58 pages • 1 hour read
Robert DugoniHer Deadly Game
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Finding One’s Place in the Family
Content Warning: This section refers to alcohol use disorder, child abuse, murder, and psychological manipulation.
Keera Duggan’s family is a big part of her life—and in her mind, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. At the beginning of Her Deadly Game, she reflects, “A counselor once labeled her family as ‘enmeshed’ and not in a flattering way” (40), a reference to a psychological concept in which a family system’s lack of boundaries and ill-defined roles can thwart development and autonomy. Although Keera remains in Seattle near her family and follows the Duggan tradition of practicing law, she maintains her distance by working at the state prosecutor’s office instead of her father’s criminal defense firm. When circumstances force her to join the family firm, Keera transcends her status as the youngest child and establishes a new role for herself in the family firm and, thus, the family itself.
Keera’s primary obstacle to establishing her place within the firm is her status as the youngest of the Duggan siblings. In Chapter 1, when she returns to the office after winning her case, she is not congratulated but instead scolded by her sisters, Maggie and Ella: Maggie for leaving Patsy unattended and Ella for Keera’s reprimand of her client. Soon after, at the family’s monthly Sunday dinner, Patsy and Ella announce Keera’s partnership in the firm without asking her beforehand. In both situations, Keera’s position as youngest sibling bleeds into the dynamic at the firm. For this reason, when Keera gets Vince LaRussa’s first call, she doesn’t tell anyone else until the next day because it would result in Patsy and Ella “likely relegating Keera to some minor role. Not if Keera [can] help it” (59). Keera understands that the LaRussa case offers her an opportunity to establish a new role for herself in the firm, thereby forcing her family to recognize her as an adult equal and take her seriously as an attorney. As she reminds Ella, “I’m a grown woman, and I’m a damn good attorney. And I will decide what is in the best interests of my client” (183).
By securing the lead position on the LaRussa murder case, Keera gives herself the opportunity to show her family what she is capable of and establish her new role as a defense attorney in the firm. The firm is at a transition point, with Patsy unsure of his abilities and having no clear successor. While he says, “Ella manages the firm, and she does a terrific job” (219), even Ella knows that the courtroom is not her strength. Patsy’s retirement threatens the sustainability of the firm, which has long depended on his reputation as a trial attorney nicknamed the “Irish Brawler.”
When Keera shows what she’s capable of in the courtroom, the entire family sees a new way for the firm to continue. By the end of the novel, when Keera wins Vince’s case, she has also won the respect of her family, who now see her as capable and even worthy successor to her father. Patsy recognizes this when he tells her, “Word on the street is Keera Duggan is a brawler, and most dangerous when her back is against the wall” (219). Patsy’s reference to his nickname makes it clear that he is passing the title along to her, as she has inherited both his abilities and his courtroom style. At the end of the novel, he makes the transfer of power official, telling Keera, “This is your show now. You and Ella and Maggie” (289).
Her success with the high-profile LaRussa case not only proves her abilities to her family but also saves the firm, and Keera thus establishes a new role for herself in both.
Chess Strategy in Law and Life
In Her Deadly Game, Dugoni connects the novel’s title to the game of chess as he explores chess strategies as a method for strategizing and decision-making in both the courtroom and life. Keera’s father, Patsy, introduced her to chess when she was a child and identified effective strategies as he taught her the game, commenting that “[c]hess could be a way to live her life” (57). Keera applies these principles to her life, and when she becomes an attorney, she appreciates the effectiveness of the same strategies in the courtroom. Patsy addresses this connection directly when he “[tells] her the best trial lawyers [are] strong chess players” (57). Throughout the novel, Keera refers to Patsy’s chess lessons to strategize and make decisions in both her professional and personal lives.
