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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33254
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33254
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Expanding my comment into a full answer as OP indicated it was helpful.

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> I can’t drag the antagonist into a Poirot/Sherlock Holmes style Q&A as he's already in jail.

Sure you can. Just have the protagonist, or some other major character, visit the antagonist in jail and hold the Q&A session there. This has the added advantage that the infodump is coming from the mouth of the antagonist, rather than the mouth of the narrator, and you can therefore inject his personality into it. For example, he could be gloating about having deceived everyone for so long, hence his willingness to explain the deception in so much detail in the first place.

> Has anyone read anything where a massive explanation follows an ending, yet it’s still gripping as all hell?

The closest thing I can think of is Daphne du Maurier's _Rebecca_, where there's a big one-line revelation about two-thirds of the way through the novel. Part of the remaining third deals with the drama of whether anyone else will find out about the revelation, and the potential consequences if they do, but it's interwoven with a gradual explanation of exactly what happened and why. I read that entire last third in one sitting and it is honestly one of the most gripping sections of prose I have ever read.

Original score: 29