Yeah, because students become pros and spend thousands on the software they're familiar with because no one wants to relearn how to do things on new software.

Oh the irony.

Ttying to squeeze more money out of an aging franchise.

Typical liberal wokery.

/s

Yes.

He's one of those authors that could be categorised as "writing for people who don't like to read".

Weirdly, it is

> A baby carrot is a carrot harvested before reaching maturity and sold at that smaller size. A baby-cut carrot is a small piece cut from a larger carrot; baby-cut carrots are often marketed as "baby carrots", leading to potential confusion.[1]

That's a valid point, so I'll just clarify what I mean.

>isn’t every move a character makes in a book written solely for the author’s need for them to do so?

Yes and no.

On the most obvious level, it absolutely is.

The problem comes when a character does or says something that they have no reason to do or say other than the author needs them to.

So, in this example, the character says something because the author needs to create tension. That's fine. But what a competent author would do is give the character a reason for saying it.

Actions should be driven from character and/or story, not just a bunch of random stuff happening because it is convenient for the author. Because not only is this bad writing, but it is contemptuous to the readers.

This is the main problem I have with this book (aside from having the stupidest plot twist in all known literature). The whole world and everyone in it only act the way they do because the author needs it. Their actions aren't derived from character and the way things work (such as everything in the mental hospital) are set up to be convenient to the author.

Sure, people are free to take liberties, but if you're going to write about something, there needs to be at least some level of plausibility, which this completely lacks.

Honestly, I was so excited for this book and am a big fan of the pulpy, twisting mystery thriller, which is probably why this was such a massive let down. It wasn't even the hype (I picked it up randomly in a second hand book store), but it was such a poor effort on any other level than needs to be twisty that I couldn't help but be appalled.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

But there is zero attempt to make a well crafted plot. People only act the way they do because the author needs them to, which is why there are countless loose ends. The author needed something suspenseful or a red herring and just chucked something random in and, as you said, never resolved it or weaved it into the story.

So, again, glad you enjoyed it, but I don't think there is any deeper meaning behind any of it than "the author needed this to happen, so it did"

He said it becauae the book is stupid on every level and the writer has nothing but contempt for the reader and the craft so just does whatever to make this dumpster fire of a book seem cleverer than it is.