Silence II

I read Smallville novels to learn more about Lex, Chloe etc. Nancy Holder's novel, Silence (Smallville Omnibus 2, London, 2006), is good reading for this purpose but she also devotes what I thought were too many pages to other characters specific to this story who take the action away from Smallville.

The novel is set:

when Reynolds is Principal of Smallville High;
after the Spring Ball at the end of Season One;
after Pete Ross has learned Clark's secret;
while Martha Kent is working for Lionel Luthor.

Of a new pupil at Smallville High, Clark wonders:

"I wonder if Chloe and Lana have talked about me around her. If she knows about how things are among the three of us.
"Heck, I don't even know how things are among the three of us." (p. 338)

He doesn't know because of his own secretiveness. From an early stage, Clark should have defied Jonathan and confided in Chloe, Lana and Lex. The deceitfulness of the Kents is the fatal weakness leading to the classical tragedy of Superman and Luthor.