Question E

[Jonetta]

Tracy and Ben apparently married but her obsession with Sarah’s disappearance and the investigation became too much. Why do you think the author failed to provide his last name? Did that imply something about the significance of the relationship or lack thereof?

[Sharon]

I don't know if it was intentional, but he did want to stress that Tracy is Tracy Crosswhite. She couldn't step out of the Crosswhite curse so to speak.

[Susan]

I never even thought about the fact we never knew his last name. I did feel very bad for him and was hoping to get some insight as to what happened to him. If he remarried etc.

[Jo Ann]

Huh, this never even crossed my mind even after reading this twice! I think Sharon summed it up perfectly.

[Jonetta]

Dugoni pretty much reduced Ben to a footnote, emphasized by not ever revealing his last name. Until Sarah’s disappearance, Tracy adored this man. It illuminated Tracy’s obsession with finding the truth about what happened to her sister. That abduction tainted her engagement and cast a cloud that would never go away over that relationship, given how the engagement came about.

I felt bad for Ben. He never stood a chance.

[~Melissa~]

As we never learned more about Ben - I figured he wasn't an important part of the book and that was what the author wanted me to think. With the timing for when Sarah was abducted and them getting engaged - there was never a chance a marriage between them was going to work.

[Robin]

I never noticed that we didn't learn Ben's last name. I agree that the marriage didn't stand a chance after Sarah was abducted on the day Tracy and Ben got engaged.

I wonder if we'll see Ben pop up later in the series.

[Jonetta]

I wonder that, too (if Ben will show up later).