The Judge's List

“However, she was intrigued by the idea of murder. Part of her daily grind around BJC was suffering through the mundane and frivolous gripes of unhappy people with small problems and little to lose. A murder by a sitting judge seemed too sensational to believe.”

A passive character in Lacy’s situation would not find the idea of solving a murder intriguing. Lacy is stuck in a rut, but she is more constrained by external circumstances than by lack of ambition or initiative. With a stimulating goal in front of her, Lacy reacts by climbing out of a rut and throwing herself into pursuit of the killer.

“It’s not wise to argue with any professor who’s taught the same material for years, but [Bannick] was arrogant and sure of himself. The knockout punch was a one-liner that destroyed the student’s position and brought down the house. He was humiliated and he totally lost it. He cursed, flung a notebook, snatched his backpack and stomped out of the classroom, the door almost shattering behind him.”

At this point, the young Ross Bannick has not yet committed any of his murders. But his antisocial personality is evident in his arrogance and his violent and uncontrolled reaction to losing a debate. Later, Bannick stalks the professor with rambling notes and ultimately winds up in a psychiatric facility—for which he blames Professor Burke.

“The biggest obstacle to a more serious arrangement was a fact that was becoming more and more obvious: both enjoyed the freedom of living alone. Since high school, Lacy had not lived with a man in the house and she wasn’t keen on having one around. She had loved her father but remembered him as a domineering, chauvinistic sort who treated his wife like a maid. Her mother, always subservient, excused his behavior and whispered over and over, ‘It’s just his generation.’”

A different woman might not have allowed her parents’ relationship to influence her desire to have a relationship of her own, but Lacy protects herself from hurt by keeping other people at a distance. However, she is reaching a point in her life where is no longer happy in a free and easy independent life. Maturity means assuming responsibility not just for oneself but for others. Lacy wants to move into a more mature role, as she finds her independent yet solitary life dissatisfying.

“In seven months she would turn forty, a reality that saddened her. She was enjoying her life but it was slipping by, with no real plans to marry. She had never longed for children of her own and had already decided it wouldn’t happen. And she was fine with that. All her friends had children, some even teenagers, and she was thankful she wasn’t burdened with those challenges. She could not imagine finding the patience to raise kids in the age of cell phones, drugs, casual sex, social media, and everything else on the Internet.”

Lacy faces the inevitable transition between youth and maturity. Age and experience are overtaking her whether she likes it or not. Part of her difficulty may be that she has not experienced one of the traditional rites of passage into maturity: children. Lacy is happy, even thankful, that she has not assumed that particular burden, but nevertheless she knows that it is time for a change. By taking the job as interim director of the BJC, Lacy assumes a symbolic parenthood in relation to the much less experienced younger staff.

“Lacy wasn’t sure where to look, or what she wanted, so she had hung around BJC for too long and now worried that she had missed better opportunities. Her biggest case, her pinnacle, was behind her.”

It is normal at this stage of life for Lacy to feel that her best years are behind her. However, it is more accurate to say that she has built her skills and mastered her craft, and it is time for her to put those skills into practice in pursuit of a goal she shapes for herself, rather than working towards someone else’s ends.

“Gunther lived on a tightrope and seemed to relish borrowing from one bank to pay another, always one step ahead of the bankruptcy lawyers. The last career she could imagine was building more strip malls in the Atlanta suburbs. Another recurring nightmare was having Gunther for a boss.”

Gunther is Lacy’s opposite. He loves novelty and excitement to the extent that his life is constantly up, down, and uncertain. He represents the reckless enthusiasm and craving for newness that Lacy does not indulge. Lacy could use a little more of Gunther’s impulsiveness and enthusiasm to push her out of her rut. By the end of the story, she will have taken on some of his qualities–enough to bring her to the point of proposing to Allie and launching them both on a new life.

“‘I’m fine, Gunther. And you?’ ‘’Got the tiger by the tail. How’s Allie? How’s your love life?’ ‘Pretty dull. He’s out of town a lot these days. And yours?’ ‘Not much to report.’ Recently divorced, he chased women with the same enthusiasm as he did banks, and she really didn’t want to hear about it. After two failed marriages she had encouraged him to be more selective, advice he routinely ignored.”

Gunther has a knack for putting his finger on the parts of Lacy’s life where she is stuck. He dislikes anything that seems safe, conservative, or static. He is not a big fan of Allie, and Lacy’s relationship with Allie seems to be going nowhere in particular. He nags her to leave her job and come work with him, offering to set her up with men more like himself. Lacy nags him just as unsuccessfully to be more conservative in his business and relationships.

“Short skirts and a lot of charm can work wonders. They’re all men, you know, the weaker sex. After a few friendly chats they open up, somewhat.’”

According to the author, he was inspired to write the first book in the series partly because his wife informed him that he did not understand women. This quote raises the question of whether this is something he heard from women or if it is a man's interpretation of women's behavior. Studies show that men are more likely to interpret a woman's behavior as flirtatious if he finds her attractive.

