The Judge's List

Jeri has spent 20 years consumed with her quarry, studying serial killers and sociopaths. She illustrates Frederick Nietzsche’s adage from Beyond Good and Evil in which he says, “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

In her quest for revenge and justice, Jeri has developed some of the characteristics that define Bannick as a sociopath. She is divorced from her husband and estranged from her brother. She feels very little remorse when she puts Lacy in danger by taunting the judge. She uses Lacy while at the same time manipulating her into feeling guilty for not being a better “friend.”

Popular fiction offers myriad examples of characters who draw on their personal demons to fight evil: These include the Dexter books and television series, the Lethal Weapon movies, and the John Wick films. The stories feature a damaged character with a severely out-of-balance life, but that imbalance gives them the ability to defeat an overwhelming antagonist.

Perhaps Jeri’s obsession is justified while she is patiently tracking the killer; maybe it is necessary to turn herself into a metaphorical monster to achieve that end.