Lawfulness and Lawlessness: Robin Hood vs. Bekker

The novel juxtaposes two cases: Bekker's murders and the Robin Hood murders. Both are illegally taking human life, but one is a psychopathic pseudoscientist on a drug-induced rampage and the other are police officers picking off criminals who have fallen through the cracks of the justice system, save Perry. The author is pointing out that one is not more illegal than the other: they are each evading the law and taking human life into their own hands. Kennett feels above the law and that power ultimately overtakes him, and he decides to kill the innocent Perry to further his cause. Even though Davenport like Kennett as a person, he cannot let him distort the law to his own purposes. It is much easier to see the wrongness of Bekker's actions, since he leaves his victims horribly disfigured and grotesque, but the Robin...