While Justice Sleeps

Justice Wynn is the character who sets the entire book’s events in motion when he puts himself into a common and names Avery his power of attorney, trusting that she will unravel the clues he’s left regarding the Tigris Project and expose US President Stokes. Justice Wynn’s character represents moral fortitude. Highly ethical, Justice Wynn is a strong critic of the corruption he sees in DC politics and media:

He felt equally dismissive of willful ignorance—his description of the modern press—and smug stupidity, his bon mot for politicians. To his mind, they were a gang of vapid and arrogant thugs all, who greedily snatched their information from one another like disappearing crumbs as society spiraled merrily toward hell (1).

However, Justice Wynn’s character also demonstrates how, even when the right path is clear, it can be very difficult to take it. Justice Wynn knows about the atrocities of the Tigris Project—and that the GenWorks-Advar merger could further advance such research. However, he also knows that the merger could help develop a cure for Boursin’s syndrome, a degenerative disorder that is killing not only Justice Wynn but also his son, Jared. Justice Wynn cannot handle the moral conundrum he faces: Does he save one person (Jared) at the risk of harming many persons, or does he sacrifice one person for the benefit of the greater good? He thus passes the baton to Avery.

The US president represents the ultimate villain in the book. Stokes is the “leader of the free world” and arguably one of the most powerful people on the planet. He’s also deeply corrupt, authorizing US government funding of unethical research overseas in the form of Hygeia’s Tigris Project and even killing the former president, Cadres, which allows his ascent to power. The president exemplifies the treacherous measures people may take to cling to their power and status. He seems to have no guilt about the horrible acts he incites (e.g., kidnapping Rita, trying to murder Avery) while his personal desire to remain in power and clear of any potential wrongdoing is met.

His character also speaks to the way that corruption can spread. For example, President Stokes makes a point of manipulating the media. When he realizes that Avery can’t be threatened or bought, he tells Major Vance, “Be more creative, Vance. If the girl can’t be persuaded to act, we may need to fully discredit her” (178). Shortly after, a smear piece about Avery’s life appears in a local DC paper: “JUSTICE’S MISTRESS, SON’S GIRLFRIEND, JUNKIE’S DAUGHTER—WHO IS AVERY KEENE?” (236). Clearly, this is all part of the president’s plan to “discredit” Avery. The interplay between power and corruption, and the way that corruption can spread—from a political office to the media or to military members like Major Vance—is clear.

Major Vance is President Stokes’s main henchman, overseeing the majority of the president’s “dirty work,” from visiting the Tigris Project test site to trying to take out Avery. While Major Vance’s character seems powerful, he is in fact little more than a tool. He carries out the president’s wishes, representing a sort of loyalty—what he thinks of as patriotic loyalty. Vance is just one of many such cogs in the corrupt machine the president sits at the top of. Others include Vance’s subordinates Phillips and Castillo, as well as the nurse Jamie.

Ultimately, these people are all disposable—as is evidenced when the president turns on Vance and betrays him. This is reiterated in the character of Phillips, the person responsible for kidnapping Rita. As Jared tells Agent Lee, Phillips is easily done away with: “Vance has manufactured evidence of a right-wing group that Phillips will be conveniently aligned with” (328). Again, the reader is shown how hard it is to identify and prosecute power at the highest level—because the people at the highest level will always have junior subordinates who are handling the “dirty work” and take care to not be associated with it personally themselves.

Jared, Justice Wynn’s son, is largely a plot device. Jared’s character helps to set up the moral conundrum that Justice Wynn must face—expose the Tigris Project’s research or allow the companies responsible to proceed with this kind of research, which could also help save his son from Boursin’s syndrome. If Justice Wynn were simply trying to save himself, the argument would be less compelling. It’s easier for the reader to identify the difficulties that come from a father trying to decide whether he should save his son or expose corruption for the greater good.

Jared’s character also provides a subplot for the narrative, as he and Avery seem to form a romantic connection. This is never fully realized throughout the narrative but hinted at increasingly as the book progresses. The romantic narrative adds some color to Avery’s personal life, ensuring her character becomes more three-dimensional instead of just serving as a symbolic representation of loyalty and moral fortitude.

Dr. Ani Kandahar Ramji represents the “whistleblower” figure. Dr. Ani puts his own life in danger to help expose the Tigris Project. He’s the only scientist still alive who worked on the project, and, after giving Avery the evidence needed to incriminate President Stokes, Ani goes into hiding. His character is reminiscent of famous political whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, who revealed the US government was spying on its own citizens through the National Security Agency and subsequently fled the country to hide in Russia.

Ani’s character demonstrates how dangerous whistleblowing is, which furthers the narrative’s argument regarding the rampant nature of corruption, especially among powerful figures like politicians. People are unlikely to try to pull back the curtain on corruption if it means that they themselves will be put at risk. This is also seen through the lens of another character, Dr. Elizabeth Papaleo (“Betty”): “She’d stumbled on a more than a conspiracy. What she’d found was mortal sin. She’d never imagined herself to be a tattletale—or, in government speak, a whistleblower. […] [T]he only thing worse than a tattletale was a person too afraid to tell the truth” (228). The heroic role of “whistleblower” is a dangerous mantle to carry, the narrative argues. By the book’s end, Ani will have to live the rest of his life in hiding, while Betty is dead.

Nigel Cooper’s character helps support the book’s argument regarding the widespread nature of corruption and the dangers of greed. As the head of GenWorks, Nigel is eager to fulfill the merger with Advar and works with Dr. Indira Srinivasan to help make this happen. Even when Nigel discovers that the Tigris Project wasn’t just theoretical but actually resulted in human experiments—and that Indira knew about these experiments—he doesn’t back down. He’s intent on making the merger happen, which will also make him a lot of money. Nigel’s symbolic representation of corporate greed is also seen when he attempts to bribe Avery, telling her, “You protect Justice Wynn and tell me what I want to know, and I’ll make sure you never have to work another day in your life” (146). To Nigel, it’s unfathomable that someone wouldn’t be swayed by this much money.

Nigel is posited as an adversary of President Stokes. While the president wants to block the GenWorks-Advar merger, Nigel wants it to go through. However, both Nigel and the president share common traits, like a desire for money, power, and influence. By exemplifying the detrimental impacts that greed can have in business, Nigel’s character shows how money-hungry attitudes run rampant not only in the political but also in the nonpolitical spheres.