Nobody's Fool

“It can’t be Anna.

It makes no sense.

And yet, in another way, it might explain everything.

It is funny how fast your perception changes. I’m already accepting that what I’ve believed for the past quarter century was wrong.”

Sami sees a woman he thinks is Anna, alive and well, in the back of his criminology class. The vision makes Sami doubt his memory, while at the same time, it illuminates all his questions about his past. This quotation highlights The Difference Between Appearance and Truth, since Sami trusts his intuition in identifying Anna despite contradicting what he believes is the truth.

“‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’

In short, keep your mind open. Don’t theorize too fast. Wait until you know more.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

The first half of this quotation comes from a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle—hence the 19th-century diction. Sami frequently quotes the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, both to his class and to himself, to explain the best methods for investigative work. In this moment, Sami’s shock at Anna’s reappearance surpasses his rationality, prompting him to come up with wild theories about how Anna could be alive.

“Impulse Me often makes mistakes. Impulse Me was the one who ran out of that bedroom and left Anna behind. Impulse Me was the one who went to the Fuengirola police station to report a murder to Osorio. Impulse Me chased PJ onto that roof and made his fall. Impulse Me let Maya Stern go unaccompanied to Farnwood, Judith Burkett’s enormous estate, a mistake which led to my quasi-fall from grace.

Maybe Impulse Me should stay out of this—but either way, I’m not going home.”

One of Sami’s key character traits is his impulsivity, and here Sami nicknames this part of himself “Impulse Me,” as if he becomes a different person when his mind switches to instinctual action. Sami alludes to events from the previous novel and the impact these thoughtless decisions had on his life. Connecting to the theme The Importance of Confronting Past Trauma, Sami recognizes how split-second decisions have major impacts on the future, while also acknowledging how difficult it is to overcome these feelings in the moment.

“Molly is my warmth and my center and yes, she makes me talk in cliches and greeting-card jingoism and country-song lyrics. But that is the thing with my wife. She makes my life better, yes, but she makes every room she enters better. Her love is effortless. It is just who she is. The fact that she chose me is what I want to be the defining moment of my life.”

Sami and Molly’s relationship is a major motivating agent in Sami’s life and decision-making in the text. This quotation illustrates the powerful, unshakeable bond between Sami and Molly, which Sami doesn’t want to compromise. Now that Sami is married with a child, he feels a greater responsibility to be worthy of Molly.

“They are engaged, paying attention, wanting to know more.

That’s the thing about the truth—it has its own unmistakable odor. You can smell the truth. Authenticity can disarm the opposition.”

Sami approaches Anna’s neighbors and opts to tell them the truth about his pursuit of Anna, hoping they will sense his authenticity and help him. This quotation connects to the motif of private investigation, as Sami must use civilian-level techniques to get people to cooperate with him, since he can’t compel them to speak as a police officer could.

“Quick: Think about an old love, one from all those years ago, one you knew only a week. Really, really picture them. Do you have the specifics? Like a photograph? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Memory doesn’t work that way. Memory doesn’t take photographs. Memory is about trying to fill in the blanks, and while I see similarities, my memory won’t let me make a definitive match.”

Sami explains how memory relies on feelings and belief rather than exact details to construct truth. Sami’s exercise exposes The Difference Between Appearance and Truth, showing how memory is nearer to an intuitive sensation than a collection of facts. This quotation also demonstrates the technique of direct address in which Sami, as narrator, engages the reader directly in the narrative.

“I quickly explain that the Pink Panthers set up a schedule for my students to run surveillance near the estate in shifts. Ethically questionable, yes, but certainly economical. I’m not a cop anymore, but we learn to make do.”

This quotation develops The Tension Between Legal and Personal Justice, as Sami secretly employs his students to do free surveillance work on Anna’s house so he can watch her movements and learn more about her life. Sami acknowledges that he has to employ different techniques that aren’t always ethical now that he isn’t a policeman, which also falls under the motif of private investigation. The name of the student group, the Pink Panthers, alludes to a series of 1960s comedy films starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

“I wonder what really happened that awful morning in the Costa del Sol. Not to get too deep here, but part of me is still there, in that bed, waking up in the bright sunlight and screaming, screaming still, screaming so that even now, nearly a quarter century later, I still feel, more than hear, the echoes.”

While Sami still doesn’t know the truth, the memories of Anna’s death—and more exactly, the memories of his own terrified scream—continue to haunt him. Sami’s repetition of the word “screaming” in three consecutive verb phrases emphasizes how the feelings of fear were the most powerful element of these memories. Sami compares his memories to an echo that continues to reverberate out of his control.

“I had no ambition left, so I deferred medical school for a year. Then two years. Then the little drinking became a lot of drinking. I didn’t go to med school. I forgot about all my plans, my lifelong goal of becoming a physician, all of that lost in a bottle with a dead girl I now know is very much alive.”

