MIDBOOK CHAPTERS 10-20 PAUL AND RAYA SINGH (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

[vivico1]

Ok, guys how about lets talk about these chapters if you are there and Raya Singh on this thread in particular. What do you think about her? Who is she? Whats her game? And what do you think about how Paul responds to her?

[vivico1]

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vivico1 wrote:
Ok, guys how about lets talk about these chapters if you are there and Raya Singh on this thread in particular. What do you think about her? Who is she? Whats her game? And what do you think about how Paul responds to her?

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Raya is definately hiding more than she knows and how she met Gil doesnt make a lot of sense to me at this point. Paul is so male LOL. He gets so caught up in her looks that he can hardly ask the things he needs properly and boy does she play herself up to him. He had me cracking up the way he would talk about her and stumble all over himself trying to stay on track. Paul definately likes the pretty women, almost to his detriment. At this point, I dont know what her game is, one minute you know shes running a game, the next minute you think she is sincere. But then we are looking through Paul's eyes and they are so off drifting about her every other moment that its hard to tell LOL. I just thought, ok Paul, you are just cracking me up here, NOW SNAP OUT OF IT! LOL.

[kiakar]

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vivico1 wrote:

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vivico1 wrote:
Ok, guys how about lets talk about these chapters if you are there and Raya Singh on this thread in particular. What do you think about her? Who is she? Whats her game? And what do you think about how Paul responds to her?

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Raya is definately hiding more than she knows and how she met Gil doesnt make a lot of sense to me at this point. Paul is so male LOL. He gets so caught up in her looks that he can hardly ask the things he needs properly and boy does she play herself up to him. He had me cracking up the way he would talk about her and stumble all over himself trying to stay on track. Paul definately likes the pretty women, almost to his detriment. At this point, I dont know what her game is, one minute you know shes running a game, the next minute you think she is sincere. But then we are looking through Paul's eyes and they are so off drifting about her every other moment that its hard to tell LOL. I just thought, ok Paul, you are just cracking me up here, NOW SNAP OUT OF IT! LOL.

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Yea, Vivian. This is getting interesting! All Men,not just Paul, like the pretty, slim, sexy woman, Viv, didn't you know that already? ha. This story is getting a bit interesting now! I read some on it this weekend. Yes, Miss Raya seems to be another mystery in this great mystery novel!

[LizzieAnn]

All sorts of warning bells, sirens, & alarms went off. Raya just struck me as being somewhat "off." I thought it a little creepy and out-of-character for Paul to be attracted to Raya, especially since he knew her to be involved with Gil Perez/Manolo Santiago, who was now dead. You just know that there has to be more to her than what we first see, although I wasn't quite sure what. For all Paul knew, she could have been the murderer!

[vivico1]

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LizzieAnn wrote:
All sorts of warning bells, sirens, & alarms went off. Raya just struck me as being somewhat "off." I thought it a little creepy and out-of-character for Paul to be attracted to Raya, especially since he knew her to be involved with Gil Perez/Manolo Santiago, who was now dead. You just know that there has to be more to her than what we first see, although I wasn't quite sure what. For all Paul knew, she could have been the murderer!

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Yeah but Paul was being all male right there LOL. For all Paul knew, she might be the next one in his bed shall we say lol. He cracked me up, how easy he was to be distracted. But go on through the book and you will see that Paul has an eye for the beautiful women, almost a weakness for them and he knows it, so it really wasnt so out of character for him. I think he even admits it there at their first meeting. I still say Muse has an eye for the beautiful women too tho. She talks about them a lot, almost like Paul does but not quite and she sure knows where to find them, tho this could just come in handy for her work too. But she does look a lot.

[Stephanie]

Liz,

I was interested in Raya, but I did not get all the alarm bells that you did. I was thinking that there might be a possible love interest for Paul, but I was hoping not.

