Anna undergoes tests for the Lyssa variant. What do you think the inclusion of this gene type represents in the context of this story?
This was an interesting but unnecessary thread as well. Her Dad and the FBI agent both had the gene, and both were killers. She has the gene and is not a killer. The author used this device to make you think there was a possibility that Anna was a killer, so it was effective in that regard, but isn’t a definitive test for that trait.
I thought this was a red herring, designed, as @Susan_P points out, to lead us to think Anna herself was the guilty party.
This made little sense in the context of this story. Her mother does not exhibit the violence this trait allegedly produces - nor did Anna. And when she remarries, she seems an entirely different person from the “monster” she is depicted as (when she rejects Anna).
Her father - and Anna - do seem to suffer from some sort of mental illness in the sense that they believe the Forest God, Veles, is telling them to kill people. Her father apparently acts on this impulse, but Anna does not. Her mother is repelled by the whole forest craziness so again, I’m not sure what we are supposed to conclude about this Lyssa variant.
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I felt that the Lyssa variant was unnecessary and not very well explained. Just another factor to confuse the reader. The author should have left it out.
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Lyssa variant was a bit of a mishmash and led me down a twisted road. Once I wondered if Anna might have had a half sibling somewhere or perhaps her uncle hadn’t died at a young age. Then when we learn that mom had the variant and had remarried I wondered if she had a grown child who was responsible for the recent killings. Was the junky news reporter an unknown relative? If the author wanted the reader to speculate options, she was successful with me.
I too agree, although I did think it kept the plot moving somewhat forward by making us think that Anna might be the killer
I’d really love to hear from the author concerning her inspiration and motivation to include that storyline.
DNA testing/profiling remains a hot topic these days. Many books have been written about surprising results, but they usually involve family secrets, the discovery of previously unknown relatives, etc.
I interpreted the use of this plot thread as a way for Anna to further question her own sanity, because she was also “missing time” (probably, as it turns out, because of her exposure to PCP). So it was fairly effective, but combined with the PCP exposure, the details became a bit muddied. Again, that may have been the author’s intent. Perhaps she wanted to illustrate how many variables Anna was dealing with, which is not unusual in criminal investigations. Those variables have to be systematically and conclusively eliminated.
The inclusion of the details about the Lyssa variant may also have been the author’s way of debating nature vs. nurture. Because not everyone with the variant becomes a killer. Rather, other factors in combination with the genetic propensity for violence create monstrous, mentally ill killers like Anna’s father and, eventually, Parkes.
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It felt like a very heavy handed red herring.
It’s SOOO rare; 1 in many millions?, and to “get” it both your parents have to have it? Iirc. So , all her grandparents had it for both her parents? And she has it. And the FBI guy has it. Who DOESNT have it here?
I think this was a clever addition to the clues about the possible motivation a killer would have. For Anna it was not a definitive answer to her character. She was learning that the variant need not define her.
It was also the reason why Anna wondered if she would turn into the monster that her father became. In that sense, it served both as a red herring and an explanation as to why Anna would be so worried about her own future and sanity.
I think the Lyssa gene subplot only served to make us suspect Anna. It makes for a red herring.