Sami describes how his plans for his life were derailed because he believed he had killed Anna. Highlighting The Importance of Confronting Past Trauma, Sami recognizes how his experience in Spain led him to his current place in life and continues to influence his decisions. Sami also acknowledges that this didn’t have to be his path, since Anna was “very much alive” the whole time he was punishing himself for her death.

“It’s a simple thought. Hopes and dreams. And maybe this person with the unremarkable exterior has had their hopes and dreams crushed along the way. Doesn’t matter. Hopes and dreams never fully die. They remain somewhere, dormant perhaps, but never totally gone.”

Sami explains the philosophy that his father taught him about judging those around you. Sami believes that every person, regardless of how they may appear, has complicated internal lives, hopes, dreams, and expectations for themselves. Sami’s understanding of human complexity aids him in his investigation, as he refuses to judge people based on exterior elements alone and always probes for the deeper, more vulnerable aspects of his subjects that lurk beyond the surface.

“Do you want to know the hard truth? Life isn’t about the big mistakes. It’s about the little ones. Think about the line between in play and out of play at a soccer pitch or in any game. The costliest mistakes are made right near that line, right when someone has laid down the line and you trudge back and forth across it and that line gets messy and now you see the ball go just over the line but maybe you can grab it in time, kick it back into play before anyone sees. Those are the mistakes that stay with you. Those, the small ones, the ones you didn’t have to make—those are the ones that haunt you and change your life.”

Sami demonstrates the impact small decisions can have on the greater picture of one’s life by using a soccer analogy. As shoes trample the pitch’s physical lines, the lines between in and out—and, analogously, right and wrong—become indistinct. In a snap decision to save your team’s chances, you might lie and pretend that a ball was inbounds. Though in the moment these may seem like small decisions, the moral weight of choosing to lie and deceive can have a lasting impact, as both Sami and Gary can attest.

“I get you’ve dealt with demons. So have I. But whatever awful things we went through, it led to us, you and me, being here right now. It led to me having a baby and a life with the most marvelous of men. And you are marvelous, Sami. So the mistakes, the pain, even the deaths—maybe we learned something from all that.”

After Sami’s father offers to transplant the family to Florida so Sami can escape his past, Molly argues that the past is an integral part of who she and Sami are. Although Sami’s past was tragic, those events brought him to Molly, and they created a loving, happy family despite his trauma. This quotation underlines The Importance of Confronting Past Trauma and demonstrates Molly’s supportiveness, as she pushes Sami to seek answers about Anna so he can learn and grow.

“What if you put my son in that hellish prison for eighteen years and left him the husk of a man you see today because you wouldn’t face the truth? And what if a small part of you knows it, knows you did some grave injustice, but simply can’t let yourself see because it would be too horrible for you to ever admit? How will you live with yourself, if it ends up Tad didn’t do it?”

Patricia Grayson, Tad Grayson’s mother, confronts Sami about his stubborn belief in her son’s guilt. One of Sami’s key character traits is his sense of justice, but because he is emotionally invested in the outcome of Nicole’s case, he refuses to concede that he could be wrong about his conviction 18 years ago. This discussion points to The Tension Between Legal and Personal Justice, as Sami’s relationship with Nicole and his desire for revenge against Tad clouds his logical mind, which the lawyers who overturned the case concluded when they rescinded Tad’s conviction.

“I’m still a cop. You don’t give without getting. When you interrogate a suspect, you don’t want to show your entire case. Of course. You want to hold something back—to entice the suspect to speak or perhaps to trap them in a lie.”

Sami describes the techniques he employs when interviewing a subject to elicit the most information. Sami frequently uses silence to compel people into speaking because he knows people like to explain themselves and avoid uncomfortable silences. Sami’s declaration that he is “still a cop” despite not being on the NYPD payroll highlights how he views himself as having a natural personality for police work.

“Oh man oh man could I put that money to good use. I’m broke. I’m swimming in debt. And I’m also curious. Why does Belmond want to see me? If I refuse and I’m driven back, my investigation into what really happened twenty-two years ago to me—and, more to the point, Victoria—hits a dead end. But if I sign, if I go in and talk to him…

One hundred thousand dollars, ladies and gentlemen.”

A major motif in the text is wealth inequality, which helps explain how characters move through their world. Sami is in a financially precarious position after being fired from the NYPD, so the Belmonds’ promise of $100,000 just to speak with him piques his curiosity and his practical concerns for supporting his family. Sami understands that the Belmonds are leveraging their wealth and an NDA to keep him quiet about Anna, but the life-changing sum overpowers his moral scruples.

“‘What about the police?’

‘That’s up to me. All work products belong to me. I may share it with the police. Or I may choose not to.’

‘I’m not sure I like that.’

‘I’m sorry, Mr. Kierce, but this part is not negotiable. I’m not going to subject my still-traumatized daughter to new headlines or a lengthy trial. I won’t let her be victimized again by whoever did this.’”

