Corrupt

Michael Crist is the pseudo-antagonist and main love interest in the novel. He is the oldest Crist son and is a professional basketball player in Meridian City. His family is very wealthy due to their real estate ventures, but Michael has little interest in joining the family business. Like Rika, Michael is uncommonly attractive. Unlike Rika, he appears to be aware of his good looks and uses them to his advantage with women. He often comes across as smug and mean, primarily in situations where he doesn’t have the upper hand or power. He is fiercely protective of his loved ones. He goes to great lengths to protect his friends when they are in prison by paying off the guards for their protection and orchestrating their quest for revenge against Rika as a way to keep them motivated. Additionally, he takes full responsibility for Trevor’s death so that his mother can have closure after the loss of her youngest son.

Michael and Rika connect over their shared desire for freedom: “They tell us that what we want is wrong and that freedom is dirty. They see chaos, madness, and fucking as ugly, and the older you get, the smaller that box gets” (82). Before entering into a relationship with Rika, his desire for freedom makes him act out in violent and chaotic ways, such as committing crimes while wearing a mask. However, after entering into a relationship with Rika, he finds the freedom to be his authentic self instead of hiding from his vulnerability. By the end of the novel, Michael has given up his violent and chaotic life and found pleasure in domesticity, even buying a house for himself and Rika to live in.

Kai Mori is Michael’s best friend and main confidant throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, he has been freshly released from prison after being convicted of assaulting a police officer with Will Grayson. Kai is the son of a banker and socialite. While Will, Damon, and Michael are cruel to Rika at times, Kai has a soft spot for her and does show her some subtle kindness, even when he is part of the revenge plot against her. It is implied that he finds her attractive and would date her if possible.

Out of all his friends, Kai suffers the most after prison. He admits to not feeling anything and fears being loved or touched by a woman. He is also terrified of going back to prison. He appears to consider dying by suicide at one point when Michael and Rika find him in the steam room with shotgun shells: “They’re from the last time my grandfather took me shooting clay pigeons…I was thirteen. It was the last time I remember being a kid” (379). His vulnerability in this moment encourages Rika to invite him to participate in a threesome with her and Michael, which ultimately leads to a breakthrough for Kai. At the end of the novel, he is still close friends with Michael, Will, and Rika and lives in a large Victorian house in Meridian City.

Damon Torrance is one of Michael’s closest friends and one of the secret antagonists in the novel. He is the son of a media mogul. Out of all of the male characters in Corrupt, Damon is the most toxic and violent. At the beginning of the novel, he has just been released from prison after being convicted of statutory rape. He frequently attempts to sexually assault Rika, and it appears that he commits some form of a sexual assault against Alex early in the novel, which Rika overhears. While Will’s, Kai’s, and Michael’s feelings toward women evolve throughout the novel, Damon’s feelings never do, and he remains an extremely static character.

Damon is angry with Michael for his relationship with Rika: “You’ve never had to lose, and this will change your life forever. You should never have chosen her over us […] Tell me everything can go back to the way it was in high school” (420). It appears that part of the reason he teamed up with Trevor on Devil’s Night was to ensure that Rika wouldn’t interfere with his sense of belonging with the Four Horsemen. Damon was sexually abused by his mother and never felt like he truly belonged with his biological family, so the Four Horsemen operated more as a family to him than as a friend group. At the end of the novel, Damon has fled the country and is hiding out in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Will Grayson is one of Michael’s good friends and is the quietest member of the Four Horsemen. At the beginning of the novel, he has just been released from prison after being convicted of assaulting a police officer. He is the grandson of a prominent senator. Following prison, Will more closely aligns himself with Damon than Will. He frequently parties and drinks, and he is the one to introduce Michael to Alex, implying that he often hires sex workers.

One of Will’s key characterizations is his deep unrequited love of Emory Scott. Rika is initially surprised that Will is so in love with Emory: “This had to be a mistake. Will had only ever been seen with girly-girls in short skirts with perfect hair. Girls who knew how to flirt. Emmy Scott was…well, kind of a nerd, in everyone’s opinion, including her own” (213-14). Will is fiercely protective of Emory even though she is not interested in him. The police officer he assaults is actually her brother, and Will decides to attack him when he learns that he is abusing Emory. While Will has an unusual way of showing it between attacking her brother and drunkenly burning down a gazebo she built, he is deeply in love with Emory and willing to hurt himself to make her happy. Additionally, as the quietest and most subdued member of the Four Horsemen, he and Emory may be more compatible than everyone expects. At the end of the novel, Will is living in Rika’s old apartment.

Alex Palmer is Rika’s best friend and foil. The two meet when Rika runs into Michael and Alex after a date. Rika is initially intimidated by Alex’s beauty: “I tried to keep my eyes forward, but I couldn’t help but take Alex in out of the corner of my eye. She was really beautiful. Her green eyes were exotic and piercing, and she wore skinny jeans and a tank top under her open cardigan. Her body was flawless and sexy, and her tan skin glowed” (135). Rika is initially jealous of Alex’s presumed relationship with Michael; however, this jealousy wanes when she learns that Alex is a sex worker.

Most of the characters take some form of pity on Alex due to her work in the sex industry. The guys objectify her, and Rika often finds herself feeling grateful that she will never have to resort to sex work to support herself. While Rika is depicted as innocent and virginal, Alex is depicted as promiscuous. However, Alex is fiercely independent and proud of her work ethic. She is successful and able to provide a luxurious life for herself. Rika learns from Alex and becomes much more independent and comfortable in her sexuality due to their relationship.