Manipulation

One of the most prevalent themes of the book is that of what can be called manipulation. The main characters are manipulated into a situation in which they become trapped and are somewhat helpless to escape from. In City of Glass, Daniel Quinn can't walk away from the Stillman case. By the time he does, it is too late and he becomes the subject of the experiment itself. In Ghosts, Blue doesn't walk away from his assignment of following Black. It costs him his fiancee and almost his sanity. In the Locked Room, the writer becomes trapped in his search for Fanshawe, in spite of his wife telling him to stop working on the biography.

The assignments become craziness for all three of the men. Each is manipulated into the situation by circumstances. Quinn had time on his hands since he was in between novels which is how...