On page, 146, it ends with this sentence-
"He would be unstoppable."
Pierce is described as "Unstoppable", the title of series, three, in which he is the villain. Now, is it just by chance that Cara is described as the "doublecrosser" when that is the title of series four?
Thank you for pointing this out I noticed it a while ago and thought that maybe it meant something, but now that I'm solidly believing that Cara is the double-crosser I can add it to the list (:
ReplyDeleteYay!!! I may have to re-post my Cara evidence with all of the new proof/theories we're discovering!
DeleteYou totally should! There's so much evidence, even if its only little stuff that the authors THOUGHT we wouldn't notice. I'll admit, when Cara was first brought into the picture, I thought she was a really cool character. It mentioned her being a violinist in NTR, and I thought that was really cool to have another musician on board but they didn't go anywhere with the violin thing, sooo.. ): But during Flashpoint there were times when she seemed a little too convenient, and now the way she's been acting in Doublecross. Ugh. She bothers me so much.
DeleteI'll add it to my list of things to post! There really is a ton of evidence, I feel like the Harry Potter fandom noticing all of the tiny things haha. I never really liked her, I don't know why. She just seemed kind of..off..to me. Ugh. Oh!!! In Countdown, she was emailing Pony as April May right before he died. At that point, she should have been in the helicopter. How could she have been doing all of her stuff as April May at that point without being noticed? I don't see how she could do all of it with her father or Galt right there 24/7. What if...her dad knew all along? He just didn't know she was going to turn on him?
DeleteHaha its not just the Harry Potter fandom that notices all the little details-- that's what a fandom lives for. (: There's so many Harry Potter things on Pinterest I should probably make a board for it…
ReplyDeleteI just thought there was lots of ways they could've used her character, and they went down the road I didn't like in the end. If she was more reserved I think I'd like her a lot better.
I forgot about that! I hate merging April May and Cara, even though I know they're the same person. I liked April May a lot more than Cara, but as soon as I started reading Flashpoint I was pretty sure they were the same person. But that is a great point! But she might not have been in the helicopter, I thought she was just on the plane. But the whole completely-unknown hacker thing was a little stretched-thin. Pierce had to have some knowledge of her real identity, but he might've not known April May was helping the Cahills. I don't know.
One thing about the Cara/April May crossover is that I don't think that Jude planned it that way. I know the authors have to kind of have an idea what the others are doing, but in Nowhere to Run it talks about April May like she's this unhealthily antisocial girl who doesn't even talk to other people. Like, she mentioned a roommate that was sending texts about how weird she was-- did Cara ever have a roommate? It never mentioned them going to a boarding school or anything. I don't have a copy of Nowhere to Run with me, but when April May was talking to herself, she didn't seem like Cara at all. What if……. oh my gosh what if Cara wasn't actually April May?? Okay I just pulled out this theory and now its making some sense. Cara's good with technology, but she can't get into the Cahill accounts now. April May is supposed to be the greatest hacker around. She'd be able to do that. What if Cara assumed April May's identity trying to get the Cahills thinking she was on their side? After April May found out what Pierce did to Pony, who she seemed to have some kind of romantic something for, she probably was eager to be done with Pierce. She could've handed the reins over to Cara, making it seem like it was her, and left Cara to try and get into the Cahill circle. Or maybe Cara knew that April May was having doubts about her deal with Pierce, so she intervened and did something to put April May out of commission, but once she saw the relationship forming between Pony and A.M. she probably saw that as an opportunity to get in with the Cahills. And who took control of Pony's laptop after Pony died? IAN. And she'd already met Ian in Ireland, so she knew she could make an appeal to him anyway, so she used that tactic too.
Sorry this is so freakishly long, but I think that Cara might not be April May at all, and she's still milking that to get in with the Outcast and get some respect in the Cahill family, which she doesn't feel like she's getting from Ian.
^^^ Sorry this is so scatterbrained. The idea came to me and I had to get it down.
DeletePinterest is FULL of Harry Potter stuff. It's awesome!!! :):)
DeleteYeah, there were so many options, but they certainly didn't choose the right one with Cara -_-
So do I. I really liked April May, but I can't stand Cara. I shipped her and Pony SO. HARD. I just don't see how Pierce could NOT notice anything. It seems almost impossible. Even though he wasn't a real dad, he kept a super close eye on her. It seems impossible that he wouldn't realize that his hacker is his own daughter. Hmm, maybe....
