6. The Mystery That Isn't
A comment I've noticed people who like Hush tend to say is that it's a great Batman mystery - except it isn't. There's a general mystery as to who the identity of the big bad of the book is but a good mystery gives you clues that allows an astute reader to figure it out by the end, or at least gives them the chance to. The only clues in Hush are that Batman's batrope breaks (which we later find out was by a batarang) and that the Batmobile's left front tire gets blown out. The batarang/batrope clue hints that the person is someone in the Bat family while the left front tire of the Batmobile and only really, really observant readers would've got this was the same tire Batman caught Jason Todd stealing when they first met. So there it is: Hush is Jason Todd, somehow back from the dead. Except he isn't! The only two clues in this "mystery" turn out to be red herrings and Hush is actually someone else entirely. There is no way anyone reading this could've figured out Hush was Tommy Elliott based on the "clues" given in the book because they don't relate to his character. This isn't a good mystery story at all, in fact it barely qualifies as such.