Keera finds chess strategy and gamesmanship useful in her work as an attorney. In Chapter 1, Dugoni immediately shows Keera’s use of Patsy’s chess lessons in the courtroom. Even though she is caught off-guard by her father’s absence and is unprepared to cross-examine the witness, she uses chess principles to formulate her strategy: “Keera thought several questions ahead, choosing the next one depending on Walsh’s answer” (11). Later, when she is uncertain whether she will be able to pull a worthy defense together before Vince’s trial ends, she remembers another piece of Patsy’s advice: “Opponents make mistakes. Play defense but look for that moment to attack. Games can change with one move, sometimes in an instant. So can trials” (219). This principle leads to her courtroom strategy during Vince’s trial: While she waits for Harrison to develop his theory about the crime, she plays defense and allows Ambrose to underestimate her. Keera knows that although things aren’t going her way, they could suddenly change, and she remains poised to shift into aggressive action when the opportunity presents itself.
Keera also uses chess principles to handle her personal life as she deals with Ambrose’s continuing harassment and obstruction. Although her conflict with Ambrose happens in the courtroom, it is personal. She uses Patsy’s chess advice to emotionally distance herself from Ambrose’s attempt to use their professional venue to punish her personally; as Patsy reminds her, “If you can focus in the difficult times, you will become a champion” (120). When faced with Ambrose’s continuing obstruction and lies, she again remembers Patsy’s advice to “[e]valuate and consider before you make a move. Don’t rush. And don’t let your desire to win influence the moves you make” (77). Ambrose becomes an example of what happens when one doesn’t follow this principle: In his desire to punish Keera, Ambrose’s emotions drive his decision-making. He knowingly withholds evidence from Keera, a move that will end his career and possibly result in a criminal trial of his own.
Because of the strong foundation of Patsy’s advice on chess, Keera can remain emotionally uninvolved despite Ambrose’s attempt to goad her and succeeds in both overcoming his harassment and winning the trial.
The Intersection of Status, Wealth, and Morality
In Her Deadly Game, Dugoni uses Vince LaRussa’s character and history to explore the ways that class, wealth, and influence intersect in contemporary American society. As Keera and Harrison delve into Vince’s history, they discover a man who is, as Keera puts it, “a survivor.” Born into an abusive home, Vince was bullied and shamed in childhood and survived by developing an alter ego, Jack Worthing, whose driving motivation is money. As Dr. Lisa Bennet says, “Vince associated wealth with success, at a very young age. Accumulating money became paramount to him because he believed it represented happiness” (344).
This alternate identity merges with Vince’s and has “a dark side that d[oes] the dark things the other identity would not” (344). Because Vince depends on money for validation, acquiring it becomes the central focus of Vince’s life. Coupled with the desire for money comes the desire to transcend the socioeconomic class into which he was born. Vince understands that class and money are intertwined: If you have money, you can transcend your class, and once you are firmly in the upper class, you can make more money. Maintaining his affluence thus becomes the central focus of Vince’s life, to the degree that it’s worth killing for. While Vince engages in forms of theft all his life, his final financial crime takes advantage of wealthy clients from his own upper-class echelons. Dugoni uses Vince’s journey to illustrate the lengths to which people will go to achieve and maintain wealth and status—even murder.
Dugoni also shows the effects of socioeconomic status from another perspective: Detective Frank Rossi’s. From the moment Rossi and Ford arrive at the LaRussa house, their investigation is informed by Anne and Vince’s class status. Rossi knows that because of the LaRussas’ wealth, the case will feature in the media, which also means that police officers wishing to utilize the case’s publicity will be showing up. As Ford comments, “Murder in this neighborhood bound to make the news, and that’s like catnip to the brass” (32). Because of the LaRussas’ affluence and connections, Rossi is going to have to “redline” the crime scene just to keep “the brass,” his higher-ups, from attempting to get in the limelight; he notes, “Cross [the redline] and you were obligated to file a report documenting your purpose at the scene, what you encountered, and with whom you spoke. Most officers avoided it like the plague” (4). Dugoni makes it clear that the media attention, and therefore the tenor of the investigation and trial, is driven by the affluence of both the victim and the suspect.
Although Vince commits morally reprehensible actions, Rossi’s assessment shows that Vince isn’t wrong about money’s importance. Dugoni doesn’t excuse Vince’s actions or choices, but he does show that Vince’s emphasis on the importance of wealth and class is not entirely misplaced.
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