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* AddledAddict: Jamie got addicted to painkillers after a motorcycle accident in his 20's, which eventually led to heroic abuse that left him destitute, alone and barely functional. If he hadn't stumbled across Jacobs at the fairgrounds that fateful night, he'd almost certainly have died. [[FateWorseThanDeath In the narration, the older Jamie states that sometimes he wishes he had.]]
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* AddledAddict: Jamie got addicted to painkillers after a motorcycle accident in his 20's, which eventually led to heroic heroin abuse that left him destitute, alone and barely functional. If he hadn't stumbled across Jacobs at the fairgrounds that fateful night, he'd almost certainly have died. [[FateWorseThanDeath In the narration, the older Jamie states that sometimes he wishes he had.]]
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* EverybodysDeadDave: In the weeks and months following the climax and the disastrous events at Skytop, [[spoiler: almost everybody Jacobs healed over the decades using his "special lightning" commit suicide, go on killing sprees, or both, implied to be caused by Mother as a form of revenge. This includes Jamie's first love Astrid, his friend and employer Hugh Yates, Jacobs former devotee Al Stamper, most of the people who Jamie had researched earlier about the side effects of Jacobs healing, and many others. Jamie's brother Con "gets away" with only attacking his partner and ending up in a mental hospital because he was Jacobs first patient, and thus only had limited exposure to Mother]].
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* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [[spoiler: Jamie discovers that he did this during his blacked out state after the climax; he returned to the lab, placed the gun he'd used to kill the Mother/Mary Faye thing in Jacobs hand, and fired a fifth bullet into the wall, making it seem like Jacobs killed Mary Faye himself before dying from a stroke. With all traces of the supernatural reality of the events gone, and the only other possible witness (Jenny the nurse) having run off before the climax, the police would likely go for the most plausible explanation.]]
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* BigNo: Jamie let's out a massive one when he's shown a vision of [[spoiler: The Null, the true afterlife and the reality of what lies beyond death. It somehow draws the attention of not just the human souls and the ant-creatures, but also ''Mother'', who finally makes an appearance "in person".]]
* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler: In the Null, the human souls who falter in their endless march are mauled by the ant-creatures until they get back up, and Jamie describes them as having wounds that don't bleed, since they don't actually have bodies anymore.]]
* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler: In the Null, the human souls who falter in their endless march are mauled by the ant-creatures until they get back up, and Jamie describes them as having wounds that don't bleed, since they don't actually have bodies anymore.]]
* DarkWorld: [[spoiler: The Null, the hellish dimension that lies above the mortal world. It consists of an endless line of human souls walking towards the horizon, herded by ant-like monsters, through the ruins of some massive, eldritch city. The sky is described as being "fake", little more than a veil beyond which the true rulers of reality, insane, immortal monsters, exists.]]
* EvilOldFolks: Charles Jacobs by the end of the novel, by then in his 70's and not even bothering with the pretense of charm and faith anymore, since he's made all the money he needs for his experiments, and willing to go to any lengths to finish his work.
* EyeScream: One of Jacobs patients tried to blind herself by pouring salt in her eyes as a side effect of his "healing".
* EyeScream: One of Jacobs patients tried to blind herself by pouring salt in her eyes as a side effect of his "healing".
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* FatBastard: Al Stamper, a once-famous soul musician who became slavishly devoted to Jacobs after the reverend cured his cocaine addiction. He used to be rail thin during his time at the top, probably thanks to his drug use, but ballooned in weight afterwards. He treats Jamie like shit for no reason, though Jamie suspects it's because he doesn't like sharing Jacobs with anyone else.
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* FatBastard: Al Stamper, a once-famous soul musician who became slavishly devoted to Jacobs after the reverend cured his cocaine addiction. He used to be rail thin during his time at the top, probably thanks to his drug use, but ballooned in weight afterwards. He treats Jamie like shit for no reason, though Jamie suspects it's because he doesn't like sharing Jacobs with anyone else. [[spoiler: He's one of Jacobs former patients who snap after the climax, inviting his two ex-wives for dinner, killing one of them with a baseball bat, and dies of a heart attack while chasing after the second one to kill her too.]]
* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler: Jacobs final patient, Mary Fay, becomes this after being used as a gateway to the afterlife upon dying, and Mother uses her as a foothold to reach into the human world. Jamie describes her head looking like a monstrous jellyfish with her human face stretched out across it, with Mothers giant claw reaching out through her mouth. After Jamie re-kills her and closes the gate, she returns to her original appearance, albeit with two bullet holes.]]
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* TimeSkip: The story stretches all the way from the 1960's to the 2010's, with only periodic stops focusing on Jamie and his life; childhood, his teenage years, his reunion with Jacobs as a drug-addicted adult, and eventually middle age.