I really wish that Jude could have ENDED a series. I think that that would have been really cool. She's such a fabulous writer that I think she would finish off a series really well. I KNOW. Cara certainly doesn't act like a bizarre, antisocial introvert with relationship issues. She seems pretty self-confident, honestly. No, their schooling was never really mentioned. .....Oh my gosh. You could seriously be onto something. They DON'T seem like the same person. She can't seem to do anything right tech-wise for the Cahills. What if she made a deal with AM...? OR WHAT IF SHE KILLED APRIL MAY OH MY GOSH I BET SHE KILLED HER. And then played right into Ian and wrapped him around her pinky finger.
I swear if she did that.....
No, thank you so much for writing this!!
There's tons of things that aren't connecting between the two characters. Like, Cara hasn't drunk any of the Cherry Limeade Power Drinks (or whatever those were called. My bookcase is too far away) to our knowledge. In Flashpoint, Cara thinks about her schooling, but it didn't sound like she was at a boarding school. And her parents-- they were talking about how April May broke into her dad's computers and phones and such- would Pierce put up with that? No. And how the mom went through her journal highlighting things to give to a therapist-- in Flashpoint Debi Ann is too intimidated to even LOOK at Cara- let alone take her journal.
DeleteI have more to say on this but I have to go.
I can't remember what they were called...Electroshock or something? Oh well. But you're right, she used to be addicted to the stuff- just like Pony. :( Yeah, it just sounded like a regular class, not boarding school. YES YES YES. Pierce would never put up with that, and I don't see how she could do it all under his nose- I'm sure every piece of technology in that house has special tracking software on it. Debi Ann seems scared of Cara- you're right she'd never take her journal. The whole thing is weird..
DeleteAnd if actually likes Ian, which she might, Pony is almost the polar opposite of Ian. April May seemed to like Pony enough, but Cara wouldn't be thinking about Pony and Ian at the same time.
DeletePlus, they never mentioned April May having any siblings, and it makes sense for her not to. In fact, I'm almost positive it mentions that she's an only child (I don't own NTR, so I can't look). Cara had Galt….
And with all the stuff Cara did- violin, tennis, combat all that good stuff, do you think she had time to become this world-feared hacker? Living with someone as go-go-go as Pierce, she probably didn't have time to be logging onto the computer and finding out everyone's secrets.
There would be lots of ways to take out April May. Pierce had to know at least SOMETHING about her. He wouldn't hire someone he knew so little about to do something that major. Cara could've sent the team of goons after April May, stolen April May's laptop, given it to Cara, who has SOME basic knowledge of technology being an Ekat, and then used the relationship she had already built with Ian in Ireland to get into the family. She probably hid this all from her dad because she saw how powerful the Cahills could be, and thought that maybe she could get in on some of that power. But now that she's only second-in-command, and feels that Ian doesn't listen to her, she's probably working to overthrow Ian, Amy and Dan, and be a high-ranking Cahill along with the Outcast.
This makes way too much sense to just be a coincidence. I think that April May is either dead or unable to reach the Cahills (or maybe just not willing to get into any more of that stuff, now that Pony's gone), and Cara is using her shadowed identity to get power from the Cahill family.
They really are total opposites. I don't see how she could like both of them. It's not possible.
DeleteUGH now I wish I owned that book. That sounds really familiar though...There's so much evidence.
She definitely didn't have time. That's what doesn't make sense about Pierce's daughter being April May. He doesn't let her be alone to do what she wants. He runs her life.
Pierce would have done a thorough check on A.M. before he trusted her. Cara somehow got ahold of the laptop, either by harming/killing April or bribing her. It's even possible that her dad knew, and then she turned on him at the end. When she revealed that she was April May, he never said anything about not knowing. He just seemed shocked-possibly shocked that she revealed it?
I don't think that it's possible for them to be the same person. It's insane. I'm kind of exhausted right now so this may not make much sense, but I need to write all of this out later for a post...
