Dead Lions

The romance between Min and Louisa is cut short by Min’s murder. Propelled by grief and rage, Louisa never accepts this ruling. She is determined to get revenge on the men she believes killed Min. Min represented the possibility of a new beginning for Louisa—a future where she could escape the disappointments of her past. His death shatters this, leaving Louisa with a profound sense of loss not only for him but for the dreams he symbolized. Revenge becomes the only way she can exert some control over the chaos and grief that has overwhelmed her life. Though Marcus can stop Louisa from torturing Pashkin, he does not stop her from hurting Kyril. Louisa takes a vindictive pleasure in heightening the dying man’s pain during her brief interrogation. Later, she stops Pashkin’s plot and—though Marcus actually shoots the Russian—she is responsible for stopping the theft. This brutality and this success should satisfy Louisa’s desire for revenge, but she ends the novel in an empty apartment with little hope. The emptiness of her victory underscores the hollow nature of revenge—it is a temporary relief, but it does not fill the void left by the loss of Min. Her revenge becomes an attempt to reclaim control, but it ultimately leaves her feeling just as powerless and isolated.

Like Louisa, Katinsky is driven by revenge. He blames British intelligence for the destruction of his hometown. In the world of espionage, where ideology and deception are par for the course, Katinsky’s quest for revenge is clarifyingly simple and straightforward. He has a clear objective that seems alien to the spies and secret agents around him. Katinsky’s plan is decades in the making, and even as he is dying, he does not give up his desire for revenge. Katinsky orders his Cicada agents to place explosives in Upshott so he can destroy the town, an equal response, he believes, for the destruction of his own town. His sense of justice is rooted in the belief that destruction is the only way to restore balance, yet his plan lacks the satisfaction of true justice—it is rooted in vengeance, not resolution. The agents betray him and, as he sits beside River, Katinsky must contend with his failure. Decades spent plotting revenge, years living undercover in terrible conditions, have come to nothing. Katinsky recognizes the unsatisfactory nature of his revenge and chooses to play his final move, detonating his bomb and dying by suicide. If he cannot have revenge, he accepts, then he will at least have the satisfaction of dictating the nature of his death.

River Cartwright is swept up in Cold War plots that were set in motion long before he was born. While he might struggle to comprehend the relationship between Katinsky and his grandfather, he is not immune to his own desire for revenge. River's vengeance, like Louisa’s, is linked to personal failure. His anger at James Webb for the role he played in River’s demotion fuels his desire to punish Webb. However, River’s sense of justice is clouded by his emotions. In the first novel in the Slough House series, River did nothing to hide his antipathy for James Webb. He blamed Webb for his failure and saw Webb as the reason for his relocation to Slough House. As such, he took pleasure in physically hurting Webb during their final confrontation. River’s desire for revenge in this moment represents his attempt to reassert control over a life he feels has been stolen from him. In Dead Lions, Webb is shot during his failed attempt to recruit Arkady Pashkin. Webb embarrasses himself and his profession, enduring a terrible injury which he manages to survive. At the end of Dead Lions, River checks in on Webb. Any vindicative pleasure he might have found in Webb’s professional failure and physical pain is not as satisfying as he might have thought. Webb has faced his comeuppance, but River cannot abandon his empathy so much that he can revel in Webb’s downfall. River’s response shows the extent to which the novel portrays revenge as inherently unsatisfying. When revenge is realized, either directly or indirectly, then characters such as Louisa and River cannot enjoy the satisfaction they once thought it would bring. When revenge is unrealized, the failure is just as pronounced. This emphasizes the inescapable idea that revenge, whether achieved or thwarted, only deepens the sense of loss and frustration. The quest for failure, the novel suggests, is inherently doomed to fail.