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* TimeSkip: The story stretches all the way from the 1960's to the 2010's, with only periodic stops focusing on Jamie and his life; childhood, his teenage years, his reunion with Jacobs as a drug-addicted adult, and eventually middle age. He's 63 by the time the story ends.
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* SinisterMinister: Initially, this is not the case; Pastor Jacobs is a genuinely NiceGuy who's great with kids and well-liked by everyone in town. After he hits the DespairEventHorizon and loses his faith, Jacobs assumes this role when he acts as a healer at revivals to further his research.
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* SinisterMinister: Initially, this is not the case; Pastor Jacobs is a genuinely NiceGuy who's great with kids and well-liked by everyone in town. After he hits the DespairEventHorizon and loses his faith, Jacobs assumes this role when he acts as a healer at revivals to further his research. Ironically, by this point he's long since been defrocked, and only cynically pretends to still be an active minister.
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* WhereItAllBegan: The plot returns to Jamie's hometown several times, including the climax, which takes place on Skytop, a mountain area that hosts a massive lightning rod.
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* AddledAddict: Jamie got addicted to painkillers after a motorcycle accident in his 20's, which eventually led to heroic abuse that left him destitute, alone and barely functional. If he hadn't stumbled across Jacobs at the fairgrounds that fateful night, he'd almost certainly have died. [[FateWorseThanDeath In the narration, the older Jamie states that sometimes he wishes he had.]]
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%%* AnimalMotifs: Ants, for [[spoiler:Mother.]]
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* FatBastard: Al Stamper, a once-famous soul musician who became slavishly devoted to Jacobs after the reverend cured his cocaine addiction. He used to be rail thin during his time at the top, probably thanks to his drug use, but ballooned in weight afterwards. He treats Jamie like shit for no reason, though Jamie suspects it's because he doesn't like sharing Jacobs with anyone else.
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* TimeSkip: The story stretches all the way from the 1960's to the 2010's, with only periodic stops focusing on Jamie and his life; childhood, his teenage years, his reunion with Jacobs as a drug-addicted adult, and eventually middle age.
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* WeAllDieSomeDay: Played for horror, unusually enough; [[spoiler: there is no escaping the Null or Mother, no matter what you do and how you live your life. Eventually, you'll have to die and be condemned with the rest of mankind.]]
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* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:By the end of the narrative, most of the major and mentioned characters are dead, save for Jamie, Conrad, and Bree. Many of them die when "Mother" triggers a violent reaction among many of those who were "healed", prompting suicides and/or murders.]]
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Now renders as "Double-Meaning" instead of "Doublemeaning."
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* DoublemeaningTitle: Jacobs earns his fortune as a ''revival'' preacher. [[spoiler: His ultimate plan is to ''revive'' someone from death.]]
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* DoublemeaningTitle: DoubleMeaningTitle: Jacobs earns his fortune as a ''revival'' preacher. [[spoiler: His ultimate plan is to ''revive'' someone from death.]]
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* AdultFear: [[spoiler: ''Where's my little boy's face?'']]
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* AnimalMotifs: Ants, for [[spoiler:Mother.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: As part of the theme of death, loss and old age.
* ArcWords: "Something Happened."
* AnyoneCanDie: As part of the theme of death, loss and old age.
* ArcWords: "Something Happened."
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* WhamLine: [[spoiler: ''Where's my little boy's face?'']]
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Trope has been renamed.
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* BiggerBad: [[spoiler:"Mother", the EldritchAbomination seen in the other plane of reality, turns out to have been gathering human souls for enslavement. And beyond her, there are other monsters in Null.]]
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* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:"Mother", the EldritchAbomination seen in the other plane of reality, turns out to have been gathering human souls for enslavement. And beyond her, there are other monsters in Null.]]
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more specific subtrope
* CheatedDeathDiedAnyway: Jamie has a dream of the future where he learns that his brother Andy died at the age of fifty-one from prostate cancer. He fervently tries to badger Andy to go in for a prostate exam [[spoiler: and he eventually does, and they find the cancer in time and manage to cure it. And then, at the age of fifty-one, Andy dies from a heart attack.]]
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* YouCantFightFate: Jamie has a dream of the future where he learns that his brother Andy died at the age of fifty-one from prostate cancer. He fervently tries to badger Andy to go in for a prostate exam [[spoiler: and he eventually does, and they find the cancer in time and manage to cure it. And then, at the age of fifty-one, Andy dies from a heart attack.]]
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The page is being cut per TRS
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* BiTheWay: [[spoiler:Astrid, Jamie's first crush, has male and female lovers in her history.]]
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* TheirFirstTime: Jamie and Astrid love their virginities together during a thunderstorm.
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* TheirFirstTime: Jamie and Astrid love lose their virginities together during a thunderstorm.
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* DoublemeaningTitle: Jacobs earns his fortune as a ''revival'' preacher. [[spoiler: His ultimate plan is to ''revive'' someone from death.]]
