Sarah answers “What exactly happened in the end? Spoiler...”

Jennifer asked this question about Heads You Win:

What exactly happened in the end? Spoiler alert. I can't figure it out.

Sarah This answer contains spoilers. Alex from New York dies in the plane crash. The purpose of having someone from the other character’s life earlier in th…moreThis answer contains spoilers. Alex from New York dies in the plane crash. The purpose of having someone from the other character’s life earlier in the book mistake them for each other (Mr Rosenthal mistakes Sasha for Alex, and Charlie mistakes Alex for Sasha) is to show that both Alex and Sasha are indeed living separate lives in the same universe, rather than living in two parallel universes. When they flipped the coin, they must have split into two separate individuals (suspension of disbelief). When Vladimir orders the death of Alexander, he is referring to Sasha from Britain, who at that point is publicly known to be on the cusp of announcing his candidacy for Russian president. Donokov is the one responsible for executing the order though, and the Alexander Karpenko that he knows is the one that lives in New York (who was responsible for the CIA sending him to prison). So Donokov had the wrong Alexander killed, which is confirmed when he says “I shall not make the same mistake a second time”. Alex from New York was still vaguely considering running for Russian president, which explains his thought when the plane went down that “even he hadn’t realized just how far Vladimir would go to ensure he had no serious rivals for the presidency”. We can assume that Sasha was killed before the election, since we know that Vladimir Putin did indeed become president. So regardless of the path chosen, Alexander’s fate was the same. One might argue that the Heads You Win title (heads was America, tails was England) suggests that Alex had a “better” life on the way to the same inevitable destiny...more monetary wealth, did not lose a stillborn child plus two miscarriages, and the near-bankruptcy from the Elena business that Sasha’s family suffered. The ending was extremely obtuse though, and Archer could have left some larger clues.(less)

flag

View 1 comment

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more