The Madness of Crowds

Jean-Guy Beauvoir is an experienced police detective who has worked closely with Gamache for many years; he is Gamache’s trusted second-in-command, and he is also married to Gamache’s daughter, Annie. Jean-Guy is blunt, honest, and pragmatic. He is deeply loyal to Gamache, and he is also a loving husband and father. Throughout the novel, Jean-Guy experiences a great deal of conflict because Abigail’s controversial ideas force him to grapple with his ambivalence and shame surrounding the experience of being the father of a child with a disability. Since Abigail argues that children born with disabilities should be subject to what she terms “mercy-killing,” Jean-Guy experiences initial revulsion and hatred. He sees Abigail as a direct threat to his child’s well-being. However, his visceral reaction is heightened because he sometimes does feel overwhelmed by the lifelong care that his daughter will require. As Jean-Guy admits to Gamache, “I’m so afraid […] that I won’t love her enough, that I won’t be a good father” (69).

Jean-Guy’s intense and conflicting emotions initially lead him to make rash and potentially dangerous decisions. For example, at the start of the novel, he disobeys direct orders and leaves his post to enter the auditorium while Abigail is speaking. Jean-Guy matures over the course of the novel; rather than hiding his ambivalence as a guilty secret, he experiences catharsis when he shares these feelings first with Gamache and then later with Annie. Once he has acknowledged the complexity of these emotions, Jean-Guy can behave in more measured ways, which becomes integral when Abigail tries to coerce him into shooting her. Jean-Guy refuses to fall prey to her emotional manipulation and chooses to behave logically instead, arresting her so that she can face justice for her crimes. This decision reflects his maturation as a character and the benefits of sharing his emotions honestly with others.

Abigail Robinson is the novel’s primary antagonist. Even before the central murder mystery unfolds, she is a source of tension and conflict in the plot because she advocates for controversial theories in which vulnerable individuals should be subject to so-called “mercy killing.” Abigail appears to be calm, collected, and rational; she can even be charming and likeable. However, Abigail is also extremely stubborn and insistent that her views about the world are correct. She is not interested in how upsetting her arguments can be to others, and she ultimately sees some individuals as inferior to others. Abigail’s true character is revealed as the plot progresses: She always resented her sister, Maria, and believed that the need to care for Maria would curtail her own ambitions. 

Abigail carried these emotions to an extreme and killed her own sister; this tendency to dehumanize others and see them as a burden also manifests later in her life in her theories that some people should die so that there will be more resources for others. Abigail’s cold, callous, and selfish nature is so strong that she will harm even those she loves. Abigail has been friends with Debbie her whole life but once she comes to believe that Debbie might reveal her secret, she murders her beloved friend in cold blood. Abigail is eventually revealed as the killer and the villain of the novel: Once she is arrested, there is no longer a threat that she will continue to spread her theories, which brings a close to the novel’s central conflict.

Colette Roberge is a successful academic and a chancellor at the university where Abigail Robinson delivers her lecture. She has been a longtime friend to Inspector Gamache, and she also had a close friendship with Paul Robinson, Abigail’s father. Colette is guarded and shrewd; throughout the novel, it is difficult for other characters to gauge what she is thinking and where she stands. Colette successfully dupes Abigail into believing that she supports Abigail’s theories even though Colette is ultimately working to try to persuade Abigail into abandoning her theories. Colette is also so secretive that she hides the knowledge that Paul Robinson died believing that his daughter was a killer. 

Colette’s enigmatic and reserved nature means that she remains a potential suspect throughout the novel because Gamache finds it extremely difficult to determine what she knows or where she stands. It is eventually revealed that Colette is deeply loyal: Because she promised Paul that she would always take care of Abigail, she has been willing to conceal important information and obfuscate the truth. Colette even makes a last-ditch attempt to claim that she was the one who killed Debbie because she can tell that Gamache has arrived at the truth, and Abigail is going to be revealed as the killer. Colette’s character remains stable throughout the novel; she makes mistakes and acts in morally dubious ways, but she is consistently driven by values of care and responsibility.

Vincent Gilbert is an important character and one of the primary suspects in the central mystery. Vincent Gilbert is a highly respected physician and human rights advocate; he has worked extensively with disabled individuals. While he has had a positive impact on the lives of many, Vincent Gilbert has a reputation as an “asshole saint”: In person, he is gruff and often rude, and he does not like spending time around other people. He lives in an isolated cabin outside of the main village and largely keeps to himself. However, Vincent can be a passionate and outspoken advocate. When he confronts Abigail Robinson for the first time, he tells her that her claims are “moral insanity” (146).

Because Vincent Gilbert so clearly detests Abigail, he becomes a primary suspect in the murder. He gains additional complexity as a character when a secret from his past is revealed: Vincent once worked in Ewen Cameron’s lab and was aware that cruel experiments were being conducted on individuals without their consent. He has hidden this shameful secret ever since, trying to atone by devoting his life to making the world a better place. While he is genuinely altruistic, Vincent is also proud of his reputation and does not ever want to face the humiliation and shame of having his secret revealed. Vincent is a complex character who would not mind seeing Abigail dead but would also not actively harm her. His character reveals the complex morality that individuals can embody.