Stillhouse Lake

Stillhouse Lake focuses on the way society deals with crime and serial killers, victims and law enforcement, making the justice system one of its key themes. The justice system is critiqued in the novel and is shown to have significant limitations that compromise its characters’ safety. The limits of the justice system is a common theme in thriller, crime, and mystery novels: These genres are very effective forms through which to explore the limitations of the justice system and the effects of crime in society. Stillhouse Lake illustrates the limitations of the justice system not just in solving crimes but also in dealing with the aftermath of crimes and in preventing crimes in the first place. The exploration of the justice system also provides moral tension, for instance in presenting Gwen with legal and illegal routes to protect herself and her children. The presentation of corruption in law enforcement in the novel is significant to Caine’s exploration of trust and truth and creates suspense as the reader follows Gwen as she navigates the dilemma of whether people are what they seem.

A major critique of the justice system can be seen in how Gwen and her children are not offered any sort of real protection by the government or law enforcement, and instead go out on their own, attempting to outrun their serial killer ex-husband/father and his conspirators. The purpose of law enforcement in society is to serve and protect citizens, especially victims. The justice system has imprisoned Mel (for a time) but this does not protect Gwen or the children from continuous danger from him and from others. The police do not protect them from harassment, vandalism, or death threats. Gwen reflects that law enforcement treats her as “a suspect” whenever they find out who she used to be married to. Even when her own children are abducted, Gwen reflects, “I don’t know how they’d have treated the parent of two other missing children, but Gina Royal? Gina Royal is a suspect first, last, always” (247-48). Gwen feels like the police are more interested in investigating her than helping her, even when her children’s lives are at stake. They treat her as a criminal even though she is an innocent victim of Mel’s crimes and should be treated with respect and compassion.

Mel remains alive in prison for several years after receiving a death sentence, giving him time to escape. This plot element is emblematic of the novel’s critique of the justice system’s inefficiency and ineffectiveness; it also provides dramatic impetus. When Mel escapes, Gwen is forced to reconsider societal assumptions that the justice system will protect the innocent and punish the guilty; recognizing that she is not served by it, she resolves to take action outside the law.

Corrupt police officers or other law enforcement officers recur in Stillhouse Lake. They provide many of the plot twists and character reveals and, as such, drive much of the novel’s suspense. The most corrupt law enforcement agent in this novel is Officer Graham, who appears to use his job as a cover for his criminal activities, which extend to kidnapping and murder. His status also allows him to misdirect other officers investigating the crimes and to gain the relative trust of Gwen. The graying of ideas around “good” (law enforcement) and “bad” (criminals) explores the circumstances and motivations of those who commit crime, including those whose positions put them in contact with criminals who can make use of them and corrupt them through bribery, manipulation, or blackmail. Gwen calls Mel a “disease,” and the novel suggests that crime is contagious, at least to the weak. These many corrupt characters illustrate the illusion of safety and how people are not always what they seem on the surface.

Law enforcement’s complacency and blind trust in law itself is also shown as making law enforcement less effective in this novel. Officer Prester is emblematic of a traditional, close-minded approach to policing, where law enforcement is based on assumptions and not on the evidence at hand. There are also several good law enforcement agents depicted, such as Kezia and Javi, although their desire to serve and protect the community is sometimes limited by others. The presence of positive law enforcement examples provides some hope and optimism, playing out the novel’s dramatic tension between good and evil. They also drive the sense of jeopardy because Gwen must determine which officers are to be trusted and essential to her success; she cannot assume that all of them are bad. The character of Kezia in particular posits how an alternative, modern, and egalitarian approach to the justice system would benefit all of society.

In Stillhouse Lake, misogyny is reflected both by the criminals who commit direct crime against women as well as systemically in the criminal justice system, in law enforcement, and in society at large. Mel’s drive as a serial killer appears to be fueled by misogyny, since he specifically targets women and has never, as far as Caine reveals, killed or tortured a man. The pattern reflects real life in the United States, where most perpetrators of violent crimes are men, and most victims are women. Mel feels no remorse for killing women because he does not view them as humans, but rather as “things to do in the workshop” (31)—as Gwen observes, he views them as merely objects. Although Mel doesn’t murder or physically mutilate Gwen, he still objectifies her and uses her as a tool; she is part of his disguise and someone to provide him with children.

Gwen describes Mel as a “disease” that spreads to other people, and he is the personification of the social “disease” of misogyny. This disease is shown as infecting a network of men throughout the country, including Absalom, Officer Graham, and an unknown number of others who follow Mel’s work and consider themselves his disciples. The fact that many of these relationships are conducted online plays into the novel’s treatment of the internet, and how it can be used to lead a double life and avoid detection.

Other people express misogynistic hatred toward Gwen in the aftermath of her husband’s crimes, including the general public. Rather than seeing her as someone who was also harmed by Mel, most people see her as a woman who is guilty by association and needs to be punished. This doesn’t just include Mel’s “fanboys” but also includes people who ostensibly detest Mel’s crimes, such as law enforcement and the family members of women Mel killed. Gwen reflects that it seems odd that female “accomplices” are often hated even more than the men who are serial killers, just because they’re women. The novel suggests that women’s “correct” role in the eyes of the public is as a victim; when a woman is adjacent to crime but neither a perpetrator nor a victim, she causes social anxiety, which is expressed as hate. Gwen’s circumstances make her an easy target for those who seek outlets for their misogyny, and she is subject to sexist insults like “bitch” and “whore.” She receives online threats that include gendered threats such as rape. The novel shows how misogyny is a cultural disease that a lot of people are willing to “catch” to some degree.

Gwen herself suffers from internalized misogyny, both in terms of self-hatred and skepticism of other women. In her conscious thought, Gwen claims she has extra trouble trusting men (rather than women) because Mel is a man, but her behavior suggests the opposite because she hardly ever talks to adult women, and when she does, she’s usually very rude to them (such as Lanny’s principal or Kezia). In contrast, she’s friendlier with men like Javi, Sam Cade, and Officer Graham. She starts making strides against her own internalized misogyny and racism when she learns to trust Kezia over Graham.