Three-Inch Teeth

Cates is one of the point-of-view characters in the novel and is its chief antagonist. He is in his twenties and is muscular and tattooed all over his body. Some of his significant tattoos are the face of his mother, Brenda; a row of boxes representing coffins for his enemies; and a bear’s jaws open in a roar. Cates is a rodeo bull rider who has won many prizes in competitions. Minor characters in the novel frequently recognize Cates, which indicates his popularity when he was a rodeo star. Cates can be regarded as a foil to Joe, as well as his antithesis. Like Joe, Cates is devoted to his family, although his idea of family loyalty means ignoring the gruesome crimes of his family members and avenging their deaths through murder.

Cates describes himself as charming, often congratulating himself on his ability to get people, such as Bobbi Johnson, to do his bidding. He is manipulative and callous, using Johnson for her truck as well as her ability to serve as a decoy. Though Cates pretends that his only motivation for murder is to avenge his family, the ease with which he adds Winner to the list shows that he is a far worse criminal than he believes. He also kills the police officer at the museum and beats up the llama-rearing couple for “occupying” his former house. Cates is constantly plagued by feelings of disenfranchisement and victimhood: He feels like the world has taken away his rights and destroyed his family and must therefore be punished. However, his exaggerated response to the people who bought his foreclosed house suggests that his feeling of victimhood is unjustified.

Cates’s open criminality makes him morally unambiguous. However, the fact that he was sent to jail for crimes he may not have committed—though he has carried out many others—provides some context for his extreme tendencies. Even as Nate has him half dead and tied to a pole, Cates asks Nate and Joe to “quit yapping like a couple of damned schoolgirls” and “get on with it” (311), “it” meaning his murder. Thus, Cates represents nihilism and a loss of moral focus in the book. A static character, Cates does not change over the course of the novel or learn from his mistakes.

Sheridan is the oldest daughter of Joe and Marybeth and a point-of-view character. Sheridan has five years of training in professionally handling falcons, which makes her a master falconer. Though she is an expert at her job, people tend to underestimate her because she is a young woman in her early twenties. 

Like her boss Nate, Sheridan has a special affinity for animals, especially birds of prey. Sheridan feels more at ease with animals than with people. Clay Jr. notes that Sheridan is strong-minded and difficult to read. After Clay dies, Sheridan confesses to her parents that she was not planning on accepting his marriage proposal, which makes her feel guilty about his death. Later, when Clay Sr. reassures her that she is still part of their family despite his son’s death, Sheridan notes to herself that she never desired to be part of any other family, as she is “perfectly happy being part of her family” (133). Not only does this confirm her strong-mindedness, but it also shows that, as a woman, Sheridan has to fight against being appropriated by others.

Sheridan fights against sexism by holding her ground. When Leon Bottom is too insistent in offering her a drink, Sheridan firmly tells him to back off, even though she accepts his offer of breakfast so as not to be perceived as antagonistic. Sheridan is also astute since she immediately picks up on Katy Cotton’s familiarity and goes on to deduce that the woman is Joe’s mother. Apart from her intelligence, Sheridan is also courageous and resourceful, rescuing Kestrel at the end of the book. Sheridan is a dynamic character because she learns to accept the horror of death and does what she can to support her family.

A recurring character in the series, Nate is an ex-special ops member who was disbarred from service for refusing to follow the line of command. Though Nate has settled into life as a family man at the beginning of the novel, he remains a character with a disregard for rules and systems. Nate is married to Liv and runs a falcon abatement business called Yarak, Inc. Notably, his and Liv’s daughter, Kestrel, is named after a bird of prey. 

Nate has an uncanny relationship with wildlife, especially apex predators. Able to understand the hunting drive of these animals, Nate often feels more comfortable with them than he does with humans. Nate’s affinity for wildlife is reflected in his suggestion to Joe that the Wyoming grizzly attacks cannot be the work of a single bear or even only a bear. Even bears in hyperphagia—the killing frenzy before hibernation—do not travel huge distances for their kill.

