Ruthless Creatures

The motif of predator and prey underpins Nat’s relationships with her male romantic interests Kage, David, and Chris. Although Chris is a sheriff whose job is to police potential predators, he abuses the power conferred on him by his position to harass, stalk, and otherwise intimidate Nat after their breakup. Nat characterizes his behavior as “stalkerish” (331)—a description confirmed by the fact that Chris sexually assaults her in a bid to get her back. 

The seemingly mild-mannered David is revealed to be a different kind of predator—one that latches on to women until he no longer needs them. He marries and abandons Claudia, gets engaged to and then disappears on Nat, and rushes into a hasty second (possibly bigamous) marriage in Panama. Although Nat does not portray David as preying on her, the readers come away viewing him as a manipulative user.

Finally, as an avowed criminal, Kage begins the novel as the most straightforward kind of predator: He has been sent to Lake Tahoe to interrogate, torture, and kill Nat. To do this, he stakes her out by buying the house next door and “watching [her] like a hunter peering at a doe through the sights of a rifle” (76).