About the ending (spoilers)

I get the feeling she was desperate and not thinking rationally...

I totally agree. Right before I read this, I was considering writing my own thread questioning the same exact things. Her sister (who the kids were supposed to live with) would've taken that whole family in. They even said that the money was spent on the brothers defense. It wasn't a money thing with her sister, she just wanted what's best for Libby's mom and them kids. To me, that whole hair brained plan was poorly thought out. I know that was supposed to be A shocking twist, but to me it cheapens the film.

I've only read the book, haven't seen the movie yet but I honestly hated this ending. It was crappy lazy writing. We're kept suspenseful throughout the whole story, going through the list of characters who could have done it, was it Ben? Was it his friends? Was it Runner? Etc etc. And suddenly it gets to the end and it's none of that?!? Like it just felt like a complete cop out or something. Like Flynn couldn't resolve it herself so just went screw it it was a random guy who hasn't been in this story at all. If they'd mentioned even earlier a serial killer was on the loose at the time or something I'd dig an ending where it was a serial killer but not some random assassin dude.

i'm with you.

sensationalism at his worst with zero psycho / sociological value : it's written to shock the reader, the writer having forgotten to add substance : good book/script is about the substance you find between the lines, things to chew on, reflect, wonder, analyse think & rethink; if sometimes that substance may create a shock or an emotion, that's a side-effect, not the aim otherwise it is sensationalism.

i also saw it coming way too early to be surprised at the end.

last but not least everyone should know that children needs more love than money. that angle could have brought some substance, unfortunately that idea was totally absent.

Haven't seen the movie yet but it is on my list. I loved the book, but one part I didn't care for was the mom hiring the "Angel of Death" or whatever he was called. It was foreshadowed enough though, that I was sort of dreading when it would show up at the end. When he did show up, I was like - yup they went there after all.

However, the book did a really good job of showing that Patty Day was a depressed and overwhelmed person. She loved her kids but was stressed out by them too. She didn't know what to do with Ben, and she had a strong attachment to the family farm she was losing. Runner was showing up asking for money and Ben was in big trouble. She was having trouble maintaining. The decision to hire the guy was pretty believable in the book, but the setup of this random, out of nowhere killer was not the best constructed bit of story telling.

I probably missed something, but I don't really understand why the 'sympathy killer' killed one of the children and then disappeared. If he killed the child to cover his tracks why did he not kill the others?

I also don't understand why the brother lied (for 28 years?) about the psycho murdering girlfriend carrying a child who may or may not have been his?

I feel I missed the point of this film? Ironically I found I have the book this film was made from in a pile from a flea market. Maybe it will explain...

In the book it makes a little more sense, she meets him first and he seems like an okay guy; she's legitimately at the end of her mental and physical rope after years and years of stress. At this point, death seems like a relief from her to escape not only the burden of her problems but the worrying about what would happen, and add to the solution. The book doesn't make her seems entirely rational but lets you into her thought processes where you kind of get it, including, before he kills her, her realizing it was a bad idea and wishing she could take it back,

He didn't kill people for pleasure, he killed them for money and out of some delusional sense of justice. Seriously, how did you not get that?

Give me the ball.
- Baseball Bat Man, The Raid 2