Wow. So chapter 5. I don't even knwo where to begin.
Last chapter we were introduced to Julius Grief, and began to understand really how mad he is. The stuff he was imagining about killing was truly horrific, and in thia chapter, we get to see the insnaity in action.
Before we start on that though, I'd like to talk about something first. I was thinking about this boy's upbringing - how he was treated, told to act etc must have had a huge impact on how he is now. We find out so much about his - and all the other 15 clones of Hugo Grief - childhood. We learn that he learnt to shoot aged 9, and first killed someone aged 11. Seriously? That's just wrong. We also find how trained he is in martial arts, fighting, driving and all that, and I was reminded of Alex, the spy-in-training from the age of 5 or 6. I then wondered how much this behaviour was inevitable in Julius, or how much it was formed in his father's (can you call him father?) training of him. It's that whole environmental factor vs biological factor debate. In Julius's case he is actually a clone, so would he only inherit his 'father's' physical appearance, or would he also have inherited that mad drive for power, that awful coldness towards other human beings? It also reminded me of Voldemort. As we find out more about him in Half-Blood Prince we see how deranged he was throughout his life, but one wonders how much living in that orphange, being one of many homeless children, being a 'number' rather than an individual made him strive to be different. Was it that that made him want ultimate power, or was it something else, something that was inherent within him?
In this chapter we first join Julius immediately after his meeting with Dr Flint as he is on his way to the library to recieve his next instructions. His coldness and detachment from all the other risoners and guards really is quite creepy. He identifies a book in the children's section which he knows belongs somewhere else and so guesses it's meant for him. As he secretly opens the book he finds that the pages have been cut away to hide a gun and a note. We don't see what the note says, but it is obviously instructions for his escape. I still find it so strange that a 15 year old can take a gun so easily. It's such a jarring image. He's so different to Alex.
We next hear from Dr Flint's perspective, and we find that she knows more than Julius thinks she does. She also thinks about something I hadn't considered. The fact that Julius looks exactly like Alex, that every time he looks in a mirror, passes his reflection in a window or sees himself in a puddle, he in confronted with the face of his enemy. What must that do to his mind? It's no wonder he hates him so much, maybe even contributing to his madness. Can you imagine looking in the mirror and seeing the face of the person you dislike most in the whole world? Although in his case it's the person who ruined everything and indirectly killed his father and brothers.
Just as she's thinking about him, he rings the doorbell, holding a bunch of flowers. Although it seems obvious to us that he's up to no good, she hopes that maybe he's come to apologise for his behaviour this morning and has come to talk to her. Of course not. He pulls out the gun and tells her that she must come with him. Leading her to the gates, gun pointed to her head, he is finally stopped by the guards, all pointing their guns at him. Of course, they don't shoot or they could kill Dr Flint, and Julius makes the most of this, by ordering the govenor to open the gates for him or he'll kill her. I think everyone knew that these were not empty words.
As he walks out of the prison he hits Flint over the head and begins to run, knowing that he won't have much time before the gurads catch up. Following the instructions on the paper he finds a car which, of course, he knows how to drive. There follows a huuuge car chase which I'm not going to describe except to say that it was really cool, but Julius is being closed in on and, although I didn't think it would happen, I started to hope that he would be recaptured. He drives the car straight through a barn and for a couple of seconds his car is not seen. Then it bursts out of the other side, careering across the field they are in, surrounded by guards, and rockets straight off the top of the cliff and into the sea below.
For a second I couldn't believe it: was Horowitz really going to make it that easy? Surely not! But then I remembered that for a second or two the car was unseen. Unbeknownst to the guards, Scorpia were waiting inside the barn with an identical, remote-controlled car ready to drive off the edge. They smuggled Julius down through a hidden trapdoor and he escaped.
The last line of this chapter was the most chilling:
"Nobody was watching that night as a fishing boat with a single, smiling passenger slipped out of Gibraltar Harbour beneath a full moon and a starry sky and began its journey south."
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