“Jeri smiled knowingly and sipped her coffee. Another glance around, then, ‘A psychopath has a severe mental disorder and antisocial behavior. A sociopath is a psychopath on steroids.’”

People are particularly fascinated with psychopathy and sociopathy. The two conditions occur in a very small minority of the population. But they are so destructive that they create social disruption far beyond their actual frequency.

“Virtually none of them want to get caught, but yet they want someone out there—the police, the victims’ families, the press—to know they are at work.”

Psychopaths and sociopaths may have difficulty generating internal validation. Bannick gets satisfaction from completion of his project. Destruction of people he perceives to have harmed him relieves the rage and pain he is unable to resolve on his own. However, he still needs to have his superiority recognized by someone outside himself—thus the compulsion to “sign” his kills with the rope and distinctive knot.

“This country averages fifteen thousand murders a year. One-third are never solved. That’s five thousand this year, last year, the year before. Since 1960, over two hundred thousand. There are so many unsolved murders that it’s impossible to say this victim or that victim died at the hands of a serial killer. Most experts believe that’s one of the reasons they leave behind clues. They want someone to know they’re out there. They thrive on the fear and terror. As I said, they don’t want to get caught, but they want someone to know.”

The American public has a fascination with serial killers and with solving murders generally. The motivation for that interest may be a desire to confront fear or to have some kind of stimulation. It also may be the stimulation of matching wits with a killer, whether fictional or in true crime.

“‘I can’t believe I’m here now, finally at the point of telling someone, a person I trust.’ ‘I haven’t earned your trust.’ ‘But you have it anyway. There’s no one else. I need a friend, Lacy. Please don’t abandon me.’”

This quote reflects the theme of friendship between women. For Lacy, relationships with other women have always been a powerful motivating force. She is drawn to help other women in trouble, when the men in the story are inclined to tell her that it's somebody else's responsibility—not theirs. Gunther is the only man who wholeheartedly has Lacy’s back no matter what.

“Dunwoody’s phone blinked and hummed at two minutes after seven. “Marsha” was calling. No voicemail. She waited six minutes and called again. Probably his wife, thought [Bannick]. Really sad and all, but he had almost no capacity for sympathy, or remorse. Collateral damage. It had not happened before, but he was proud of the way he handled it.”

This is an illustration of one of the primary character traits of a sociopath: having little or no capacity for remorse. He dismisses Dunwoody’s death as "sad and all," but his strongest feeling is pride at the way he handled the interruption to his plans.

“Lacy’s fear was that she would never truly love him, but the romance would plod along conveniently from one stage to the next until there was nothing left but a wedding. And then, at the age of forty or even forty-plus, she would not be able to walk away. She would marry a man she adored but didn’t really love. Or did she?”

Lacy does not have a clear idea of what love is. Her perception is tainted by her experience growing up with a domineering father and weak mother. She is afraid of feeling trapped and wants the freedom and convenience of being able to escape if she needs to. Her ambivalence about her relationship with Allie is compounded by her feelings about turning 40 and feeling that she must make some decision about her life, even if she does not know what the options are.

“Lacy was not naive enough to think they would never speak again. Maybe, though, Jeri would simply go away for a while. They had met only a week before.

And maybe the killings would stop.”

This is an example of irony and foreshadowing. Lacy knows the judge is not going to stop killing. Placing the final line in its own paragraph isolates it from the line before it, indicating that although she hopes that Jeri might just give up, her gut is telling her that the judge is not going to stop killing. In fact, the implication to the reader is that he is going to escalate. The reference to meeting Jeri only a week before emphasizes that Jeri has been rushing their “friendship.”

“Lacy smiled, because she knew that when she dealt with men her age or older her charming smile normally got her what she wanted, or something close to it. And if she didn’t get what she wanted she could always count on disarming the men and neutralizing their attitudes.”

On one hand, women are overtly taught that they should smile and be nice to keep men happy. On the other, women learn independently that men are less hostile and aggressive when they perceive women—even subconsciously—as docile and potentially sexually available. The author does not strongly interrogate these social dynamics, implying that he believes that this is harmless and that women are justified in using all the tools at their disposal.

“‘I know. One problem is that the attorneys appointed by the court to hand out the money are working by the hour, at very good rates, and they’re in no hurry to wrap things up.’ ‘Gee. I’ve never heard that before.’ Furr laughed and said, ‘We’re not talking about small-town Tallahassee rates. These guys are billing eight hundred bucks an hour. We’ll be lucky if there’s anything left.’”

This has always been an issue in the legal system. In many cases, lawyers may no vested financial interest in closing the case quickly. The more hours they can bill, the better. In that sense, the more honest the lawyer, the less money they may make. The same issue forms a major theme in Charles Dickens’s novel Bleak House, which is an indictment of the legal system in Victorian England.

