Survive the Night: A Novel

Josh Baxter, whose real name is Jake Collins, is one of the major characters and a red herring antagonist. He also acts as a foil for Robbie. While Robbie appears kind, good, and supportive, he is a misogynistic, narcissistic murderer. In contrast, Josh appears more aggressive and forceful but is a mostly moral person who questions the ethicality of Marge’s job for him and chooses to go and help Charlie. He is a bounty hunter who accepts a legally questionable job from Maddy’s grandmother, Marge, to escort Charlie to her. Josh/Jake questions the ethicality of this job but does what she wants him to do because he needs the money for expenses. He is charming and strong, which both attracts and intimidates Charlie throughout the car ride. He also possesses considerable film knowledge, over which he and Charlie form somewhat of a bond. His job and experience in the United States military make him skilled with weapons and medicine, even allowing him to sew his knife wound from Charlie. His job also makes him willing to do things that are not quite ethical to him, such as taking advantage of Charlie’s poor mental health and gaslighting her. He also threatens her and pressures her to put on his handcuffs, saying he will put them on her himself if he must. This, and his secrecy about his job, makes Charlie suspect that he is the Campus Killer and makes him a red herring antagonist for most of the novel.

During the car trip, he opens up to Charlie. He tells her about his mother’s abandonment and his tumultuous relationship with his late father. Like Charlie with films, Josh/Jake used comic books to escape his parents’ fights. He also, like Charlie, suffers guilt for a loved one’s departure. He blames himself for his mother’s abandonment, and his guilt was aggravated by his father blaming him. His ease in talking to Charlie and his scruples with Marge’s intentions cause him to change his course and help Charlie. He is part of Charlie’s struggle between Trust Versus Paranoia, causing Charlie to distrust him with his secrecy and gaslighting, but he proves to be a good person when he saves her. The two bond over seeing movies together and, between the last chapter and Epilogue, get married.

Robbie is Charlie’s boyfriend, a swim coach and aspiring mathematics professor, and the true antagonist of the novel. Robbie acts as a foil for Josh/Jake. Though he has a charming, soft, and understanding exterior, he is arrogant, misogynistic, and violent. From a young age, he had an over-inflated ego, believing himself to be “a genius. Athletic. Golden. One look in the mirror and it was clear he was a rarity” (304). His belief that he is superior to others, especially women he regards as brash and trashy, leads him to become a murderer at a young age. He targets young women who he sees as too open with their sexuality or too expressive and confident: “Special girls don’t need to show off in too-tight shirts and too-high skirts. To get his attention, they don’t need to write their number on a napkin and slip it with a wink into his lap” (305). In Robbie’s mind, people who are not special are not “worthy of care” (305). He also believes that “most people are stupid and useless and pathetic” (294). He despised Maddy because he saw her as immodest, ordinary, and self-aggrandizing and believed that Charlie was too good for someone like her. Robbie’s blaming of his victims’ abrasiveness or open sexuality for making him kill them highlights The Wrongful Blame of Women for Misogynistic Violence.

Despite Robbie’s narcissism and antipathy for most people, because he views Charlie as special like him, he exhibits caring behavior toward her. He frantically calls the police when Charlie calls him about her fears regarding Josh. He also races to the diner and follows Marge to the lodge to save Charlie. Robbie states that he loves Charlie and has planned a life with her including “[m]arriage, kids, careers” and that he planned to “grow old and be special together” with her (306). However, he is more than willing to kill Charlie after she discovers his victims’ missing teeth; as their car sinks in the ravine, he reveals his complete coldness and cruelty by trying to drown her. He also takes a twisted delight in the thought of taking her tooth as well, “to remember her by” (306). Robbie’s malice and overconfidence become his undoing, though, when he fails to consider Charlie’s preparation for an attack with the handcuffs. He soon drowns, dying at her hands.

Marge is a waitress at the diner The Skyline Grille and Maddy’s grandmother. Marge was a surrogate mother to Maddy, having raised her for the first four years of her life due to her father’s abandonment and her mother’s substance abuse before getting sober during Maddy’s childhood. Throughout Maddy’s life, Marge remained an important figure who loved, supported, and enjoyed life with her. After Maddy’s murder, Marge was devastated, described by Robbie as having “tilted her head back and screamed into the blue September sky” at her funeral (61). Marge describes the pain of losing her as feeling “like someone had jammed this knife right into my heart and plucked it out” (255). Marge’s character arc supports The Devastation of Grief and Guilt. Marge’s grief drives her into a vengeful rage and leads her to hire Josh/Jake to bring Charlie to her so she could interrogate her about the killer and learn his identity.

This rage, as well as her terminal cancer, makes Marge willing to engage in illegal and unethical activities such as kidnapping, threatening, torture, and even murder. She is desperate to find the killer and cannot stand the thought of her dying before Maddy’s killer is brought to justice. Marge directs her frustration at Charlie, refusing to accept her lack of knowledge about the killer’s identity. It is not until Charlie reminds her that Maddy would not want her two favorite people to try to kill each other that Marge concedes. She later apologizes to Charlie for her actions. When Charlie shows her Robbie’s tooth, Marge approvingly says, “Good girl” (313). With this interaction, Marge finally lets her anger and frustration go and reaches an understanding with Charlie.