The Patient Life of the Detective

The life of the detective is always glorified in mystery novels. They’re always walking in on murders, over hearing shady phone calls, and discovering some shocking plot twist 50 pages into the novel. However, I must imagine there is a lot of waiting involved in the life of a detective. We see some of that when Quinn is following Mr. Stillman through the streets of NY. After 14 days he’s bored and wants to give up; we never hear detectives say this in other mystery novels. Maybe it’s because Quinn is an accidental detective and not one by profession.

 

It is mentioned that Quinn spends his days wandering the streets of NY. He walks down avenues only watching, never speaking, observing without judgement; it allows him to lose himself. How ironic is it that he winds up following Mr. Stillman doing the same exact thing? Quinn, or shall I call him, Auster, is hired to follow Stillman to make sure he doesn’t kill his son, Peter. Quinn finds him (and his twin, mysteriously) in Grand Central, and follows him daily, through his mundane routine. It’s almost as if Quinn is having an out-of-body experience and is watching himself. He records everything about Stillman in his red notebook, but after 13 days he tells Vivian he is bored and wants to give up. Of course he doesn’t retire, but I find it very comical that Quinn is subjected to consciously following Stillman daily, through his boring walk, when he, himself, has the same ritual for when he is Quinn (William Wilson?) and not Paul Auster. 

Bryce Rubin