“‘Good morning, Lacy,’ Jeri said softly. A flash of anger passed quickly as Lacy controlled herself. ‘Good morning, Jeri. What’s the occasion?’ ‘Just thinking about you, a lot, these days. How are you?’ ‘Well, I was sleeping, Jeri, before you called. It’s Saturday, a day off, and I’m not working today. I thought I had explained this.’ ‘I’m sorry, Lacy,’ Jeri said, in a tone that conveyed anything but remorse. ‘Why does it have to be considered work? Why can’t we talk as friends?’ ‘Because we’re not friends yet, Jeri. We are acquaintances who met for the first time about a month ago. We may become friends one day, once the work that brought us together is finished, but we’re not there yet.’”

Here, Jeri transgresses boundaries that Lacy has very clearly set. She attempts to manipulate Lacy with a false intimacy. Jeri is behaving more like a predator than a friend. She has already set Lacy up as a potential target for the killer—something a true friend would never do. In the previous book, the author placed a lot of emphasis on the significance of friendships between women. In this case, Jeri’s obsession with Bannick is once again disrupting meaningful relationships with other people.

“‘No, actually I’m killing it. I need some help, Lacy, and I want you to come to Atlanta and work with me. Bright lights, big city, much more to do. We’ll make a fortune and there are a dozen great guys I could introduce you to.’ ‘I’m not sure I want to date your friends.’ ‘Come on, Lacy. Trust me. These guys have money and they’re going places. How much does Allie make a year with the FBI?’ ‘I have no idea and I don’t care.’ ‘Not much. He’s working for the government.’ ‘So am I.’ ‘That’s my point. You can do better. Most of these guys are already millionaires who own their own companies. They have everything.’”

Gunther is still trying to push Lacy into the life he thinks would be best for her. He sees Allie as representative of the “wrong” kind of life for Lacy. He has a second motive for pressuring her to go into business with him. She is due a payment from the last big case where she helped bring down another crooked judge, and Gunther would like to invest her money in his own business. That is the last thing the conservative Lacy would want to do with her payout. While this might seem predatory on Gunther’s part, he probably sees it (or convinces himself that he sees it) as a great business opportunity for his little sister, and he would genuinely love to be in business with her.

“[Bannick] loved the details, the plotting, the what-ifs. He had become so proficient, so highly skilled, and so merciless, that for years now he had believed he would never be caught. Other times, he walked through his old crimes to keep them fresh and make sure he had missed nothing. When you murder someone you make ten mistakes. If you can think of seven of them you’re a genius. Where had he read this? Or perhaps it was a line from a movie. What had been his mistake? How had it happened? He had to know. He had lived with the certainty that he would never be forced to plan the Exit.” 

Bannick is proving this to be true. He has already begun to get more reckless with the Verno murder where he went back to the scene and made eye contact with the police officer there. Jeri’s taunting has the intended effect of rattling him enough to make more mistakes when he begins tracking her. He makes more errors during later murders, any one of which could lead investigators to him and prove his presence in the vicinity of the scene.

“‘Not only that, you sent me an anonymous letter with the news that she was formally investigating me for the murders. One of your mistakes, Jeri. You knew she would have no choice but to go to the police, something you were afraid of doing. Why were you afraid of the police?’ ‘Maybe I don’t trust the police.’ ‘That’s smart. So you dump me on Lacy because she has no choice but to investigate the judiciary. You knew she would go to the cops. You hid behind her, and now you want me to leave her alone. Right?’”

Bannick is showing Jeri how she has allowed her obsession with him to overtake the rest of her life. She has become a shadow of him, using and manipulating Lacy to do what she is afraid to do herself. This reflects the theme of Gazing into the Abyss.

“‘Please. It would be a big favor, plus I’d like to have someone with me.’ Gunther pulled out his smartphone and went online. ‘No problem. They say they have rentals. This could be dangerous?’ ‘I doubt it. But a little caution might be in order.’ ‘I love it.’ ‘And this is strictly confidential, Gunther.’ He laughed and looked around. ‘And who might I tell?’ ‘Just keep it between us.’”

Gunther represents the part of Lacy that is active, energetic, and reckless. In this book as in the previous one, when Lacy switches from her role as a reactive protagonist to an active one, Gunther is at her side. She brings Gunther rather than Allie because Gunther is the other half of herself.

“Jeri asked to spend one more night. It might take some time to completely relax, and she wanted to go for a long walk, alone, through the neighborhood, the campus, and downtown. She wanted to taste the freedom of moving about without glancing around, without worrying, without even thinking of him. And when Lacy came home from the office, Jeri, wanted to get in the kitchen and cook dinner together. She had stopped cooking years earlier, even decades ago, when her evenings became consumed with her pursuit.”

Jeri works to resume normal activities and normal relationships. Both have been stolen from her by her obsession. Jeri craves what she views to be typical adult behavior among friends.