Cooper, the first-person narrator of the novel, is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan who has been diagnosed with PTSD. He cares deeply for his daughter, and her protection is his central motivation throughout the novel. However, that motivation had, in the past, led him to violence when he broke into the home of his late partner’s parents to kidnap his own child. He is prepared to kill both Scotland and Marie on first meeting them, drawing his gun on both. When Cooper reflects on his first encounter with Scotland, he expresses having been “disturbed” by the way his mind took over: “Disturbed by the fact that the idea of killing him swam to me so easily, that it felt like a natural solution” (17). He blames his willingness to kill and his ruthlessness on the war he fought, thinking:

This is who you are now. There was a time when you would cringe at Aunt Lincoln skinning a deer. Blood, muscle, fascia, bone: you couldn’t stand the sight of it. You would position yourself to the side and turn your head. Not anymore (17).

As a grown man and war veteran, however, he is able to hunt for food, repair the cabin, track their supplies, and make contingency plans to hide or escape if they are discovered, doing whatever is necessary to protect Finch, even though he knows that much of his actions are symptoms of paranoia.