I’ve read the other posts about the ending who the killer might be, but I wanted to further discuss the topic as I’ve just finished the book and I have some ideas.
I think that there are more than one killer.
I think that the girls were killed by the trawler.
I don’t think Bret did it, because why would he have wanted to kill Matt, who seems to have been killed following the same ways as the other girls? Also there’s no explanation as to why the trawler decided to kill a boy.
For this reasons I think that Robert killed Matt because he seems to be fixated on Bret sexual orientation and it seems he really dislike gay guys. The scene where he goes to Bret house just to humiliate him and make sure he really is gay/bisexual makes little sense, other than proving how much he despise homosexuality, given the way he reacts to Terry flirting with him (I also think that Robert pushed Terry). The way that the killer questions Matt in the tape that Bret received makes me think that the he was punishing the boy for his sexual orientation. I don’t know what connection Robert and the Trawler have, but I think Robert knows him/them and tried to mimic them while killing Matt.
In my opinion Matt’a death made Bret spiral, leading to Robert’s suicide. I think that Bret was the one that attacked Susan and Thom and he didn’t want to hurt Thom, I think he wanted to hurt Susan because 1) he was out of his mind 2) he wanted to make her pay for hurting Thom (who Bret loved very much, like he loved Matt).
I think that at some point Robert and Bret where following each other.
The point of the book I think is showing Bret descending into madness lead by fear and hate, and him morphing into the killer that he really feared.
What do you think?
by eruannie