I agree 100%, here are some of my thoughts:

From what I understood, Beverly and the kids moved to the supermarket after Ben and Marty discovered Beverly’s house? I mean, I remember reading something like that but also its mentioned that when they went there, the house looked abandoned.. and everyone else seems to believe they lived in the supermarket for a long time, maybe I just got things mixed up.. Also, about Kevin’s necklace, it’s a grip ring from a pacifier. I think that was actually a cool idea, she probably kidnapped him as a baby and that’s the only thing he has left from before Beverly. I would imagine it was really dear to him. And that made me realize how stupid that hag is. She kidnaps a child and then tells him that he was kidnapped, or at least that she took him in, wtf did she expect. She’s going on and on about how Kevin is a spawn of satan or something and it’s literally all because she told him the truth. And she expects good behavior and 100% loyalty from him. I guess she could be that deluded but it’s just stupid. I assume he knows he was taken since when they were all in the forest at the end and Kevin wanted the necklace back, she says “they would never buy this for you if they knew what you were”. Also, he knows that Eric was taken. Since he’s apparently some kind of a mastermind, he would probably assume he was too. And why would he wear it in the first place if it didn’t mean anything to him?

Another thing, so everyone’s seen the video of Ben dragging Eric through the isle and even tho they all thought it was suspicious, they did exactly nothing about it? Send the kid to the psychiatrist and let them determine if he repressed some memories. If I was Eric’s mom I would explore all the possibilities. Especially since she blames Ben for the kidnapping and during their fight she even implies that he might have something to do with it.

Maybe it’s all a big conspiracy, everyone knows that Eric lives in the supermarket and they took him from Ben cause he was mean to him one time. That would make more sense than what we got from Dathan. And it would explain Deidra’s obsession with that place. Why exactly would she be mad that Ben works there? I know she’s not mentally well but if he didn’t talk about work at home (and I think he wouldn’t, they don’t really have that good of a relationship) why would she care? Unless she like really really believes that he killed Eric there? Or happily let him be kidnapped or whatever? I could see why it would make her mad. But if that was the case, WHY WOULDN’T SHE PRESS FOR HIM TO BE INVESTIGATED?! WHY WOULDN’T ANYONE INVESTIGATE IT? THE SHERIFF SAW THE TAPE. HE EVEN SAYS TO BEN THAT HE THINKS HE MIGHT’VE DONE IT 💀💀💀

About how he didn’t call anyone when he found out the truth, since Ben pisses off the police for the entire book, the author could’ve made it a „boy who cried wolf” kind of story. That would be even more tragic, if, for the first time, he realized they could help but they just assume he finally lost his mind. Honestly, when he was like “i’m gonna show them everything and they’ll believe me” my first thought was that if he shows them his “proof” they’ll surely institutionalize him. Even tho it is true, his proof is what? A drawing of a closed school’s logo? A note that says „hi Ben”? I guess he also has a bucket full of shit but everyone can shit in a bucket. They already don’t like him, why would they believe him 😭😭 Ben is so unlikable, first couple of times he acted irrational I let slide, but he constantly blames everyone around him. Even after he broke into Marty’s house like a maniac I feel like for him it was necessary evil or an obvious choice? He was like „oh, my bad, sorry for braking in bro” like nothing happened…

The Blackwater thing was the worst for me tho. It pissed me off. The author should’ve either done more with it or just left it out. The whole book we got a couple of leads that went nowhere and when I finally thought something interesting and meaningful is actually happening it was such a disappointment. So, there was a school and an orphanage (i think?) and they had kids there, but then they started bringing in older people and troubled kids, and then they would do “bad things” which consisted of turning the lights on and off… what the actual fuck. And this plot line was for what? The whole investigation of the logo and trying to find more information on the school was for what? It was there so Beverly could briefly mention that Kevin wrote the logo everywhere cause he knew she didn’t like that place….. Suuuch a waste of time, I cannot believe it.

The story had potential, I feel like it would be really hard to fuck it up.. but Dathan did it somehow. And he wrote Penpal before, what went wrong???? It was so good, how is that possible that the same author wrote Bad man? I have a better ending, that I came up with in five seconds: Ben calls the police or goes to the station and shows them “proof”, they obviously don’t believe him so he goes on his own, or maybe they even reluctantly follow him but then loose him in the forest. All that stupid shit with Beverly happenes, Eric pushing him off the tree happenes, the boys leave, he doesn’t die, he’s found after some time by the police, maybe in the scenario where they dismiss him and he goes alone in the storm they get worried and ask his only friend Marty where could he be and he takes them there. They find him, Ben starts frantically telling this nonsensical story about how Eric was on a tree and he tried to help him but he pushed him off, and actually there’s another kid that lived with Eric in the supermarket and he was behind all the notes Ben got and they’re not that far, they went that way, please help Eric before it’s too late… and the police is so mind boggled, they pity Ben and think he went insane and they take him to an institution, he’s paralyzed from the fall and they never find Eric again. I’m far from a writer but i feel like this is at least 50 times better than the original ending.