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Summary
Chapter 9
In July of 1986, five days after the murder of Martin Queller in Oslo, Jane “Jinx” Queller wakes up in her family home near San Francisco. Although she claims to have hated her father, she nevertheless mourns his death, which she blames himself, as she, her boyfriend Nick, and her brother Andrew, were responsible for the conspiracy to humiliate Martin with fake blood at the conference. Her narration reveals that she is a member of a larger activist group spearheaded by the charismatic Nick, which has multiple cells across the country and uses illegal and violent tactics. Nick enters her bedroom, followed shortly by Andrew, who is ill. Nick attempts to quell Jane’s anxieties about the FBI agents who have arrived at the house to question them as witnesses to the murder, but she feels that he is not taking the risks seriously enough. Additionally, she mulls over the question of whether to admit to Nick that she is pregnant.
The two FBI agents, Agent Barlow and Agent Danberry, question Jane, Andrew, and their older brother, Jasper, a patriotic Air Force veteran who has assumed responsibility for the Queller company following Martin’s death and who does not know about Jane and Andrew’s involvement in the shooting. Barlow and Danberry note that a group called The Army of the Changing World has published a ransom letter claiming responsibility for the murder and demanding a ransom of one million dollars for the return of the kidnapped Dr. Alexandra Maplecroft. Nick comes in and out of the conversation, taunting the agents but not giving away any important information. After he leaves the house, Jane feels overwhelmed, steps outside, and is followed by Agent Danberry, who discusses various examples of militant activist groups with her, which he characterizes as cults led by charismatic leaders. Recognizing the agent’s implication that she and Andrew have been brainwashed by Nick, Jane returns to the house and tells Andrew that the FBI agents suspect their involvement.
Chapter 10
Jane and Andrew have a guarded conversation while driving to Nick’s apartment, as they believe that they are being monitored by the FBI. Convinced that the agents know everything about their involvement in Martin’s murder and Maplecroft’s abduction, Jane begins to feel doubts regarding Nick’s plans. Looking at Andrew, she sees a scar on his neck and reflects upon his past. Andrew, she reveals, was for many years a drug addict who has attempted suicide on several occasions. After being arrested in possession of cocaine, he was sent to the same Queller care home that kicked out Robert Juneau, and there he met both Nick and Laura Juneau, sparking their plan to get revenge on Martin for misusing state funding dedicated to mental healthcare.
As they arrive at Nick’s apartment, Jane feels relief at the prospect of being back in his company, but she is shocked to discover that Nick isn’t there. Further, his apartment has been stripped of all possessions and furniture except for a sofa and a picture frame which carries a photo of Nick and Jane. Jane begins to despair, but Andrew finds a key behind the picture frame that opens a box that he finds inside the stuffing of the chair. In the box are photos of Jane showing her physical abuse at the hands of Martin and a series of papers. As Jane reads the papers, Andrew admits to her that he and Nick have made plans that will disgrace their older brother Jasper. The papers, which Andrew plans to send to various major newspapers, contain shocking evidence that Jasper was involved in illegal financial mismanagement at QuellCorp. In particular, the company collected state funding for the care of individuals who had already passed away, including Robert Juneau. Though Jane is horrified by these revelations, she cares about Jasper and is unwilling to cause him harm.
Once they have reached their hideout, an apartment in a condemned building, they meet a young woman named Paula Evans, whose codename is “Penny,” and a man whose codename is “Quarter.” Paula furiously accuses Jane and Andrew of putting the group in danger by changing their plans and using a gun instead of dye-packs, but tensions are eased by the arrival of Nick, who proclaims the events in Oslo a success. He hands Jane an apple to take upstairs. In a locked room at the top of the building, she walks over to a bound woman, and the woman screams as Jane lowers the gag around her mouth.
Chapter 11
In the present, Andy waits several hours at the motel to make sure that Mike isn’t following her before leaving in the Reliant. She picks up used goods from a Salvation Army and hides the money from the car in two separate storage units, hidden underneath clothing and other everyday items. Then, she drives to Little Rock, Arkansas, and sleeps for 16 hours. Tired of following her mother’s instructions without getting any closer to the answers she desires, she decides to drive to Austin to find Professor Paula Kunde, whose address she finds online through tax records. As she pulls up to Kunde’s house, the woman angrily accosts her at the front door, demanding to know why she is there. Before she can turn Andy away, Andy notes that Kunde is wearing a scarf despite the warm weather and infers that she was also strangled by Hoodie. Paula then allows Andy into her home, where Andy learns that Paula spent 20 years in prison as a result of “radical” political activities in her youth. Further, Paula observes a resemblance between Andy and her mother, revealing that she knows who Andy is.
