Outlander Book Club: The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 23 breakdown

As if visiting Siverly in the previous chapter wasn’t enough of a threat to his life, Lord John Grey goes back in The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 23. This time, Jamie is ready if he needs to return John’s body to Hal.

It’s clear that John and Jamie know that John going to see Siverly is a huge risk. Anything could happen, and we have a bonding moment between the two men. However, it turns out that John and Jamie have it all wrong.

Siverly is actually the one in trouble! What is going on?

Breaking down The Scottish Prisoner Chapter 23

John knows that he needs to go back to Siverly. The man has three options at this point. He can return to England voluntarily, he can be arrested, or he can be kidnapped. Jamie certainly likes the last of the three options, but it’s not clear which one Siverly would end up choosing to do.

John and Jamie do discuss the dangers of John going back. This could mean certain death, and Jamie offers to return John’s body to Hal should it happen. There’s a mirror of when Hal returned Jamie to Jenny, although it was a barely alive Jamie and not a dead one. John agrees to this, and off he goes.

When John gets to the house, he finds out that Siverly is in the Summerhouse. When he goes there, he starts to hear rustling in the bushes. Believing that Siverly is going to ambush him, he goes to the stables to turn the tables. It’s there that he finds just a groom, who threatens John with a pitchfork.

Well, as John slips, he realizes that Siverly was actually the one in trouble. He’s been killed, and now John has a murder mystery to solve. That shouldn’t be too surprising considering it’s a Lord John Grey novel. However, I guess I was a little shocked to find out that Siverly was killed off so quickly.

Could this chapter be used in a TV series?

This chapter needs to be used if The Scottish Prisoner was every used for a TV show adaptation. This is a huge part of the plot, kicking off the murder mystery as well as continuing the big Jacobite conspiracy.

Everything we thought we knew has been turned upside down at this point. We get to see John have to think on his toes, while also realizing that Siverly wasn’t a major mastermind. Did his temper get him killed, or did something else happen because John and Jamie showed up?

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