The Anniversary

The motif of the heads or tails coin toss represents the arbitrary nature of life and death and underscores the novel’s thematic interest in The Impact of Class and Privilege on Building a Future. Initially introduced as a harmless game played between Quinn and his Uncle Pat, the coin toss is later revealed to be the sinister ritual that serial killers Pat and Jack use to decide their victims’ fates. For the victims, the coin toss is a cruel mockery of choice, a final moment of psychological torture before their fate is sealed. The women who survive become the “Lucky Ones,” while the others are killed. This ritual provides a violent mimicry of the randomness of fate and death. 

The killers’ use of the coin toss shares this thematic resonance with Cormac McCarthy’s use of the same device in his thriller, No Country for Old Men, in which his villain, Anton Chigurh, uses a coin toss to decide whether his potential victims live or die. For Chigurh, the coin removes personal responsibility, placing his victims lives entirely in the hands of chance. For Finlay’s killer, the coin toss represents a childhood trauma that curdled into voyeuristic violence.