Several readers have shared with me their theories about some of the people and events in Without A Hitch and have asked me for my own views. I thought it might be nice to share my own thoughts with everyone, so I’m creating this page with some spoilers. BUT please be warned, there are humongous spoilers there. Please feel free to add you own thoughts too. :)
● Why Corbin Does This?
Several people have speculated why Corbin did this crime. He clearly doesn’t care about money as he says a couple times, nor does he have a use for it. When I wrote the character, I saw him as doing this for the thrill. He’s not satisfied with his life, and he thinks that pulling off this crime will give his life meaning.
● How Does Penny Fit With That?
Penny and Blue show Corbin coming to realize that he was wrong: committing the crime didn’t give his life meaning. Instead, he finds meaning in following his passion – music. This is when he finds the perfect girl, finds something he loves to do (being a musician), and generally begins to become a better person. He find happiness.
But evil deeds need to be punished, and no sooner does Corbin glimpse paradise than his evil deed comes back to haunt him. Ironically, the evil deed didn’t even help him because it never gave him the happiness he thought it would, but now it will strip him of the happiness he has found. But even then, Corbin still has ways out, only he won’t take them because he has learned nothing. Instead, he returns to the same bad decision making process which led him to commit the crime and he decides he can cheat his way out of his fate. In the process, he loses everything.
● Why Beckett Never Saw Beaumont As Guilty
Beaumont fascinates me because he’s exactly what you find in the criminal justice system. Criminals lie about everything to everyone. In fact, that’s the most difficult aspect of being a trial attorney: you never know what’s true and what isn’t.
Beckett, who is an experienced and excellent trial attorney, should know this. But Beckett makes the classic mistake of wanting to see his client as innocent. He wants to see Beaumont as innocent because he feels guilty about Beaumont being accused of his own crime. And the more Corbin pushes him to let Beaumont take the fall, the more determined Beckett becomes to prove his innocence. Because of this, Beckett makes a logical fallacy which defense attorneys use all the time at trial – he believes that if he can disprove any part of the allegations against Beaumont, then all of the allegations must be false. This is wrong, but people often fall for this kind of reasoning. Beckett falls for it here because his own guilt and his desire to see what he wants blinds him to the truth. Thus, he focuses obsessively on the mistakes the police made and he ignores all the bigger evidence proving Beaumont’s guilt. And I think when Beaumont confesses (and does so laughingly), that this comes as an earth-shattering shock to Beckett.
● Why Beckett Never Saw Webb’s Hostility Toward The Prosecutor
So why didn’t Beckett see the way Webb responded to the prosecutor and do his best to get Webb to tell the jury the truth? Beckett’s life was falling apart by that point in the trial, and he had made up his mind to confess because he wanted to atone for this sin which hung over him and which he felt was destroying him. Nothing was going to stop him at that point, not the chance he could win, not the fact he had no right to confess without Beaumont’s permission, not the harm a confession would do to Corbin. Throughout the book (especially in the confession chapter in the church) you see Beckett feeling more and more guilty. Now that his marriage is done and he’s broke, he’s finally pushed over that ledge. His is the story of a good man who goes astray when the pressure gets to him and it eats him alive. He will make himself pay one way or another.
Also, as an aside, there’s an even bigger point Beckett misses (but only lawyers are likely to spot it). The judge said he would throw out all the evidence (and dismiss the case) if Webb didn’t back up the illegal search story. The prosecutor never even asked Webb about that because he was afraid of what the answer would be. If Beckett had been thinking clearly, he would have asked the judge immediately after Webb’s testimony to dismiss the case. The judge would have dismissed the case and Beaumont would have gone free.
● The Ending
I intentionally left the ending a little ambiguous because I wanted the readers to stop and think about the characters. Did they think Corbin was arrogant enough to think he got away with it? Would Molly turn him in? Would he try to stop her? I love those questions up to you, although a lot of people have asked for a sequel. :)
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● Why Corbin Does This?
Several people have speculated why Corbin did this crime. He clearly doesn’t care about money as he says a couple times, nor does he have a use for it. When I wrote the character, I saw him as doing this for the thrill. He’s not satisfied with his life, and he thinks that pulling off this crime will give his life meaning.
● How Does Penny Fit With That?
Penny and Blue show Corbin coming to realize that he was wrong: committing the crime didn’t give his life meaning. Instead, he finds meaning in following his passion – music. This is when he finds the perfect girl, finds something he loves to do (being a musician), and generally begins to become a better person. He find happiness.
But evil deeds need to be punished, and no sooner does Corbin glimpse paradise than his evil deed comes back to haunt him. Ironically, the evil deed didn’t even help him because it never gave him the happiness he thought it would, but now it will strip him of the happiness he has found. But even then, Corbin still has ways out, only he won’t take them because he has learned nothing. Instead, he returns to the same bad decision making process which led him to commit the crime and he decides he can cheat his way out of his fate. In the process, he loses everything.
● Why Beckett Never Saw Beaumont As Guilty
Beaumont fascinates me because he’s exactly what you find in the criminal justice system. Criminals lie about everything to everyone. In fact, that’s the most difficult aspect of being a trial attorney: you never know what’s true and what isn’t.
Beckett, who is an experienced and excellent trial attorney, should know this. But Beckett makes the classic mistake of wanting to see his client as innocent. He wants to see Beaumont as innocent because he feels guilty about Beaumont being accused of his own crime. And the more Corbin pushes him to let Beaumont take the fall, the more determined Beckett becomes to prove his innocence. Because of this, Beckett makes a logical fallacy which defense attorneys use all the time at trial – he believes that if he can disprove any part of the allegations against Beaumont, then all of the allegations must be false. This is wrong, but people often fall for this kind of reasoning. Beckett falls for it here because his own guilt and his desire to see what he wants blinds him to the truth. Thus, he focuses obsessively on the mistakes the police made and he ignores all the bigger evidence proving Beaumont’s guilt. And I think when Beaumont confesses (and does so laughingly), that this comes as an earth-shattering shock to Beckett.
● Why Beckett Never Saw Webb’s Hostility Toward The Prosecutor
So why didn’t Beckett see the way Webb responded to the prosecutor and do his best to get Webb to tell the jury the truth? Beckett’s life was falling apart by that point in the trial, and he had made up his mind to confess because he wanted to atone for this sin which hung over him and which he felt was destroying him. Nothing was going to stop him at that point, not the chance he could win, not the fact he had no right to confess without Beaumont’s permission, not the harm a confession would do to Corbin. Throughout the book (especially in the confession chapter in the church) you see Beckett feeling more and more guilty. Now that his marriage is done and he’s broke, he’s finally pushed over that ledge. His is the story of a good man who goes astray when the pressure gets to him and it eats him alive. He will make himself pay one way or another.
Also, as an aside, there’s an even bigger point Beckett misses (but only lawyers are likely to spot it). The judge said he would throw out all the evidence (and dismiss the case) if Webb didn’t back up the illegal search story. The prosecutor never even asked Webb about that because he was afraid of what the answer would be. If Beckett had been thinking clearly, he would have asked the judge immediately after Webb’s testimony to dismiss the case. The judge would have dismissed the case and Beaumont would have gone free.
● The Ending
I intentionally left the ending a little ambiguous because I wanted the readers to stop and think about the characters. Did they think Corbin was arrogant enough to think he got away with it? Would Molly turn him in? Would he try to stop her? I love those questions up to you, although a lot of people have asked for a sequel. :)
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