Talk:Toxic/@comment-77.85.119.154-20131209201528/@comment-121.74.218.1-20131228091042

I hope the next books will trace more of Ali's journey. Maybe that's Shepard's plan - build up to Deadly, and then switch focus from the girls to Ali after Deadly.

I think the novels are of Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure: the first arc was exposition (Ali went missing, the aftermath) and rising action (issues with A, issues which give A ammunition) with book 4 being the first climax (Mona was A).

Book 5 is also climatic. A second A is revealed and the second arc is the "falling action" in which the conflict of A and the liars takes on more life (a wolf in sheep's clothing is introduced; the wolf [antagonist] befriends the protagonists; A is revealed again). Book 8 provides another climatic event.

"Falling action" also applies to the third arc in which the girls are apparently powerless against their foe, who has apparently risen from the dead - also there are victories and losses in the 'battle', such as deaths or A's apparent omnipresence.

Therefore, hopefully, the last books will be the resolution of things, possibly from Ali's perspective. This stage is the 'denouement' or catastrophe and could span Ali's life over a few months as she tries to survive without her helper and hopefully culminates in the last book as the decider - in the narrative of a tragedy it would be around this point where a protagonist dies.