Would McDowell have really forgotten the second security camera?

Use this forum to discuss the October Book of the Month "McDowell" by William H. Coles.
a9436
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Would McDowell have really forgotten the second security camera?

Post by a9436 »

In Jeremy's hospital room, McDowell very deliberately turns one of the security cameras away from his crime, yet he neglects to turn the other one, which contributes to the suspicion surrounding him and his ultimate downfall. It seems strange to me that he would deal with one but not the other.

Could this second camera have been hidden from his view? Did he assume having his back to it would protect him by blocking his actions? Or was he just so arrogant that he took the risk of it catching him, having never before been held accountable for anything? What do you think?
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Post by jgraney8 »

a9436 wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 12:12 In Jeremy's hospital room, McDowell very deliberately turns one of the security cameras away from his crime, yet he neglects to turn the other one, which contributes to the suspicion surrounding him and his ultimate downfall. It seems strange to me that he would deal with one but not the other.

Could this second camera have been hidden from his view? Did he assume having his back to it would protect him by blocking his actions? Or was he just so arrogant that he took the risk of it catching him, having never before been held accountable for anything? What do you think?
This puzzled me too. He was in a medical setting which is where he would be most at home. It is not clear in the book why he ignored the camera, so perhaps it was not apparent. Or possibly he thought that both cameras turned off the patient would be very suspicious whereas one could be explained as accidental.
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Post by P Reefer »

I think that the second camera was hidden from his view so that he didn't know another one existed. He took the time to shift the focus to avoid incriminating himself and would have simply ensured that the footage of the camera bear no incriminating evidence.
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Post by Book Lover 35 »

I think the second camera was hidden too. I don't know why he would turn one camera away and not the other.
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Post by Charlyt »

I don't think he was aware of the second camera, otherwise, he would have turned it away too.
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Post by Bavithra M »

May be he did not notice the second camera .
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Post by Moddesser Elahi »

McDowell had obviously forgotten about the second security camera and I do not find any reason for pondering on such a thought which really doesn't hamper or add to the flow of the story. It is simply a part of a well-crafted novel.
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Post by Keevan »

Bookmermaid wrote: 20 Oct 2018, 21:17 I think that the second camera was hidden from his view so that he didn't know another one existed. He took the time to shift the focus to avoid incriminating himself and would have simply ensured that the footage of the camera bear no incriminating evidence.
I agree with you. The second camera had to be hidden from his view and he did not know another camera existed. :D
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Post by dtb »

I agree that he was most likely not aware of the second camera. Otherwise, why bother with moving the first camera?
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Post by Kishor Rao »

I think it was just convenient for the plot to place a second security camera which recorded everything. And to top that, Hiram knew he was doing a bad deed which made him nervous and maybe he did not take into account all the parameters and went with the flow.
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Post by emmanuelmd »

I think the second camera was hidden because if it was not he will turn it off too
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Post by Olatunji06 »

May be he did not notice the second camera and he had forget that camera are watching him
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Post by Nerea »

Could be, it didn't hit him that there was a second camera or he knew of the second camera but may have wanted to leave a message behind.
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Post by Ashley Cremer »

I don't think that he would have forgotten the second camera. I am unsure of why he disregarded it. Maybe he was so arrogant that he didn't think that there would be any consequence from it. Or maybe, he wanted to get caught as some type of retribution to his actions against his grandson.
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Post by Theresa Moffitt »

I think he wasn’t aware of the existence of a second camera. He was so careful to move the one camera and to have Sophie leave the room. I think if he was aware of a second camera he would have moved that too.
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