What if Pierce knew that she wasn't April May, and when she revealed it, he knew it wasn't possible because he knew who the real April May was, but he didn't say anything because he knew Cara was trying to trick the Cahills but he didn't know her exact strategy so he just trusted her, but after the timer stopped, he realized that she wasn't trying to help him, she was actually trying to get into the Cahill family.
DeleteAnd about the bomb shutdown thing- "I designed the system myself, I can't get in." What? I mean, I know zilch about technology, but that just seems wrong to me. She can't get into something she designed herself? I feel like she'd have some kind of way to get in. Plus, when they were trying to guess the password, she wasn't helping at all, suggestion wise. She was just typing things in. And get this--- "Light dawned on Amy. "The book!" She snatched the computer away from Cara and typed: HOPEOLIVIA.
CARA DIDN'T EVEN TYPE THE PASSWORD. Amy pulled it away from her, but what if Cara planned on typing too slow, or messing up a letter on purpose, or doing SOMETHING to stop them from getting the right password. This kind of goes against the other theories but she might still be working for Pierce, and when they were able to guess the password, she continued with them, thinking that eventually she could take down the Cahills from the inside, avenging Pierce.
I looked up Nowhere to Run on Amazon but I couldn't read the full April May parts. But I did remember one thing: Waldo. She went under the name of Waldo. Doesn't that seem kind of weird to have the name Waldo, then April May, then Cara? This part of the theory isn't very good, but still.
What if April May wasn't dead, but she was kidnapped and locked up somewhere remote where no one could find her, because Cara needed to find out as much as she could about April May and who she was so she needed to keep AM around? And if the Cahills found April May…… Like this is mostly what I'd want to happen, but it'd be a crazy plot twist: the off the grid dig that Jake is on finds this hidden room like the one from Shatterproof under the desert, and they find the real April May there, and when they ask her what her name is, she tells them "April May." and Jake (and Att if he's there) realize that Cara isn't the real AM, and take April May back to the Cahills to confront Cara. (mostly what I want, but you know, it could possibly happen). If anyone on the Cahill team finds April May that would be a huge shocker for the people who think Cara is perfect for Ian and is the best second-in-command.
Hmm. That's actually a really good thought. There are really several different ways that it could have happened with Pierce..
DeleteTHAT MADE NO SENSE. I mean, A: She definitely should have been able to get in. IT'S HER SYSTEM. And B: It's her own father, she should have a decent idea of what her dad could use for a password. Hmm....that could totally be possible....
Waldo..I FORGOT ABOUT WALDO! That really doesn't make any sense..
*gasp* that would be the biggest plot twist ever, oh my gosh. I would love to see the Carian's reactions if that happened XD I can't decide whether I think that she's dead, she gave the laptop to Cara and has just kind of disappeared, or Cara kidnapped her.
WHAT IF- She agreed to let Cara continue as April May for her, but she's still doing work for others under that name. Then, one of the Cahills finds out about it.
Yeah I think April May is the real person and Waldo was the real hidden identity. April May's a pretty unfortunate name but Waldo almost sounds more online-don't-let-anyone-know-who-i-am name.
DeleteAll the Carians are all awaiting the Ian/Cara kiss that I totally sense coming (bleh, but I think they'll have one even if she's bad) and then right before or right after Ian gets up the nerve to tell her about his feelings or kiss her, he finds out that she's been lying to them. The Carians would lose their minds completely, and I'd just be reading the book and laughing because I know how the Carians are all freaking out.
That theory works too. There's tons of ways for this to work, honestly. One thing I'm pretty sure didn't happen is I don't think April May would still be actively helping Cara's side. After Pony died I think she gave up on Pierce completely, seeing that her relationship with Pony was starting to get ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE and he killed him. I was so ready for a cute, geeky ship ) :
Right. Waldo was her first business. But I doubt that she would have THREE identities.
DeleteNOOOOO. NO NO NO NO NO. A Cara/Ian kiss would shatter my soul. Agh. Hopefully it will go down the way that you've written it though. (Preferably BEFORE the kiss, but y'know...) I would love for that to happen though, because it would totally crush Carian XD
There really are so many ways it could work. No, I definitely don't think she would, at least not willingly. WHYYY DID THEY KILL PONY? WHY?? That was so crushing. :( So was I. Unless.....HEY. What if that's WHY they killed Pony?? To set up for this! Because really, there was no reason to kill him.
