UG's protagonist is not at all a hero. Devlin's a rapist who justifies his attacks as being only on those who deserve punishment. But his excuses seem flimsy -- one guy was going to drug him and use him in a prank at a fraternity party; one was cheating on his wife -- and when he's cornered by the British police he uses any means he can to fight back, like a trapped animal. Even though his defense would hurt a man who'd done nothing wrong, at all. But something interesting just happened.
I'm up to page 90 and throughout Dev has referred to his brother, Colin, as being irritating and pathetic, someone incapable of handling the family business. Colin's wife, Diana, helps them learn he was physically damaged by their father's abuse, and that it can be handled. Up till then, Dev was covering for Colin in order to keep things going smoothly. But while being interrogated by the cops, he remembers how a money fund manager named Griffin shoved $500K of bad bundled mortgages off on the company, using Colin's scrambled brain to make it seem like a good idea.
Of course, then the housing market burst and financial collapse came and Dev had to put off college for a while to help keep the company from going under. Colin feels especially responsible for it and sometimes approaches being suicidal. Then one day he comes into Dev's office and says, "I'll never be whole, will I?" The implication being he's close to jumping off a bridge. Devlin winds up comforting his older brother...and suddenly he actually come across as an avenging angel. Once Colin's back from the brink, Devlin checks the courts about legal remedies but finds they will be useless, so he sets out to stop Griffin another way -- by destroying him as a financial planner...which will protect others from being ruined by him.
I'd intended to use this image as Devlin, but the haunted eyes work better for Colin, now. I'm using my old standby -- a model named Bruno -- for Devlin. The model's name is Eric Hanson, and he's become Devlin's redemptive side.
This may be a lot of fun...
Of course, then the housing market burst and financial collapse came and Dev had to put off college for a while to help keep the company from going under. Colin feels especially responsible for it and sometimes approaches being suicidal. Then one day he comes into Dev's office and says, "I'll never be whole, will I?" The implication being he's close to jumping off a bridge. Devlin winds up comforting his older brother...and suddenly he actually come across as an avenging angel. Once Colin's back from the brink, Devlin checks the courts about legal remedies but finds they will be useless, so he sets out to stop Griffin another way -- by destroying him as a financial planner...which will protect others from being ruined by him.
I'd intended to use this image as Devlin, but the haunted eyes work better for Colin, now. I'm using my old standby -- a model named Bruno -- for Devlin. The model's name is Eric Hanson, and he's become Devlin's redemptive side.
This may be a lot of fun...
No comments:
Post a Comment