Armand Gamache

Armand Gamache is the hero of the novel, even though he is criticized for the decisions that he made during a drug raid. Gamache was cleared of any responsibility in the deaths and injuries that happened that day, but he still receives harsh criticism from the outsiders, particularly on social media. After he was cleared of charges, Gamache was offered a job as head of homicide, a job his son-in-law already held. Gamache accepted the position only because Beauvoir planned on leaving to take a new job in Paris. Before the raid, Gamache had been chief superintendent of the Sûreté.

Gamache can be compared and contrasted to Captain Ahab, a character from the novel Moby Dick. Ahab felt the need to get revenge on a particular white whale who was called Moby Dick because that whale took Ahab’s leg in a battle in which the...