Archie Belmond claims that under the NDA Sami signed, whatever conclusions he reaches in the investigation can only be reported to Archie, and he can seek justice in whatever form he chooses. This quotation develops The Tension Between Legal and Personal Justice, as Archie argues that seeking punishment through the legal system will only re-victimize his daughter, whereas the vigilante justice he suggests will bring the family peace without dredging up their tragedy for a public display.

“‘Cops do this a lot—dig up people’s personal trauma for answers. It hurts. You have to be careful and do it slowly. Like one of those archeological digs where everything is fragile and so you use brushes instead of shovels or whatever. But do you know what I’ve learned from doing this a lot?’

‘Tell me.’

‘Nothing heals trauma better than resolution and closure.’”

Sami directly articulates The Importance of Confronting Past Trauma as he explains to Talia the process of police looking into a family’s troubled past to find the answers that will bring closure. He compares the process to an archeological dig of precious artifacts, which must be handled with care lest they break. In this same way, Sami will have to meticulously comb through the Belmonds’ past, but the reward of truth will be worth the potentially painstaking process.

“That you’d have to get out of bed and brush your teeth and then after, I don’t know, a year, maybe two, you actually have your appetite back and there are days you almost feel okay, like you’re living again, and then you remember she’s still gone and now on top of your everyday pain you feel the self-hatred because for a moment you forgot about her, and that for a moment, you maybe enjoyed something or smiled and that just feels like the worst outrage.”

Talia describes how she felt during the 11 years of Victoria’s absence, when the days were ordinary but constantly colored by the memory of Victoria’s tragedy. The entire quotation is a single run-on sentence, which mimics the relentless feelings of guilt and fear Talia experienced.

“Our economy runs on scams, you know that, don’t you? You ever watch daytime TV? Buy gold, buy insurance you don’t need. We all scam in our way. This agency used to have kiosks in malls. They’d stop people and say, hey, you could be a model. All you need is a portfolio, which could be arranged for a fee. A con job. And sometimes, they’d spot something else, someone more vulnerable.”

Buzz describes how his scam with Anna in Spain fit seamlessly into a world that runs on scams and false identities. A major motif in the text is disguises, particularly those that cover up illegal activity, highlighting The Difference Between Appearance and Truth. Buzz refers to the modelling agency Radiant Allure, who presented themselves as a legitimate business while grooming vulnerable and naïve youths like him into a life of criminal activity

“‘Not just away,’ Judith says. The teasing is back. She’s enjoying this. Part of me wants to strangle her, but most of me is just weary of the injustice of it all.

I give her the expected line as though I’ve overrehearsed it. ‘What do you mean, not just away?’”

This quotation demonstrates both Sami’s antagonistic relationship with Judith Burkett, a recurring character in the series, and his ability to manipulate peoples’ quirks to get the information he needs. Sami doesn’t like Judith because she is manipulative and cruel, but she knows something crucial about the Belmonds’ alibis, so Sami plays along with her teasing, knowing that she likes to toy with him before revealing her hand.

“They took the high school yearbook and scanned every photo of girls in the same graduating class as Victoria into some kind of new AI image search program. It’s pretty beta and not precise yet, but it could tell, for example, what girls would match the general description and hairstyle.”

This quotation demonstrates the motif of private investigation and the creativity that Sami’s students must use to find clues outside of traditional police methods. The FBI had the eight-second CCTV video from Victoria’s disappearance for decades, but it was the Pink Panthers in Sami’s class who cross-referenced the images with Victoria’s yearbook to identify that Caroline Burkett followed Victoria out of the pub that night. The students’ perseverance gives Sami a critical clue that he then employs in his interview with Caroline to compel her to tell the truth.

“We have all worked this case hard and like real cops. Maybe harder. We have no agenda other than solving the case. We may not have a badge but in today’s world, perhaps that’s an advantage not a hinderance, especially since I also have Marty, whom I’ve nicely bullied into running certain tests for me.”

Sami expands on the efficacy of private investigation in this quotation when he argues that his and his students’ private inquiry into Victoria’s kidnapping was more effective because they didn’t use traditional methods. Connecting to the theme of The Tension Between Legal and Personal Justice, Sami and his students’ emotional investment in the outcome of the case made them more effective than police investigators would likely have been.

“‘And it worked. You know what I mean? Thomas didn’t go to jail. He got the help he needed. He turned his life around. His sister—I know, I know—but Vic would be so proud of the man he’s become.’

Sure, it worked, I think to myself. All you have to do is kill your sister to hit rock bottom. They should contact rehab centers and tell them they’ve found the cure.”

Archie explains how he and Thomas turned Victoria’s tragedy into an opportunity to change themselves, particularly Thomas, who became sober after the drunk driving accident. Sami’s sarcastic reaction demonstrates his dedication to justice, since Thomas’s transformation doesn’t change the fact that he killed Victoria and covered up her murder for almost three decades.