Do you think any characters get what they deserve? Did you find other characters' fates undeserved or unjust?

The novel touches on important and universal themes of fairness and merit, and how one assesses what one deserves in life. Do you think any characters get what they deserve? Did you find other characters' fates undeserved or unjust? 

The outcome for the sniper was gratuitous--mercy for him?, a political statement about the treatment of immigrants by law enforcement?, a justified punishment?, all of the above?

Interesting question. I found the tidiness of the ending a little disconcerting - as it seems a unrealistic. Kate's hapless husband gets off again after totally screwing up; the sniper gets shot; the bad guys get caught, etc. However, I guess it would be rather bleak if it ended more realistically.

I think I'm having a hard time answering these questions because I really did not like the book.
I think the whole ending was unsatisfactory.

How in this world does a person like Ibrahim, one of the good guys (even though he is certainly not treated as one by his own coworkers and most likely not treated like one by most of the population of Paris if he is out of his uniform), get shot and killed after spending his day trying to save the lives of citizens across the city, while Susanna/Julia walks away with a gazillion dollars after arranging a set-up, a kidnapping, a terrorist attack, a robbery????? This is why I have a really hard time when people say to me, "what comes around goes around", "KARMA", "he'll get what is coming to him" etc. No! Quite honestly it seems to me that those people who are doing the next right thing in life often times suffer more than those who make the bad choices.

If you participate in nefarious behavior, you assume the risk. Bill and Wyatt chose to participate in something illegal. Deserve to die? I'm not sure, but definitely a consequence of the choices they made.

While no one died in the "terrorist" attack, perhaps Mahmoud believed that the people of Paris and the police got what they deserved- -a day of inconvenience and terror- -for what happened to his wife.

And I still can't figure out if I understand Dexter or not. He seems to believe in a sense of justice and identifies as savior of sorts for the "little guy". Is he lazy? Is he selfish? Or is he a naive, computer nerd with odd ideas of how things actually work? Clueless or conniving??? I'm just not sure. But he sure isn't going to learn any lessons that cause him to think through his actions if he keeps getting rescued in the nick of time.

Ibrahim certainly didn’t get what he deserved, after doing the job he was trained for. And Mahmoud didn’t get what he deserved. And Susanna/Julia deserved much worse. Dexter also deserves much worse. Well, the author gave us things to think about, and I always like that in a book.

While I agree that the tidiness of the ending was a bit unrealistic, I also agree with juliep's comment that the author gave us things to think about. I'm much happier reading books that aren't neatly tied up in a bow on the last page. Also, as much as I would have liked to see Dexter and the other characters referenced above get more of what they deserve, I also think that karma's failure makes me dislike some of these characters even more. Sometimes that is even more satisfying in a book than a fairytale ending.

Not sure what any of them deserved... I cannot relate to the suicide bomber. Since I am still wondering about who was doing what to whomever... it is a difficult question to answer.

I felt bad for the dying man who was presented with a way to care for his family after his death. He was told that he would be the only one to die. I also struggle with Julia getting all the money she was after. That felt a little strange to me after her insane plot to hurt Kate.

I felt that the most sympathetic characters did not get what they deserve. The sniper who was just doing his job and the men trying to make money for their children, albeit in questionable ways died while the brains behind the entire debacle lived to wreak havoc again.

Who judges what another person deserves? Does a bad person deserve a bad fate and a good person deserve to be rewarded? Perhaps in a perfect world, but the world we live in is far from perfect.