The Tommyknockers 1987

Book I - The Ship in the Earth

Chapter 5 - Gardener Takes a Fall

subchapter 1

• pg. 53
  1. Jim Gardener tells us the Poetry Caravan paid "…three hundred up front and three hundred at the end of the tour.". Jim then thinks (Subch. 4, pg. 61) if he leaves the tour that Patricia McCardle -who runs the Poetry Caravan- could "…do a lot more to him than get back her lousy six hundred bucks.".

subchapter 4

• pg. 59
  1. Patricia McCardle has gray eyes. Later (Subch. 7, pg. 70), they change to blue.

Chapter 8 - Modifications

subchapter 8

• pg. 120
  1. We read Bobbi's garden has "No Carrots…" because "I don't grow what I don't like…". However we later read (Book III - The Tommyknockers, Ch. 1 - Sissy, Subch. 4, pg. 387), that Sissy uses"…a vibrator nearly the size of one of the mutant carrots in Bobbi's garden…".

Chapter 9 - Anderson Spins a Tale

subchapter 6

• pg. 131
  1. Gardener thinks of Ishmael -From Moby-Dick by Herman Melville- "…rambling through the streets of Bedford…". The town's name is actually New Bedford.

Book II - Tales of Haven

Chapter 2 - 'Becka Paulson

subchapter 5

• pg. 183
  1. Joe Paulson is killed when "…better than 2000 volts of current slammed into him.". Several problems here.
     • Current is measured in Amperes, and measures the flow of electricity.
     • More importantly, it's not the voltage that kills, it's the amps. That is why you can have a very high voltage (3+ million volts) stun gun that will not kill the person it is applied to.

Chapter 3 -

subchapter 7

• pg. 196
  1. We find that today is July 8th and that for the past week Marie "…had a headache, and the news that Joe and 'Becka Paulson had both been killed in a house fire had not helped it…". However, earlier (Book II, Ch. 2, Subch. 1, pg. 174), we read that 'Becka had known about her husband having an affair "…for the last three days." and that the picture had started talking July 7th (pg. 175), so the absolute earliest 'Becka could have known about the affair was July 10th. So back to the error, how is Marie's headache worse on July 8th from the news about the fire, when the 8th is two days before 'Becka knew about the affair that would cause her to commit the murder that starts the fire?

Chapter 5 - Ruth McCausland

subchapter 1

• pg. 214
  1. We learn "…1972 was the year Ralph McCausland died.". We also are told Ralph, talking to Ruth about her dolls said (Subch. 3, pg. 220) "And Hilly Brown wouldn't go near them…". How is this possible? Hilly was born in 1978 (Book II - Tales of Haven, Ch. 3 - Hilly Brown, Subch. 1, pg. 186). That means Ralph died six years before Hilly was born!

Chapter 7 - Beach Jernigan and Dick Allison

subchapter 1

• pg. 264
  1. Christina Lindley found a picture of the town hall's tower from a magazine. They use this photo to project a hologram of the now missing tower. The problem is that old magazine photos are made from small dots. Blowing this image up that large would have resulted in a very poor image that would not have been realistic.

Chapter 10 - A Book of Days - The Town Concluded

subchapter 7 - Wednesday, August 3rd:

• pg. 350
  1. The first line tells us Andy bozeman was the towns only realtor, but earlier (Ch. 9 - The Funeral, Subch. 15, pg. 313) We had been told Kyle Archinbourg is a local realtor.

Book III - The Tommyknockers

Chapter 4 - The Shed

subchapter 6

• pg. 428
  1. Gardener finds the clothes Bobbie wore to Ruth McCausland's funeral, hidden in the shed. It is described as her "…good charcoal-colored skirt…". Yet on the day of the funeral (Book II - Tales of Haven, Ch. 9 - The Funeral, Subch. 7, pg. 303), we were told that Bobbie arrived at the funeral and after exiting her truck checked the outside mirror and began "…smoothing her dark blue dress…".

Chapter 6 - Inside the Ship

subchapter 3

• pg. 451
  1. We read that Bobbie and Gardener are going to go down the sling together. "…that this time, and only this time, they must go down together, perfectly together, both with one foot in the single stirrup, arms around each other's waists, like lovers in a descending swing. It was stupid; just stupid, just stupid enough to be the only way.". Yet a few lines later (pg. 453) we read "Bobbie rode the sling down first…".

Chapter 7 - The Scoop, Continued

subchapter 6

• pg. 469-470
  1. John Leandro's car stops working is because of the electromagnetic field which is thrown off the ship. If this is the case, how was Anne able to drive to Bobbie's home just three days earlier (Book III - The Tommyknockers, Ch. 1 - Sissy, Subch. 15, pg. 399)? Especially because she drove to Bobbie's which was much closer to the source of the electromagnetic field.

Chapter 8 - Gard and Bobbi

subchapter 3

• pg. 481
  1. We are told Bobbies' "…lips drew back from her teeth…". That would be fine if we hadn’t been told earlier (Book III - The Tommyknockers, Ch. 1 - Sissy, Subch. 18, pg. 403) that all Bobbie's teeth had fallen out "Bobbi grinned toothlessly.". Then, a short time later, her teeth are gone again (Ch. 8 - Gard and Bobbi, Subch. 4, pg. 484), that Bobbie's "…lips spread in a toothless grin.".

Chapter 10 - Tommyknockers, Knocking at the Door

subchapter 1

• pg. 508
  1. (Firearm errors) When the gun Gardener has fails to fire, he "…tried to pull the slide back…". Ok, so the gun is a semi-auto. But wait, when he found it in Bobbie's shed (Book III - The Tommyknockers, Ch. 4 - The Shed, Subch. 6, pg. 428), it is described as "…the biggest, oldest-looking gun Gardener had ever seen…" and "…he picked the gun up and rolled the cylinder.". So here, it is clearly a revolver.

( Note: All page numbers are from the Viking hardcover, unless otherwise noted. )

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