Winter in Paradise

“‘The CIA should hire women in their fifties,’ Lydia says. ‘We’re invisible.’”

This hyperbolic statement, made by Irene’s friend, provides a subtle foreshadowing of Russ’s St. John moniker, the Invisible Man. Irene worries about becoming professionally and socially invisible while her husband has successfully lived an entirely separate, “invisible” life for the last 13 years.

“Rosie refuses to disclose exactly where the Invisible Man lives or even tell Ayers his name. He’s very private, Rosie says.”

Russ’s “Invisible Man” nickname highlights the success with which Russ has compartmentalized his two worlds, underscoring The Complexities of Living a Double Life. This bit of characterization establishes Russ’s island persona as a man defined by secrecy, setting up the central mystery for both Ayers and the Steele family.

“‘I’m leaving you,’ Anna says. […] ‘Baker,’ Irene says. ‘There was an accident. Your father is dead.’”

The text uses structural juxtaposition, placing two catastrophic revelations—the end of his marriage and his father’s death—back-to-back to compound Baker’s crisis and draw a thematic parallel between the infidelity in his own marriage and the larger betrayal his family is about to uncover. The abrupt, declarative dialogue emphasizes the suddenness with which his reality has been shattered, mirroring the violent finality of the helicopter crash.