Though Andy wants to ask more questions, she feels deeply uneasy, noting that Paula cannot hide her contempt for Laura when speaking of her. As she prepares to leave, Paula brandishes a shotgun at Andy, who runs out of the house. At the door, she finds Mike, who has tracked her down yet again. She kicks him hard in the groin, and as he writhes in pain on the floor, she takes his wallet and keys from his pockets. Paula comes to the door and, after surmising that Andy has not been sent there by Laura, she gives Andy a folded dollar bill from her purse and instructs her to find Clara Bellamy in Illinois. After finding a tracking device placed by Mike in the cooler of the Reliant, she takes her essentials from the Reliant and drives away in his car.
Analysis: Chapters 9-11
Chapters 9 and 10 concern the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Martin Queller in Oslo, and they continue to develop the novel’s exploration of violence and justice. While Jasper Queller thinks of their father as a heroic patriot, Jane and Andrew recall him as a tyrant who profited from the deprivation of others through his corrupt healthcare facilities. Different characters all have a different perspective on Martin depending upon their own beliefs and values. Though she claims to have hated her father on both personal and ideological grounds, Jane cannot help but mourn his death. The mix of positive and negative memories that she recalls in the wake of his murder speak to their deeply complex, tortured relationship and the moral ambiguity at the heart of the conspiracy against Martin. Even Andrew, who is more loyal to the plan than Jane, admits that he never realized that he loved his father until he saw him die. At this point in the novel, the Queller siblings are beginning to experience some doubts concerning their involvement in Nick’s violent plans, highlighting the gap between their ideals and his. When Andrew asks Jane why she spoke to Laura Juneau in the convention center bar, Jane admits that she was drawn to Laura’s clarity of purpose, a fact which underscores her own lack of resolve. Jane turned to Laura in the hopes of steadying her own commitment to take down her father. However, her brief conversation with Laura only adds to the moral complexity of the group’s actions. Though the decision to shoot Martin was ultimately Laura’s own, Jane, Andrew, and Nick enabled her actions, arguably taking advantage of a kind but deeply traumatized woman and leading her to her death.
Read an in-depth character analysis of Andrew Queller.
Whenever they begin to waver in their commitment, Jane and Andrew’s doubts are quickly put to rest by Nick, who proves to be a competent manipulator of others. Indeed, his behavior in these chapters showcases a variety of manipulative techniques that allow him to maintain tight control over Jane and the other members of his cult-like group. Alternating between kindness and aggression, his volatility forces Jane to closely monitor and attend to his emotions to prevent him from getting angry or leaving her. He constantly reminds others of his impoverished background to engender sympathy, a tactic which works particularly well on Jane and Andrew, who feel deeply guilty about their family’s privileges. Demanding strict loyalty from his “followers,” he frequently tests Jane’s faith in him, commanding her to complete a series of arbitrary but dangerous tasks to demonstrate her unwavering commitment.
Read an in-depth character analysis of Nicholas “Nick” Harp.
Ultimately, Nick’s strategies are highly effective in controlling the others. When Jane sees that Nick’s apartment is empty, she blames herself instead of questioning his honesty, reasoning that he must have sensed her doubts and abandoned her. She even worries that he might have killed himself, as he has threatened to do so several times in the past. Many of Nick’s tactics are classically abusive in nature, as he exploits feelings of guilt, shame, and self-doubt in others in order to influence their behavior and maintain control. Only the words of Agent Danberry begin to break through the spell that Jane has fallen under. He subtly compares Nick to various famous cult-leaders who “brainwashed” their followers, controlling their thoughts and behavior. Though Jane is disturbed by Danberry’s words, the agent’s own clear attempts to manipulate her undermine his argument, and she resists his efforts to break through to her. He uses various law-enforcement techniques to pry the truth from her, alternating between friendliness and hostility and deliberately making her uncomfortable and anxious. Jane finds herself in a difficult position, as a naïve young woman caught between two manipulative male figures who compete for influence over her.
The other group members are equally caught in the web of Nick’s influence. Paula, for example, abandons her objections to the murder of Martin the moment that Nick claims responsibility for the plan. Further, whenever Andrew expresses his concerns about their methods, Nick shows him photographs that document Martin’s physical abuse of Jane, exploiting Andrew’s brotherly instinct to protect his sister. Most members of the group have personal histories of mental illness. Lacking the resources for adequate mental healthcare, they become emotionally dependent upon Nick, who lends them a sympathetic ear but exploits their vulnerabilities for their own purposes. The exploitation of the mentally ill is a major theme in the novel. While a businessman such as Martin Queller builds his wealth by diverting state health resources intended for psychiatric patients, Nick is willing to recruit the vulnerable in his violent crusade against QuellCorp. To both Martin and Nick, then, the mentally ill are merely tools to be used without regard for their health or safety.
Read more about the novel’s theme of the Mistreatment and Exploitation of the Mentally Ill.
