![]() ![]() King is unsparing in depicting Todd’s downward spiral. As he spends more and more time with Dussander the old man manages to turn the situation to his advantage, catching Todd in a trap wherein they both must rely on the other to avoid the consequences of their actions. ![]() In spite of his keen interest these sessions have a severe impact on Todd, resulting in nightmares and slipping grades. Under the guise of reading to a lonely old man losing his eyesight, Todd and the old man spend many afternoons together reliving life in the camps. He wants the old man to tell him all about the Holocaust: how it worked and how it made him feel.Īt first the old man is reluctant to dredge up the past but when he realizes that Todd has him over a barrel he capitulates. He just wants to hear what it was actually like. Todd isn’t interested in seeing justice served or in the accolades he could earn for his discovery. Rather than turning in the old man, he goes to confront him in person. Armed with as much proof as he can gather Todd makes a shocking and fateful decision. A local old-timer is actually a Nazi war-criminal named Dussander living in America under a false identity. After a magazine article piques his interest in the Holocaust, Todd makes a shocking discovery. He’s good at sports and does well in school (hence the “apt pupil” descriptor) and his successful, happy parents love him to pieces. Thirteen-year-old Todd Bowman seems like a perfectly healthy and happy boy. Stephen King strikes out on an unlikely course in this novella and follows it through all the way to a chilling conclusion.
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