Mariez, thanks, I have been reading it from Chapter 1, but must have been doing more speeding and taking for granted than word for word-I'll go re read it and see if I get it this time! because that sentence didn't register with me the first time through.

I did re-read it, and I got it now-you were absolutely right-LOL And I am thinking you are right in your assessment that Colson is much darker than the first story had him. Interesting, not sure I like it as well, but definately different.
and maybe I am thinking too much backward, and not enough forward---so you are probably right on with your observations, as while Colson is going in the direction of being a totally new man, I may still be hanging on to attributes I still feel about the past story. I will maybe have to reevaluate how I view who Colson is-and make adjustments as we find out more--at least this is making me think and be aware of more. LOL
next day:
Re-read your thoughts again and I thought about it some last night, I knew lots of guys that were occasionally suspended from high school, for fighting, and some anti social meaness, or cheating-even a few girls for having their skirts too short--3 days, 7 days, sometimes 2 weeks---but to actually get "kicked out" and not be allowed to return---that puts Colson in a LOSER category for me. To get that kind of treatment he had to have been truly anti-social, or cruel, not just physical---lots of chronic fighting or threatening a teacher--and if it turns out he is just mean, I don't know if I can generate the sympathy/humaness he should have.
You are right too about his thoughts about leaving Adam black and blue don't speak well of him at all---within that context that he is violent and threatening--makes him sound more like an abuser than a lover. And that is not a quality that makes me care about him. I never got that feeling from the first set of story qualities at all.
Almost wish I hadn't answered and found out the truth, as it does totally change who he is or who he might be for me. I would have been blissfully ignorant of the truth, and hence be more tolerant of him. Bad breaks enlist my empathy, and tolerance---conscious acts of anti-social behavior leave me colder than ice. He may have taken care of Pete sort of, but his flashbacks to Adam make him less than attractive. Now I wonder too how Louise will justify who he is, and how he got that way.
And what will have changed between then and now to actually make him a man Ellery can care about, not just be physically attracted to??? I may be wishing she would have started farther back and built up more background before she revamped the old format to fit the new story ideas.
I obviously tend to cling to the more Ennis like characteristics that I want to find in Colson. And I tend to want to keep some of the BBM based "understood" sentimentalities because IF he changes too much, I may find I don't care for him nearly as much. And then I will never understand how Ellery could care for him as much either. So I may have to completely readjust how I read and think of this story now. But if I abandon all the "understood" things, and just go with the flow of a totally new story, I am not going to get or have the same understanding or feeling for the story. Will just have to wait and see how Louise develops this.