Nobody's Fool

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use and death.

The text explores how both good and bad experiences shape identities and choices far beyond the moment in which a given experience takes place. Sami describes how his brief but traumatic experience with Anna became a pivotal moment in his life that altered the plans he made for his future:

I don’t know about PTSD or something like that, but I kept dreaming I was waking up to a faceless dead girl. I couldn’t move on. […] It was then I started to drink. Just a little. Just to help me close my eyes. I had no ambition left so I deferred medical school for a year. Then two years. Then a little drinking became a lot of drinking. I didn’t go to med school (102).

Sami’s belief that he killed Anna completely changes the way he thinks about himself and robs him of purpose, catapulting him through life without a plan or hope for his future. Sami’s impulsive behavior in his last NYPD case also influences his present-day behavior. The story opens on Sami living in professional disgrace as a result of impulsive decisions on the job, and he frequently laments how his momentary thoughtlessness led to his family’s current financial strain.