- Narrator: Jake
Jake's father takes his family on a four day vacation, which bodes poorly for the Yeerk infesting Tom.
Tropes:
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Subverted. Chapter 23 suddenly flashes back to Grandpa G's experience in the World War II, but it turns out to be a nightmare Jake's having.
- Big Damn Heroes: The other Animorphs followed Jake's family to Grandpa G's cabin where they stop the Yeerk's murder plot by collapsing the pier and breaking Tom's leg.
- Catapult Nightmare: Jake wakes up from a dream where Grandpa G's war efforts are interrupted by a human-Controller with a Nazi dagger to find Tom and the actual Nazi dagger missing.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Animorphs kidnap Chapman under the pretense of torturing him for information. The real reason is to keep the Yeerk in Tom from getting the backup he needs, but the end result still involves Ax forcefully interrogating Chapman.
- Dad the Veteran: Jake great-grandfather had been a soldier in World War II. As Jake reminisces about him, he realizes he's becoming more like Grandpa G as the war against the Yeerks goes on.
- Fighting the Lancer: Jake and Marco don't come to blows, but they both recognize that it could happen if they both think the other could compromise a mission.
- I'm Not Doing That Again: Ax says as much to Jake after his interrogation of Chapman.Ax: <The human daughter of this Controller has walked through the neighborhood crying for her father. I have heard her. As I have heard the terror of this Controller. I will gladly fight this Controller and even, in fair battle, kill him, but I am not a torturer.>
- Kick the Dog: The Animorphs invade the Chapman house in their battle morphs, terrorizing Melissa in the process. A far cry from the second book, where they try to keep her as far away from their activities as possible. Jake acknowledges this as they leave Ax with Chapman, feeling like he can no longer call himself the Animorphs' leader.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: When all his other plots fail, the Yeerk in Tom decided to attempt to murder Tom and Jake's father, which will get him sent back to the city where there's Kandrona and free him from the expectations of maintaining cover now that he'd officially be a convicted murderer. The Animorphs put a stop to this.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The real Tom manages to surface for a few seconds to try and warn Jake to stay away from him. Jake is able to recognize this by how out of character it is for the Yeerk.
- Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Jake's father encounters a male version, a man who's upset that his usual parking spot was occupied by Jake's father's car. Jake, Ax, and Tobias spent an afternoon being wary of the man, assuming he's a Controller, but no, he's just an entitled jerk.
- Parental Obliviousness: The Yeerk in Tom is desperate to avoid Kandrona starvation so much that he fails to act like Tom throughout the buildup to the trip. Jake notices all the un-Tom-like behavior, but their parents just think Tom is being stubborn.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Jake and Marco had spent the last few books going from The Hero and The Lancer to He Who Fights Monsters and Sociopathic Soldier. Their final exchange in this book emphasizes that Marco was completely willing to sacrifice Tom against Jake's wishes if it meant that the Animorphs could survive another day.Jake's narration: You know what Marco and I used to talk about? Whether Batman could beat Spiderman. Whether Sega was better than Nintendo. Whether some girl would rather go out with him or me.
And now... - Status Quo Is God: The Animorphs prevent "Tom" from killing Jake's dad, and he remains a controller.
- Swapped Roles: Jake and Marco spent the previous book with Jake being the reasonable one and Marco being the reckless one. It's the other way around in this book, because this time it's Jake's father at risk of being lost to the Yeerks instead of Marco's mother.
- Twisted Christmas: Jake talks with "Tom" about how Grandpa G spent one Christmas in a foxhole, singing "Silent Night" and listening to the Nazis sing it in German right back to them from across the battlefield. One chapter later, and Grandpa G pitches in with how that exact Christmas went for him.Grandpa G's narration: I hadn’t had a warm meal since … Had I ever had a warm meal? Had I ever, ever been warm? Hadn’t I always been in this freezing foxhole, this black hole punched in the snow? Hadn’t I lived my entire life right here at the edge of the dark forest, shivering, shaking, waiting to hear the scream of incoming shells, waiting to hear the clank-clank-clank of the tanks?
Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas.