Maybe they're about to kiss but someone interrupts them (someone from the group) and tells Ian about the April May thing. THAT would be a Carian-crusher. The thing is, even if Cara gets called out for that, there are still shippers that will twist what happened into the favor of the ship. They'll probably make up theories and stuff about how Cara didn't take AM's identity and everything. Kind of what we're doing, but the opposite haha. I did that after Breakaway and I know lots of Amians did that after The Sword Thief, but they'll probably be extremely obnoxious about it.
DeleteWHAT IF PONY WAS RUNNING TO TELL AMY AND DAN ABOUT CARA? Like, maybe he didn't leave right after Nellie told him to. April May had been messaging Pony, and maybe she told him that she felt like she was being watched or that something bad was going to happen, or maybe she told Pony that Cara had offered that give her the laptop, or that Cara threatened her. Pony knew what was going to happen to April May, and in order to save her, he had to save Amy and Dan so the team could help April May. The goons could've opened the helicopter door to let Pony in, I mean that way they could've had two people to get information from anyway. But Cara probably intercepted AM's computer, and once she found out that AM told Pony, she told the goons to kill Pony so he couldn't tell Amy or Dan. So the goons let him fall instead of torturing him along with Dan. That makes SO MUCH SENSE.
Oooooh, I like that theory!! That would make me so happy haha xD The perfect way to crush Carian. Yeah, I know that will definitely happen. Ugh. The reverse of us! Yeah, after The Sword Thief we had the Bat Theory... Oh yeah, they'll be horrible.
DeleteOH MY GOSH IT DOES. Remember what AM was saying to Pony before he left??? She was saying to be careful. THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!! AGH!!!
Plus, Cara has never mentioned Waldo. Not once. If that's the name of her corporation, you'd think she'd say something about it.
DeleteSo Ian has Pony's laptop…what if he finds the messages April May sent to Pony. And he confronts Cara about it…. this could end up with tons of outcomes.
The Carians are going to find WHATEVER they can. A lot of people who were pretty crazy Amian shippers went over to Carian because they thought Amian wouldn't happen, so this'll be interesting.
Delete"Take care of yourself. I'm not just saying that. Please watch out. There's danger everywhere." Oh my gosh. She sounds legitimately scared. And maybe she sent another one after that telling him why she thought that. Ugh. If the authors don't go down this route I'm going to be seriously confused with their plot ideas. It totally seems like they made this evidence as they went, not just coincidences.
Haha, that will be very interesting. The Amians are already insane as it is, with no luck after three series. I think some people very well might go over the edge.
DeleteOh my word. ....wow. She does sound really worried, and she DOESN'T sound like Cara. That definitely could have happened. I will be really confused, too, if after all this Cara is actually April May. That just doesn't make any sense. There's SO much evidence, and it seems like this could be a storyline they've been planning for such a long time now....
Oh, and I have an unrelated question: Can you keep the poll up till after Sky on Fire comes out? So far I like the Doublecross series the best but I want to read another book from it to be sure.
DeleteAfter a series that has gone on for over six years, anything ship-related is going to be interesting.
DeleteShe totally doesn't. I can't mesh the two characters. You were right about Cara seeming super confident and everything. And she was totally flirting with Ian in Ireland, and usually people who spend all their time online aren't all that good at flirting : / . Really, I can't find anything that proves Cara as April May, except for her having the laptop.
If Ian confronts Cara, I hope he's careful about it. I hope he doesn't get emotional about it. Lucians are usually pretty good about holding in their emotions and everything, but when Ian's with Cara I don't feel like he's his true self really. Another reason why they're not right for each other! Plus she might be expecting a confrontation, and Cara probably knows a lot about taking someone out…
One of my favorite parts of writing is adding connections and hints before the revelation. If all this is true, the authors probably had so much fun putting this together (:
It is. And possibly somewhat scary....a war could break out.
DeleteI can't fit them together either. People who are computer hackers aren't usually known for their outgoing social skills, let's face it. I'm trying to see where there could be proof that they're the same person....but I can't find anything.
