I Am Pilgrim

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Part 2, Chapters 24-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapters 24-28 Summary

Reluctantly, Murdoch decides that his next move to ensure his safety should be to visit the Bradleys to access the evidence they have about his real self. Murdoch, contrary to his training, begins regularly socializing with the couple and consulting occasionally on Bradley’s cases. It’s during this time that he is summoned to the crime scene from the novel’s opening. Murdoch works to maintain his sobriety.

Continuing in this timeframe, back at the hotel, Murdoch investigates the manager’s office and realizes that the killer began her secret life of disguises on September 11, 2001. Murdoch decides to visit the wreckage of the Twin Towers. He imagines the killer walking nearby, and, briefly subsumed in her perspective, is also struck by the testament to survival and endurance that the memorial represents, in contrast to his own character. He finds a handmade plaque commemorating Ben Bradley’s courage and rescue of multiple people at great personal risk.

Stunned by his friend’s courage and modesty, Murdoch decides he owes it to him to participate in his forensics seminar. Murdoch decides that his current case, the mystery of the Eastside Inn, is likely to both engage an audience and assist in his current perplexities. He decides the killer may have used the events to abandon her old life—by pretending to have died in the disaster, she could embark on her new mission.

Murdoch informs Bradley and Marcie he will participate in the seminar, to their shock, but declines to tell them his real motives. As a change of subject, Marcie tells him he may have a chance to visit his childhood home: The mansion’s grounds and gardens are part of an upcoming public exhibition. Murdoch buys a ticket and sneaks inside to say goodbye and think regretfully of their bond and his neglect of his father Bill later in his life.

On his way out, he is recognized by a former friend of Grace’s, a wealthy socialite named Mrs. Corcoran, who tells him Bill fought for his adoption out of a belief he had a specific destiny only a loving upbringing could help him fulfill. Murdoch reflects privately that later events may have vindicated Bill’s belief.

Part 2, Chapters 24-28 Analysis

In this section, Hayes focuses primarily on Murdoch’s relationships and internal world. Though an escape to Paris is now out of reach, the return to New York brings out its own contemplations of the past and future. Though he initially seeks out the Bradleys for entirely practical purposes, the renewed acquaintance takes on a more personal character, underlining that Murdoch is not an espionage automaton but a real person. Murdoch goes against his better instincts, choosing connection with Bradley and Marcie over self-protection, underlining that his lifetime of secrecy has not diminished his human needs and his desire to understand himself. His sobriety, in contrast to his earlier references to taking refuge in drugs, is another indication that he is seeking a new psychological equilibrium and a healthier way of engaging with others.

Murdoch finds kinships that are both nourishing and disturbing. Hayes portrays him as uniquely, almost preternaturally, connected to the killer, certain that he can retrace her steps and find meaning in them. His trip to the wreckage of the Twin Towers affirms his investigative instincts while also bringing out his contemplative side. Though he does not say so directly, Murdoch’s horror of death seems linked to his uncanny connection with killers, as though he is marked by tragedy. His choice to honor Bradley’s sacrifice, even as this threatens his cherished and necessary anonymity, underlines that though his life and career have set him apart from others, Murdoch still feels empathy and some desire to connect to others. This will prove a further contrast between him and al-Nassouri, as the latter’s quest to sow global chaos reaches its intermediate stages.

Though he largely describes himself as a loner and an orphan, Murdoch’s bond with his father Bill is a consistent theme in the text. He uses his investigative skills to sneak into his childhood home, however, underlining that he has, in fact, departed from Bill’s initial hopes for him. His discovery that Bill defied his wife out of a determination to help Murdoch fulfill some destiny deepens his sense of obligation. His dedication to Bill, his only family, and nascent bond with Bradley suggest that his personal ties will continue to shape his character arc and his coming clash with al-Nassouri.