The identification of Nate with apex predators is stressed throughout the text, with Nate himself telling Joe, “I know about predators—I’ve studied them all my life. Hell, I’ve been accused of being one” (184). Elsewhere, Joe tells the wardens on the Predator Attack Team that Nate used to be wild but is “legit now” (63). Taken together, the comparison to predators and the idea that Nate has been tamed foreshadow that he will be forced back into his predatory state sooner or later. 

The catalyst for the shift in Nate’s character is the vicious murder of Liv. Entering his own version of yarak, Nate goes on a killing spree, murdering Johnson, LOR, and Cates. Significantly, it is Tisiphone the bear who leads Nate to Cates, once again emphasizing Nate’s near-paranormal connection with predators. After Nate learns of Soledad’s role in Liv’s death, he decides to abandon his settled life to hunt down Soledad. He tells Joe that joining civilized life was a mistake. Nate feels that he is meant for the wild, amoral life. The narrative hints that Nate’s chase of Soledad will continue in the next installment of the series.

Marybeth is Joe’s wife and the mother of Sheridan and their two other daughters. She works as the director of the library at Saddlestring, the seat of Twelve Sleep County. Like Joe, Marybeth always strives to do the right thing. Idealistic and firm-minded, Marybeth does not get pressured into taking the expedient decision. For instance, when Judge Hewitt coaxes Marybeth to support the candidature of his son-in-law for sheriff, Marybeth refuses: “[I]t wouldn’t be ethical for me to weigh in on the election one way or the other” (123).

Marybeth is well-connected, with an innate ability to befriend people. Joe notes that his wife is always well informed about the goings-on in town and seems to know everyone. When Marybeth discovers that Winner worked at Rawlins prison, she surprises Joe by revealing that she has a contact even at the prison. Marybeth is also astute and intelligent, the first person to note that many of the bear attack victims are linked to her and Joe. She also encourages Joe to see that there are two patterns to the killings, which he shouldn’t confuse with each other. A positive and round character, Marybeth represents wisdom and generosity since she immediately takes in Kestrel after the death of the toddler’s mother.

An antagonist in the novel and the series, Soledad is an ex-special ops member and a former junior of Nate. Like Nate, Soledad is adept at falconry. His body is covered in tattoos of falcons, and he has “a large, bladelike nose, and piercing dark eyes” (177). Soledad has a muscular upper body and walks with the help of braces, often hiding knives in the tubular legs of the equipment. Cates notes that Soledad moves around very fast, despite needing braces. 

Soledad is part of an Antifa-like movement, which, in the book, aims to incite disenfranchised people to riot against the government. Soledad has had prior conflicts with Nate, having beaten up Liv, threatened Kestrel, and stolen Nate’s birds in Shadow Reel (2022). Much as Cate is the antithesis of Joe, Soledad is the foil to Nate. Superficially similar in their love for falcons and rugged individualism, Soledad and Nate are very different in their perceptions of right and wrong.

Soledad is pompous, crafty, and devoid of empathy. He kills the pool attendant in Thermopolis because the man asks him to move, the llama-raising couple because they are inconvenient, a 13-year-old child to create a distraction, and Joe’s mother to steal her car. The pattern of murders shows that Soledad has no regard for human life and possibly derives pleasure in the act of taking lives. He is also an opportunist since he abandons Cates and the rest as soon as Bishop tells him that Joe has realized Cates’s roles in the bear attacks.

Johnson is 28 years old at the start of the narrative and Cates’s girlfriend. Cates and the others often objectify Johnson, commenting on her sexuality. She is described by Cates as a “buckle bunny” (43), a derogatory term for a woman who seeks out cowboys for sexual partners. Johnson reaches out to Cates when he is in prison and strikes up a romance. Cates manipulates her by letting her believe that he will go with her to California once he has conquered his list of enemies.

Johnson is a passive character because while she doesn’t participate in the murders committed by Zeus II, she continues to help out Cates with his plans. For instance, though she sees Cates strike Britney, she does his bidding, acting as a decoy to lure out Liv. Though she did not know for sure that Cates would attack Liv, the narrative suggests that she could at least infer that Cates was extremely dangerous. Johnson meets a tragic fate in the novel, killed by Nate moments after Cates tells her that he will accompany her to California.