The longest ongoing conflict in the volumes: Jack Townsend vs. Spencer "extreme murderboner specifically for Jack" Middleton vs. Amy "I swear to god I will keep this skinny white boy alive" O'Brien vs. Jack "Yes I will go investigate that weird noise from the woods" Townsend
In book one, Jack says there was a rumor Spencer caused the fire that burned down his house and he was the sole survivor. In book four, Jack is at the high school reunion remembering the events from his past. He remembers burning down his bully’s house.
Is that why Spencer is always saying “you don’t remember what you did?!” & The scene where Spencer has a guy tied up who killed someone but forgot.
It’s so quickly mentioned I completely missed it on the first read. I’m on like read 5 now and still finding little details that connect. It’s the gift that keeps on keepin on.
I'm never not thinking about how throughout the books Jack hallucinates about a lot of people (Tom, Tony, etc.) but the two people he hallucinates the most are:
Sabine, his girlfriend who went into a coma before the books started. He blames himself for the car accident that caused the coma and thinks he is the reason they never managed to escape their shitty town. Their relationship wasn't perfect and they would sometimes fight but they clearly loved each other and were each other's bright spots in an otherwise all-around horrible childhood. Jack feels so much guilt and pain about what happened to her that he is basically unable to talk or even think about her for a good part of the books, and that survivors guilt made him resign himself to dying young. When he starts to see her in his hallucinations/dreams, she is there to give him advice and help him. She continuously tells him how much she loves him, how it wasn't his fault and how he can't give up
And Spencer. The guy who has stalked him and beaten him up multiple times. The same guy who Jack has sliced the throat of and also shot. He is also there. Just chilling and still insulting Jack any chance he gets