Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

PART 2: KNIGHTQUEST

We’re only a few chapters away from part 3 so we need to get this current case done and have Jean Paul’s final screw-up before Bruce decides to get his cowl back. So apparently in the comic Jean Paul did have the Azrael-inspired armor by this point If I follow a recent hour-long Batman retrospective correctly though there’s no indication of it in the novelization outside of the gauntlet, which I figured he wore over the regular Batsuit.

Last chapter not-Batman had to be convinced by Alfred to act like Batman and protect former Batman from his own dumb plan, and it is a rather questionable plan given the nature and abilities of the guy he’s facing. Curious to see how this team-up will go.

We’re at that point in the novel where I start having trouble finding topics. Once part 3 of the novel happens and Bruce begins his trek back I may have more to discuss but I think I’ve dissected Jean Paul and even Bruce all I can in these intros. The story has to reach the part where the hero comes back but right now isn’t going to be that part.

The first segment of this chapter after a short bit where Benedict Asp sends someone to capture Sir Hemingford so he find out who he really is find Bruce on a converted minesweeper, now serving has Hemingford’s yacht. Bruce prepares for his guise and notices that he doesn’t feel like Batman anymore. He’s been out of service for so long between his back and this gambit that he’s lost a bit of that edge. He doesn’t see Batman looking back at him, as if Sir Hemingford Grey has taken over as the mindset and identity Bruce inhabits. The “mask” has been an important theme in this story. Bruce wants Tim to wear the mask and go by Robin when he’s in the cave. Jean Paul is trying to merge the mask of Batman and the mask of Azrael in his armor. Masks seem to be part of the identity, the mindset when it comes to Bruce’s mental approach to his crimefighting operation…and he hasn’t worn the Bat-Mask in quite some time. I’m not a psychologist so I don’t know if this helps my theory that Bruce isn’t the mask or not but I feel like it does. Batman became the mask Bruce wore but events seem to have Sir Hemingford taking over, and it seems to be working for him.

Next up is Jean Paul proving how not ready he is to assume the mantle of Batman. His detective skills are weak in finding Sir Hemingford, which he mentally blames on Alfred. We do see that without Alfred, Jean Paul isn’t doing well since he didn’t restock the rations and goes up to the mansion to eat. That’s luck because if he hadn’t he wouldn’t have found a newspaper practically telling him how to find Bruce’s current persona. However, Jean Paul is still more Azrael than Batman, still sees himself as an avenger rather than a protector. Bruce wants to keep others from suffering as he did but Jean Paul just wants to punish them after the fact. So he decides to focus on the massacre rather than helping Bruce, not realizing that the actions in the hotel were an act. He’s really become a jerk.

Meanwhile, Sir Hemingford awakens after his kidnapping to see Asp is using drugs to control Shondra. He ends up dropping Hemingford’s voice in the hopes of reaching Shondra in her mental state. At least she doesn’t kill him. Asp is going to let things settle then try again, worried that whatever it is (because love is something a guy like him can’t comprehend) might interfere with his plans if it works on his targets as well. I guess that make makes him worse than not-Batman over there. Jean Paul is just a jerk; Benedict Asp is scum.

Will Bruce/Hemingford manage to save Shondra. Will Jean Paul learn to do more than avenge? We have two more chapters in part two and one full part left to find out.