Gosh, I'm worried. If she kills Ian, so help me Lord... I might start a war. I'm worried about him possibly having to confront her though. He IS really good at holding in his emotions and not showing how he feels, so I hope that he can keep that up, just for those few moments. There's time to lose it later, but that's not the time.
It's really so much fun!!! Gosh, I can imagine how awesome it would be to put this together...."The fangirls are either going to love us or hate us. Time to sit back and watch."
I don't think Ian's going to die. I mean, authors are pretty good about taking out well-loved characters and everything (The Hunger Games, Mockingjay broke my heart just saying…) but I don't think they'd take out Ian. However, they could hurt him, physically or emotionally. I feel like he hasn't had any physical trauma, so they might do something with that, but idk. I feel like confronting Cara is going to be really hard for Ian. I hope he doesn't find major evidence and disregard it, but I'm afraid he might trying to protect Cara from the rest of the group.
DeleteAnd the roommate had been sending texts about how weird AM was. Cara isn't weird enough to be totally outcasted by her roommate, unless the roommate was really judgmental. Plus, Cara wouldn't put up with someone spreading gossip about her. Cara's not the kind of person to put up with that. She'd put an end to it. Also, I'm still nearly certain that April May was an only child. Her parents sound super up in her business, and if they had more kids then they'd probably be focusing on more than April May. And April May obviously didn't interact with too many people her age, either.
That's honestly my favorite part of writing, probably. I've been working on publishing my first story but to keep me writing I started another project about nine months ago and its pretty much all connections ( :
"Instead of sitting back and watching, we should probably start stalking up that bomb shelter we had to make after Day of Doom. The Carians are coming."
I don't *think* he'll die either, but at this point I just don't know. Hmm, physical ailment is definitely possible. Maybe the loss of a limb, or blindness or something? And I mean let's face it, he's going to make it out with lots of emotional scarring. He has more emotional issues than several of the others put together. I'm worried about him disregarding evidence. He cares about Cara so much, that I'm worried he wouldn't want to believe it.
DeleteExactly. If you didn't know better, Cara would seem like your everyday, average American teenage girl. And she definitely wouldn't put up with it, she'd put a stop to it. Did they say anything about her being an only child? Honestly I feel like they said that. Even if they didn't flat-out say it, I kind of feel like AM would have been an only child. She didn't seem to know how to interact at all, socially.
It's really so much fun!! I have pages and pages in a notebook full of connections that I want to make between characters :)
"Hide. Save the women and children. We may not have long."
From what I saw in Sky on Fire, their relationship is getting even more tilted towards romance, but I think that's how Cara might want things to be. If she's able to get close enough to him, she'll be more able to overpower the Cahills. Ugh, I'm really starting to despise Cara. Stay away, Ian, stay away!
DeleteNo, I feel like they said that at some point. Something about her being too much to handle, so her parents didn't want anymore kids. I should go to the library and get the book. I could only see glimpses of AM's story.
Okay, I just found some more specific evidence. On page 186, the Cahills leave Dublin and fly to London. Since Pierce is following them, they have to be behind them. And on page 190, Pony is trying to do his online thing with April May, getting her to think that they're headed somewhere else. Meenalappa didn't have signal, did it? It was supposed to be a totally remote place. If Cara was pretending to be Maura just the day before (she was btw), then she couldn't have time to get back to somewhere with signal, would she?
I have more to write but i have to go
Yeah my favorite books are the ones you reread and find like 100000 connections the second time. That's what I'm striving for in my second book. I'm sending my first one out to a new batch of agents hopefully soon. There's a lot that goes into sending proposals : /
Delete"All authors safe? Okay, role call: Jude? Good. Gordon? Good. London? Phew, good thing you made it, the Carians were furious with you. Baldacci? Baldacci? Oh well, lets just leave him."
Ugh. Romance. Noooooo, Ian, no! She is twelve miles of bad road. I loathe her.
DeleteYeah, I feel like I remember that too. Gosh, I need to get my hands on a copy of Nowhere To Run, stat.
*gasp* THAT'S RIGHT!!!! It's not even possible!!!! Agh there is SO much evidence...
Those are seriously the best. Little details and intricate backstories make stories 10x better. Oh, good luck!!!!!
Yep, leave Baldacci. Please.