due to their direct actions. It wouldn't have been as shocking if you could see her death coming. I wanted the reader to feel like it was unfair, but not totally absurd. In the end, her accidently taking a bullet meant for him was the best way to do that. I still might change the way this happens, but the result is still the same.