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Plot Question (Spoilers)

posted 19 years ago by Fist_of_the_North_Star
6 replies | jump to latest

I just finished reading the book and there was one thing that annoyed the hell out of me:

When Stuckart makes the phonecall to Charlie and tells her to go to the payphone in the street, Charlie's home telephone is already bugged, yes? So wouldn't it be logical for the gestapo or whoever was listening to realize that it would probably be a good idea to place a bug in that payphone in case a similar situation arose in the future? IMO March and everyone else were extremely stupid to just assume that the payphone couldn't be tapped. This is a borderline goof if you ask me.

What awaits each person in heaven is eternal bliss.. divine rest.. and $10 000, cash.

[–] blaircam 19 years ago

This is not a goof, but it is an oversight March is clearly kicking himself for once he realises Max is in on it. However, I agree that while tapping all public phones may have been too difficult it surely couldn't have been too hard to guess they might monitor the phone right outside Charlie's apartment!
Nonetheless, it is an oversight - and possibly March's only significant one - which brought the story to its conclusion.

[–] Fist_of_the_North_Star 19 years ago

OK maybe I'm being nitpicky here but IMO it is more the author's oversight than it is March's. Here me out on this.

- Stuckart calls Charlie and tells her "Hey your phone is tapped by the Gestapo, go to the payphone in the street because I've got something important to tell you"

- That same message was also heard by the Gestapo. March and Charlie are aware of this

- Unless the Gestapo are complete morons they will now tap that payphone as soon as they can in order to not miss out on important information in the future.

- Unless March and Charlie are complete morons themselves they will realize this and, consequently, avoid using that phone in the future.

However, the way things played out in the book, the Gestapo - despite listening in on that first conversation - had no clue whatsoever that they ought to tap the payphone until they got tipped off by Max, repeating what they already knew from the wiretap. March, equally clueless, upon learning the phone was tapped after all comes to the completely inane conclusion that he must have been ratted out, which of course turns out to be true!?

I'm racking my brains but the only way this could make any sense at all is if the main characters as well as all the bad guys are complete morons. Which is a shame because they're all doing great apart from this little slip. You see what I'm saying here?

We've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr Anderson.

[–] klkitchens 19 years ago

When Stuckart FIRST contacted her, there was no reason to have had Charlie's place bugged.

As for after, they didn't know she used that payphone to talk to him EXCEPT for March telling Max. When Luther called, he said use the same method -- nothing more (but Max had already betrayed their cause).

The only "bug" in the writing I found was when Max had come to the apartment with the safe cracker. After that March is having Max pick up Charlie and explains to her who he is -- even though they had already met.

[–] Fist_of_the_North_Star 19 years ago

When Stuckart FIRST contacted her, there was no reason to have had Charlie's place bugged.

But there was! That was the whole point of having her go out in the street to talk, remember? Stuckart and March both acknowledged that her phone was most likely tapped since the Gestapo were suspicious of foreign investigative journalists.

We've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr Anderson.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Fist_of_the_North_Star 19 years ago

Yeah but in the book he survived the assassination attempt. It's mentioned in the author's note that all bios are correct only until 1940 or so

We've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr Anderson.