[vivico1]

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Stephanie wrote:
Liz,

I was interested in Raya, but I did not get all the alarm bells that you did. I was thinking that there might be a possible love interest for Paul, but I was hoping not.

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I didnt see her as a possible love interest for Paul, tho i was looking for one for him. Raya seemed to be more just a lust thing to him if anything, on the personal level that is.

[kiakar]

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vivico1 wrote:

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LizzieAnn wrote:
All sorts of warning bells, sirens, & alarms went off. Raya just struck me as being somewhat "off." I thought it a little creepy and out-of-character for Paul to be attracted to Raya, especially since he knew her to be involved with Gil Perez/Manolo Santiago, who was now dead. You just know that there has to be more to her than what we first see, although I wasn't quite sure what. For all Paul knew, she could have been the murderer!

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Yeah but Paul was being all male right there LOL. For all Paul knew, she might be the next one in his bed shall we say lol. He cracked me up, how easy he was to be distracted. But go on through the book and you will see that Paul has an eye for the beautiful women, almost a weakness for them and he knows it, so it really wasnt so out of character for him. I think he even admits it there at their first meeting. I still say Muse has an eye for the beautiful women too tho. She talks about them a lot, almost like Paul does but not quite and she sure knows where to find them, tho this could just come in handy for her work too. But she does look a lot.

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Yeah! The male thing again! She was described so beautiful that he probably would have died a glorous happy man she was the last thing he saw.

[kiakar]

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vivico1 wrote:
Ok, guys how about lets talk about these chapters if you are there and Raya Singh on this thread in particular. What do you think about her? Who is she? Whats her game? And what do you think about how Paul responds to her?

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One word can describe Paul when he saids that she is beautiful "Male". He is definitely male and all the male are alike when confronted with a beautiful women.

[Wrighty]

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kiakar wrote:
One word can describe Paul when he saids that she is beautiful "Male". He is definitely male and all the male are alike when confronted with a beautiful women.

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But Raya knew how her looks affected men (obviously Paul) and she knew exactly how to work that to her advantage. She is hardly the first person to do that but it sounds like she could make a career out it!

[vivico1]

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Wrighty wrote:

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kiakar wrote:
One word can describe Paul when he saids that she is beautiful "Male". He is definitely male and all the male are alike when confronted with a beautiful women.

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But Raya knew how her looks affected men (obviously Paul) and she knew exactly how to work that to her advantage. She is hardly the first person to do that but it sounds like she could make a career out it!

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oh you know she uses it for something. Man what she says to him almost sounds like a hired prostitute! She would be good, if he went along with it, to trap him for those wanting dirt on him huh.

[kiakar]

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vivico1 wrote:

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Wrighty wrote:

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kiakar wrote:
One word can describe Paul when he saids that she is beautiful "Male". He is definitely male and all the male are alike when confronted with a beautiful women.

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But Raya knew how her looks affected men (obviously Paul) and she knew exactly how to work that to her advantage. She is hardly the first person to do that but it sounds like she could make a career out it!

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oh you know she uses it for something. Man what she says to him almost sounds like a hired prostitute! She would be good, if he went along with it, to trap him for those wanting dirt on him huh.

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Oh yeah! Vivico! You are so right! That would put a lid on the kettle tight! Right!

[cindersue]

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One word can describe Paul when he saids that she is beautiful "Male". He is definitely male and all the male are alike when confronted with a beautiful women.

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Paul's all male, I agree Kikar. I think he's observant too because of his occupation. Most men observe those beautiful women around them, right? So do us women! LOL

Message Edited by cindersue on 05-08-200709:36 AM

[LizzieAnn]

She was too beautiful . . . too pat. On page 108 when Paul goes to see her and mentions Santiago:

He was murdered," she said.

Her voice had a strange lilt to it, as if she were reading for a part.

