I Will Find You

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3, Chapters 27-32

Part 3, Chapter 33-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Significance of Family

Family is a motivating force for both the protagonist and antagonists. Familial love overcomes all personal, moral, and legal considerations and provokes sympathy for David—as a desperate father seeking his missing son. David’s father Lenny and David’s godfather Philip are close as brothers, as are David and Philip’s son Adam. Philip has another connection to the Burroughs in his lifelong love for David’s aunt Sofie. When both Philip and David return to their old neighborhood at different points and see Lenny and Sofie, it awakens old connections. Overall, the father-son relationship is I Will Find You’s most frequent representation of family. Even when sentenced to life in prison, David’s commitment to his son Matthew is absolute. He loses motivation with this loss, doubly so when his family—especially his father—thinks him capable of murder. His father figure Philip also believes in his guilt, but he and Adam ultimately make up for it by helping David escape prison. Hayden is another father, driven to real murder and kidnapping to claim the boy he believes to be his biological son—Matthew (or “Theo”). When David finally reunites with Matthew, whom he temporarily believes is not genetically related to him, his unconditional love prevails. He triumphs by exhibiting a fatherhood that his own fathers (and Hayden) failed to embody.

Antagonists Hayden and Pixie Payne are also bound by family: Hayden feels obligated to take responsibility for Theo, while Gertrude hides Theo’s paternity out of loyalty to Hayden and their family’s reputation. Like Pixie in particular, Nicky Fisher is willing to kill for his family. He once covered up his son Mikey’s murder and respects Lenny for doing the same for his own son; however, when he learns of David’s murder, he targets him to uphold the sanctity of fatherhood. Nicky pushes David’s former neighbor Hilde Winslow to lie on the stand by threatening her family; however, when he learns Matthew is alive, his respect for family pushes him to target Hayden and Pixie instead. David’s ex-wife Cheryl initially resists the possibility that Matthew is alive, not only because it would destabilize her new family, but because it would mean she doubted her innocent husband. At the time, her doubt was reinforced by her guilt over seeking donor sperm without David’s consent. Eventually, she sides with him in defiance of the law to protect her family. With that said, his confrontation with Hayden and Pixie affirms family goes beyond blood: Hayden claims Matthew is not David’s biological son, but genetics are no longer of importance to David. He identifies Matthew as his family, as Philip, Adam, and Rachel are.

Redemption, Vindication, and Justification

All the characters seek some form of redemption or vindication, regarding either reputation or morality. David’s reputation was damaged by family and a failed justice system—thus, he seeks vindication by restoring it. By contrast, prison guard Curly actively violates his morality and justifies himself rather than atone—changing his ethics rather than his actions. David’s quest to restore his reputation is both external and internal: Externally, he seeks proof of his innocence, while internally, he feels he failed at fatherhood. This failure is more painful than his disgrace or loss of freedom. To him, it is a loss of identity—thus, finding Matthew will redeem himself in his own eyes. Those who failed David—like Philip, Adam, and Rachel—seek redemption by helping him seek vindication outside of prison. Like Philip, Special Agent Max upholds justice, but when he believes David may have been wrongly convicted, he seeks to uncover the truth. Ignoring truth would violate his morality, so rather than seek redemption later, he tries to what he can in the moment. When later comes, he helps exonerate David.

While Philip and Adam seek redemption by helping David escape prison, Rachel wrestles with the same conflict while overcoming a separate trauma. Philip risks his job as a prison warden to help David, but the novel opens with Rachel having already lost her job: Having been drugged and almost sexually assaulted by a professor as a student at Lemhall University, she hoped to put an end to his predation by investigating the college as a reporter. The Paynes covered up her near-assault to protect Hayden, but an older Rachel values truth over comfort; however, her investigation resulted in the suicide of a witness. By helping David, she hopes to save a life (Matthew) to make up for the one lost (the witness). On the topic of witnesses, Hilde justified her lie against David by claiming he was likely guilty. However, this self-justification violates her morality, and she seeks redemption by telling David the truth. The novel’s antagonists employ justification to avoid self-reflection—which, in the Paynes and Nicky’s case, corrupts the justice system. Hayden rationalizes his killing of Theo and kidnapping of Matthew as acts of fatherhood, while Nicky upholds the sanctity of fatherhood despite being a seasoned criminal. Overall, Harlan Coben implies redemption is more important than vindication. David is hurt by his family’s doubt, but his own failure is his prison: It is more important for him to find his son, and redeem himself as a man and father. Vindication frees him, while redemption makes him whole.

Law Versus Justice

The novel takes place in the United States, which claims a healthy democracy depends on faith in the justice system. This faith requires that the application of the law adhere to the public’s sense of justice; thus, the novel’s suspense is engendered by a mismatch between law and application. David’s false conviction for Matthew’s murder is sympathetic and creates an uneasy mood that does not abate until justice is restored. People like the Paynes and Nicky actively interfere with justice, and David’s case illustrates how such interference can victimize anyone. Overall, the novel questions what to do when the law fails. One of the novel’s solutions is taking the law into one’s own hands. Lenny is a former police officer, and Philip is a prison warden: As evidence points to David being Matthew’s murderer, the two believe he must be guilty. However, after visiting an ill Lenny, Philip begins to question David’s imprisonment—especially given the two murder attempts on him by a prisoner and prison guard. He ultimately risks his job to do what the law failed to do.

The Paynes and Nicky bypass and manipulate the justice system to achieve their own definition of justice. They use influence and wealth to overturn fair application of the law, to benefit their own circles. Hayden has always been shielded from the consequences of his violence and crimes to protect the family’s reputation: He beat the professor who tried to sexually assault Rachel when the two were students, but the Paynes only covered up the incident to protect Hayden. This cover-up prevented an older Rachel from finding closure for herself and other victims. People like David, who lack the resources to bribe, are often convicted in place of criminals. While the Paynes, particularly Hayden, don’t view themselves as criminals, they are not so different from Nicky—who uses his status as the retired head of the Fisher family crime syndicate to punish those who violate his principles. However, his interference caused the innocent David to be given a life sentence. Regardless of intent, people can make fatal mistakes in judgment. The justice system is designed to minimize mistakes by focusing on what is provable and permissible. Special Agents Max and Sarah explicitly discuss the tension between law and justice: Max is uneasy about the possibility that David is innocent, but Sarah insists that while the justice system is faulty, it is the best system as of their present. If it fails, she insists the failure must be addressed through the system itself. While biased, she is not wrong in thinking lawless behavior can lead to greater destruction. With Max’s help, David is eventually exonerated—finally aligning law and application.