Zero Day

Bill and Dickie Strauss offer two more possible connections to the meth house victims, although neither seems to have connection to the Reynoldses. Both characters exhibit suspicious signs. Strauss seems anxious to prevent Dickie from answering Puller’s question about his discharge from the Army. That discharge might indicate involvement, as might the sleeve tattoo that matches Treadwell’s.

Strauss appears to be merely asking about the death of an employee. However, his lack of feeling suggests a more sinister motive. Some killers—especially the highly organized type—will sometimes insert themselves into an investigation to keep track of discoveries or even divert investigators if they seem to be getting too close to the truth.

Puller’s conversation with Kristin Craig increases the importance of the case, revealing both the Secretary of the Army and the FBI have become interested. A crime that attracts attention from such a high level should warrant a full investigative team. Instead they sent Puller in alone. The implication is that Reynolds was involved in something much more significant than a meth ring. That is one more detail Puller needs to fit into the evidence he has.

Puller’s dream of the IED attack in Afghanistan illustrates the total control Puller men are supposed to have. It also shows the level of training that goes into producing highly skilled soldiers. Puller’s reflexes and training are so deeply conditioned that he can sustain control and concentration in the middle of noise, violence, blood, pain, and confusion. The ability to think clearly under extreme pressure will enable him to keep his head while disabling a nuclear weapon—in effect, another IED, just a few million times more powerful than anything he encountered in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Puller's emotional reaction to his ordeal in Afghanistan remains buried in him and comes out in the form of nightmares when he is unguarded. The implication is that he needs to deal with his pain, but that is not a skill he learned from his father. His resistance to the need makes him feel as though he is turning into a machine. Meanwhile, Puller’s skill and control illustrate the positive aspects of the masculine ideal. His ability to control himself and suppress emotion keep him alive in this situation. The discipline of traditional masculinity has value to society, especially when balanced with the ability to sustain vulnerability and intimate relationships. Baldacci often depicts the emotional vulnerability of his very masculine male protagonists in a positive light.

Puller's conversation with his father is the reader’s first introduction to John Puller Sr. Before his illness, Puller Sr. was hard, demanding, and critical. The only way he can show positive feelings for his son is by identifying him as a subordinate officer—someone he can control. When Puller Sr. asks Puller for help in the role of executive officer, he adds that he can always count on Puller and that Puller is the only one who can help him. That is the closest he can come to an expression of approval, and it comes in the form of a selfish demand for help.

Despite his father’s being deeply flawed, Puller loves him. Unlike his father, Puller is capable of forgiveness. He learned the ability to forgive because in order to win his father’s love and approval, he has to continually forgive his father’s selfishness and cruelty. One of Puller’s inner tasks is to recognize that unlike the other people he forgives, his father has not earned forbearance.

The titanium rod in Puller’s arm is the physical manifestation of the Wound That Will Not Heal. It represents the psychological wound of Puller’s relationship with his father. Often, the wound signifies a sacrificial Redeemer. Puller plays the sacrificial role in his family, giving up his own need for approval to ease his father’s fear and confusion. Puller explicitly signals his sacrificial role when he thinks, “I would have died for him” (109). It seems unlikely that Puller will ever receive his father's explicit approval. He will have to infer it from the fact that his father turns to him for help in his final weakness.

In the incident with Louisa, Puller the soldier demonstrates a previously unseen facet of his personality. He is also a healer. While his physical competence as a fighter is impressive, his care for other people truly makes him worthy of regard. The incident also contrasts with his conversation with his father. John Puller Sr. is gradually slipping away, without much time in which to reconcile with his older son, and Puller can’t do anything to help him. At least he is able to save Louisa in lieu of his father. Forgiveness, sacrifice, and healing are the signal qualities of a Christ figure, but Puller is mortal, and the demands placed on him by his father are impossible to meet. Louisa’s later death in the hospital and Cole’s death will force Puller to accept that he cannot be a savior.

In the encounter with Frank, Puller once again exhibits self-control by using the minimum force necessary to defend himself and subdue his opponent. Once that struggle is over, he doesn’t push the matter, keeping the conflict between himself and Frank. This behavior indicates that Puller can take care of himself and doesn’t need to run to law enforcement. Puller again shows his capacity for forgiveness and second chances when he dismisses the episode as an accident.

Cole initially demonstrates her competence and insight by being able to read the scene between Puller and Frank. Immediately afterward, however, we learn that she has made a critical error in failing to ask what happened to the package Reed was supposed to be delivering. One of Puller’s core beliefs is that everybody is entitled to a second chance now and then, so the incident could be read as Cole’s second chance; a competent person is allowed to make an occasional small mistake. The oversight also allows the author to space out the introduction of evidence so that the reader isn’t inundated with too many clues at one time.

The second appearance of the concrete dome confirms for the reader that it will be significant to the solution of the puzzle, although the only evident connection is the fact that it was a military installation, and Reynolds was a military officer. Phone service to the abandoned housing will be important to the climax of the story. Without it, Robert Puller wouldn’t be able to tell his brother how to disarm the bomb Puller will find in the Bunker.