62 pages • 2 hours read
David BaldacciThe 6:20 Man
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
The narrative takes a pivotal turn as Hancock discovers that Ewes’s death was not a suicide, prompting a murder investigation. They examine the evidence, notably the rope’s indentation pattern, which reminds Devine of a fellow soldier, Lieutenant Roy Blankenship, who served in the Army with him in Afghanistan. Campbell can pinpoint the time of Ewes’s death, and while Devine claims that the building’s security footage can vouch for his absence, Hancock confronts him about his presence at Cowl and Comely the night before and insinuates that the end of Devine’s relationship with Ewes might make him a suspect. The interrogation intensifies, leading Devine to contemplate retaining legal counsel.
Chapter 18 Summary
Valentine is obsessed with tracing the origin of an email sent to Devine regarding the discovery of Ewes’s body, intrigued by the obscure email address. Meanwhile, Devine’s alibi is uncertain, as none of his housemates can confirm his whereabouts. Speers, after observing Hancock, proposes a criminal defense lawyer. Devine’s conversation with Tapshaw, an MIT alumnus with a tendency to neglect her nutrition, is interrupted when she hastily consumes a slice of Valentine’s pizza upon realizing the late hour.
Chapter 19 Summary
Devine employs night-vision binoculars to surveil Cowl’s residence. He observes Montgomery in the company of a bandaged Chilton. After Chilton’s departure, Devine tails him to a Manhattan brownstone and then proceeds to Ewes’s home, arriving just as her parents meet with a police officer and a journalist.
Chapter 20 Summar
After completing his workout routine unusually late, at 6:00 am, Devine starts conducting digital research on Chilton, discovering his career as a self-proclaimed “entrepreneur and investor” and proprietor of Mayflower Enterprise.
Chapter 21 Summary
The narrative tension escalates when Devine crosses paths with journalist Rachel Potter, whom he previously saw at Ewes’s home. An impromptu interview in her van ensues, where Devine deflects questions about his involvement with Ewes. The exchange grows tense, culminating in Devine forcibly halting the van to exit. His train journey into the city is contemplative, focusing on his potential suspect status, yet he remains confident that Cowl and Comley’s security records will exonerate him.
Chapter 22 Summary
The author delves into Devine’s past, depicting Hawkins’s confession to Lieutenant Blankenship’s murder, Devine’s retaliatory violence, and the military’s cover-up of Hawkins’s death. Devine views his current assignment as a potential liberation from his “personal prison.” He attends the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot and thinks about its existential themes and Ewes’s discussion of the play with Stamos, suspecting that Stamos might be concealing something out of fear.
Chapter 23 Summary
Devine’s meeting with Campbell involves a detailed update on his findings and a request for assistance in navigating the police and media attention. The conversation shifts to the past—Blankenship’s wife’s potential foreknowledge of her husband’s murder, her financial gain from his death, and Campbell’s perception of Devine’s self-imposed penance for Hawkins’s death. Campbell theorizes that Ewes may have stumbled upon illegal activities within Cowl and Comely, possibly involving national security threats.
Chapter 24 Summary
Devine is at the Eweses’ residence, speaking with Sara’s parents. He denies any intimate relationship with their daughter. The Eweses, who were missionaries stationed in New Zealand, express their conviction that Sara kept a diary, which is now missing. Mrs. Ewes remarks on Sara’s friendship with Devine and implies that her death indicates she had a foe.
Chapters 17-24 Analysis
Devine speaks in an unselfconsciously folksy manner, marked by sometimes dated colloquialisms and puns. Speaking to Detective Hancock, he says, “Army green pours through every pore I have” (79), a self-deprecating, slightly sarcastic joke intended to disarm Hancock’s suspicions. Later, he refers to the townhouse as his “digs,” an outdated slang term that hints at a possibly ironic or nostalgic view of the world.
In these chapters, the author uses adages, short statements expressing a general truth, and idioms, a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words, to emphasize and heighten the tension of Devine’s situation in the chapters. For example, the author changes the idiomatic phrase “out of the frying pan and into the fire” to “out of the frying pan and right into the pits of hell” to dramatize Devine’s transition from a problematic situation to one that is exponentially more dangerous and infernal (115), emphasizing the gravity of his predicament.
Through Devine’s interactions with Campbell, these chapters explore Competitive Ambition in interpersonal relationships. Campbell’s nonchalant response to Devine’s concerns about the investigation reflects a larger commentary on the indifference of powerful entities to the competitive discourse of individuals who express their resistance, encapsulating the theme in a realistic, dialogue-driven manner.
The mysteries that drive the plot become deeper and more complex in these chapters. Some plot points are left to the reader’s deduction, such as the true nature of Devine’s past relationship with Sara Ewes and the significance of a missing diary. This encourages active reader engagement, as it requires piecing together information from subtle hints rather than explicit explanations, a technique common in the mystery-thriller genre.
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