That was an interesting comment for Paul to make to himself. She doesn't the type to let herself be picked up by a man in the street like she was by Santiago. I think she knows more than she's saying. And she's way too flirtatious with Paul, particularly since Paul is a prosecutor asking questions about the murder of a man she's connected to. On page 109, she smiles, tosses her hair, and teases him about being jealous. Doesn't sound like a typical reaction. Then later telling him that he looks like a man who would treat a woman well! Too much.

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Stephanie wrote:
Liz,

I was interested in Raya, but I did not get all the alarm bells that you did. I was thinking that there might be a possible love interest for Paul, but I was hoping not.

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[Stephanie]

Liz,

Perfect! "Too much" -- that is Raya to a T. Too pretty, too pleased with herself, too confident to have hooked up with the man Gil was at that point in his life. That's what I was thinking while reading this section: "What in the world was she doing with him?"

[Wrighty]

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Stephanie wrote:
Liz,

Perfect! "Too much" -- that is Raya to a T. Too pretty, too pleased with herself, too confident to have hooked up with the man Gil was at that point in his life. That's what I was thinking while reading this section: "What in the world was she doing with him?"

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That was just the feeling I got too. I didn't know what she was all about but it wasn't just that she was a beautiful girl. You described her very well Stephanie.

[HarlanCoben]

Another great discussion and again I have no real comment here. I'm glad some of you are bothered by Paul's behavior with Raya. I don't really worry about that. I don't want him "nice" or "likeable." I want him real. Real is likeable. Real we relate to. This is Paul's personality. It is, I hope, somewhat complex and even contradictory.

Just like you and me.

Harlan

[Stephanie]

Harlan,

Oh well, sorry-- Paul was nice! One of the best aspects of his personality was his forthrightness. In our lives, we do have a (rather horrid) tendency to tiptoe around uncomfortable situations, avoiding confrontations that could so easily be addressed with a simple statement of truth. For instance, when Paul takes the air out of the defense attorney's sails by having Chamique come right out and say to the jury, "Of course I want money, don't you?" (quoted loosely) I'm standing on the margin cheering. I don't believe we should all say whatever it is that's on our mind without regarding the feelings of others, however, we could avoid a lot of the pent-up anger, frustration and daily annoyances of life if we were more direct in our dealings with people.

Harlan? Group? What do you think?

Also - Could Chamique's kind of candor work for you in your lives?

[KathyS]

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Stephanie wrote:
Harlan,

Oh well, sorry-- Paul was nice! One of the best aspects of his personality was his forthrightness. In our lives, we do have a (rather horrid) tendency to tiptoe around uncomfortable situations, avoiding confrontations that could so easily be addressed with a simple statement of truth. For instance, when Paul takes the air out of the defense attorney's sails by having Chamique come right out and say to the jury, "Of course I want money, don't you?" (quoted loosely) I'm standing on the margin cheering. I don't believe we should all say whatever it is that's on our mind without regarding the feelings of others, however, we could avoid a lot of the pent-up anger, frustration and daily annoyances of life if we were more direct in our dealings with people.

Harlan? Group? What do you think?

Also - Could Chamique's kind of candor work for you in your lives?

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Hmm, the direct approach is almost always the best. But I think most of the time people, in general, will pick and choose words, and by then the emphasis and the results are lost along the way. I do like to stand toe to toe, and head to head....and have eye contact with whomever I am talking to (although, eye contact in this forum is impossible 8-)...Chamique's aproach was honest, and it was what was best for her, at that time. On another note, don't avoid situations that need discussing....they always come back and bite you!

[Andeka]

Stephanie wrote:

...when Paul takes the air out of the defense attorney's sails by having Chamique come right out and say to the jury, "Of course I want money, don't you?" (quoted loosely) I'm standing on the margin cheering.

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I just got the biggest grin on my face and said "you go girl!!" I thought it was the perfect thing to say - and I think that kind of honesty will help her with her trial. I thought it gave her a boost of integrity right at that moment - and as a juror - if I had heard her say that - it would probably remove any other doubts I might have had about her.