What do you think motivated Marlene all along? Do you think her motivations changed as the novel progressed?

Do you believe Marlene ever intended to submit the clemency petition? What do you think her motivation was all along, or did it transform as the novel progressed?

I think Marlene was motivated by revenge, regardless of how she pulled everyone into her MAD scheme. I think maybe she even believed that she was doing a "good and just" thing, initially, but her self-riotous motives went by the wayside when she found out that Oliver was doing more than she thought he should be doing to help Noa.

Guilt. Even though she may not have admitted to herself, or anyone else, what she did - her subconscious plagued her with guilt. She was evil and callous. And, she found someone equally racked with guilt to do her dirty work - Noa. I really don't think she intended to submit the clemency petition. She used Oliver, thinking he would not strike out on his own. When he went beyond her plans, she manipulated the situation back to her needs.

I think Marlene always intended to make sure that there would be no loopholes to prevent the death penalty. By attempting to control the lawyer, she was able to assure this.

opps, self-righteous, not self-riotous.

Marlene was cruel. Stringing Noa along with a possibility of clemency was just her method of punishment.
Even the way she dressed indicated she was cold and mean.

Revenge. She blamed Noa for everything and wanted to see her in prison, hold out the hope of clemenacy, and then deny it.

I'm not sure Marlene was motivated by revenge. More I think she was motivated by her sociopathic need for the truth about who killed Sarah and how. I think she thought if she had absolute proof that her pain would recede. I also think she was motivated by an incessant need for control. Because Noa had exhausted all of her appeals, Marlene now held the "final card" and she wanted Noa to know, without any doubt, that only Marlene could save her. As soon as Marlene realized that Oliver was off doing his own thing in an attempt to actually save Noa, she was quick to fire him and threaten to blackball him. Much in the same way she blackmailed Caleb into not defending Noa at the trail. Another narcissistic sociopath who was not interested in anything but what she could get from the situation and how much absolute control she could exert over two of the people she felt were responsible for Sarah's death.

Her motivation all along was revenge and she enjoyed her game of offering Noa hope and then extinguishing it. She got a perverse pleasure by her control and manipulation of people's lives.

I think Marlene was a sociopath, and as such she didn't feel guilt or even see that she had done anything wrong. She was enraged that something she wanted (her daughter) was taken from her. She reacted like a wounded animal, striking out at anyone she thought was to blame. I think she was motivated by rage and frustration that she had lost something she couldn't get back. I don't think her motivation changed.

Like Noa, Marlene is a complex character who can't be reduced to a single motive. especially when dealing with an emotionally charged subject. Guilt over her failures as a mother, revenge for her death, the desire to vindicate herself in Sarah's eyes and preserve her own self image by ensuring a conviction of guilt for Noa, jealousy that Noa possessed the gifts and strength she wanted to find in her own daughter, the need to manipulate and control events and people, and a genuine sorrow for her loss.

I also think her overriding need to know the truth about her daughter's death was driven by her hope that the answer would convict Noa morally, and exonerate her for any responsibility, but I doubt she would have believed the truth any more than she believed Ollie's evidence that Sarah wasn't pregnant when she died. Because that would have meant Marlene succeeded in getting Caleb to give her the abortion medication and that this may have contributed to her daughter's death.

Pure revenge. Marlene had no intention of helping Noa. She managed to appear sympathetic and knowingly denied any hope of clemency. Her actions were more damaging to Noa than doing nothing!