For my last excerpt of Gehenna: the Final Night, I wanted to highlight a neat storytelling choice. Marmell describes Beckett on page 8, at the beginning, before anything happens, and on page 319, when Gehenna is underway and undeniable.
The contrast!!! Marmell shows us this visual evidence of Beckett's journey and how much he's changed. Since the book's POV is in 3rd person omniscient, we never get access to Beckett's most intimate thoughts. It's great storytelling to note the marks on the body when the mind is closed. Buddy really went through that torment nexus, huh. Yet, despite everything, it's still him.
Transcripts of the screenshots under the cut:
page 8:
Beckett wouldn't really stand out in a crowd. Brown hair just a bit longer than was currently in vogue, brown jeans, a white denim button-down that wasn't currently buttoned, hiking boots and a backpack nearly large enough to crush a man who tried to put it on at the wrong angle. About the only truly unusual feature were the sunglasses he wore even late at night, an attention-getter he'd never have worn if they hadn't served the very specific purpose of hiding his inhuman eyes from mortal observers. From similar reasons, he wore a pair of gloves to conceal the coarse hair and thick nails that marked his hands, a further legacy of his blood's bestial heritage.
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page 319:
"Beckett," she snarled. Then he blinked. "You look like hell."
Beckett nodded once. His eyes were sunken, his skin pale. He looked as though he hadn't fed in nights. His clothes were disheveled, and he bore the scars of several burns that hadn't quite healed yet. That he'd abandoned his sunglasses somewhere along the way was lost on Cross; she'd only seen him once, and had never known [i]why[/i] he wore the shades at the time. "You're not looking especially shipshape yourself."
"You're here to take advantage of that?" she demanded with something of her old fire. "Here to finish the job after all?"
