History Literature / FindersKeepers

* RealityEnsues:
** When killing Rothstein, Morris expected a clean death; just a small bullethole in the forehead. Instead he ends up blowing half of Rothstein’s head off.
** Morris expects to get rich quickly by selling the stolen notebooks to a collector (after he read them himself of course). Andrew quickly shatters this dream, stating that nobody would buy those books for several years to come now that Rothstein’s death has been featured in the news. Plus, in order to find a collector that would be willing to pay big money for obviously stolen notebooks, Andrew would first have to set up a shop and gain the trust of these collectors, which could take decades.

* ForeShadowing: when Hodges is first informed by Tina about Pete and the money, his theory is that Pete’s nervousness is because he is on the run from the people who originally stole the money he found, and somehow discovered he has it. In reality, Pete’s problem at that moment is that he is being blackmailed by Andrew, the bookstore owner he tried to sell the notebooks to. Later in the book however Hodges’ theory does come true when Morris enters the picture, murders Andrew, and then targets Pete.

* {{Irony}}: when planning to retrieve the notebooks from Andrew, and later Pete, Morris comes across the abandoned Birch Street Rec building and considers it a perfect place to hide them afterwards, hidden in a box that won't stand out among the many other boxes stored there. The irony? At that moment, Pete has already done just that! (so the police won't find them in case Andrew follows up on his treat to call the cops).

* DelusionsOfEloquence: Morris likes to think of himself as an intellectual and much smarter than everyone around him. However, most people that have an extended conversation with him tend to see right through Morris and behold a not very bright (but very much unhinged and dangerous) man just playing the part.

* HeroicFireRescue: In the climax, after Pete sets the notebooks on fire, Hodges and Jerome have to perform one of these to get Pete and Tina to safety.

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Morris has one of the biggest and worst in all of recent fiction; while many such breakdowns lead to the villain's demise, Morris literally goes so insane when Rothstein's notebooks are set aflame that he literally roasts himself to a semi-charred skeleton trying to put them out. When your insanity has so far overreached one's natural self-preservation instinct, you know you're dealing with one hell of a breakdown.]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: Pete, the boy who eventually finds Morris' hidden trunk, happens to live in the exact same house that Morris used to live in when he hid the trunk. Later both Pete and Morris independently from each other decide to use the abandoned Rec building as a hideout; Pete to hide the notebooks from the police and Andrew, and Morris to hide himself from the authorities after he has taken Tina hostage.

** It gets even more ironic later on, when Morris, prior to confronting Pete, breaks into the Rec to hide the bags with his clothes, and uses the boxes that the notebooks are hidden in to first sit on and then as an improvised step to reach the window. At that moment he is literally sitting/standing on the notebooks he wants so desperately, and in the perfect position to take them right there, right then, yet he doesn't know it.

* {{Irony}}: when planning to retrieve the notebooks from Andrew, and later Pete, Morris comes across the abandoned Birch Street Rec building and considers it a perfect place to hide them afterwards, hidden in a box that won't stand out among the many other boxes stored there. The irony? At that moment, Pete has already done just that so the police won't find them in case Andrew follows up on his treat to call the cops. At one point Morris even breaks into the Rec to check it out. He is literally within hand reach of the notebooks he wants to desperately and in the perfect position to take them right there, right then, yet he doesn't realize it.

* {{Irony}}: when planning to retrieve the notebooks from Andrew, and later Pete, Morris comes across the abandoned Birch Street Rec building and considers it a perfect place to hide them afterwards, hidden in a box that won't stand out among the many other boxes stored there. The irony? At that moment, Pete has already done just that in case Andrew sends the police to his house. At one point Morris even breaks into the Rec to check it out. He is literally within hand reach of the notebooks he wants to desperately and in the perfect position to take them right there, right then, yet he doesn't realize it.

* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: when Pete is forced to move the notebooks from his house because Andrew threatens to send the cops after him, he hides them in the abandoned Birch Street Rec building, hidin in a box marked "kitchen supplies" which he stores in the basement among dozens of other, identical boxes.

* {{Irony}}: when planning to retrieve the notebooks from Andrew, and later Pete, Morris comes across the abandoned Rec building and considers it a perfect place to hide them afterwards, hidden in a box that won't stand out among the many other boxes stored there. The irony? At that moment, Pete has already done just that in case Andrew sends the police to his house. Morris is so close to what he wants most, and he doesn't even realize it.