Audrey asked:

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7 years ago
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Ahntara

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Fred Donaldson Welcome to the complex world of Dennis Lehane. Bob has his own morals. He is a law unto himself.

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Rick Patterson

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[Lehane is a lot more profound on this particular point than a quick read will reveal. As some of the other responders have pointed out, Bob was more or less operating on Marv's orders when he killed Richie. The fact that he has to live with his own conscience as a result, a relentless guilt that is embodied (ow! excuse that pun) in the sealed off oil tank in his own basement, means that he has definitely been wrestling with what he considers to be an unforgivable sin--let alone a felony murder. His inability to take communion demonstrates his understanding of what true repentance must be: taking responsibility for Richie's death. However, doing this would also destroy Marv's life, and Bob doesn't feel that he can inflict that on someone else, especially a member of his own family.
Where Lehane gets truly literary here is exactly where this question comes from: the apparent ease with which Bob has come to a position of delivering justice, one which definitely should give us all pause because it seems to be at such odds with his carefully described character. But look closely. When he renders his judgment of the dying Eric, Bob more or less describes why he has to kill him: Eric would never stop coming for more; he would not have been satisfied until he had totally used Bob up--an observation which sounds uncannily like Bob's own conscience and its relentless, unappeasable demands. By getting rid of Eric--a thoroughly unlikeable character whose back story offers us very little reason to empathize with him--Bob has done a service to the Umarovs, to Nadia, to Rocco, but most importantly to himself. He has finally atoned for being a thoughtless, rather inert tool who took the life of someone who didn't deserve to die in order to help his cousin (who doesn't deserve him at all and absolutely earns his own execution). The two murders are not alike at all; in fact, they are almost completely opposite. Bob actually achieves expiation for Richie's death when he kills Eric. The last scene with Rocco definitely gives us a clear sense that Bob is much more at peace with himself--even with God and fate or whatever understanding he has of the way the world works--than he was when he was suffering under his own self-recrimination. (hide spoiler)]

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Victor I was under the impression Marv killed Glory Days the way Bob explained at the end. I guess I didn't read between the lines enough to figure Bob did it himself. Totally missed that one.

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Madara Ranawake This is true. But I think Bob greatly regrets it (and he was just following orders). This is why he is religious and disassociate himself with that past (at least there are couple of mentions in the book - one is with Nadia for sure). He kills Eric genuinely for those reasons you mentioned.

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This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[How is it that Bob Saginowski is the same person that killed Glory Days yet kills Eric because he is a bully, cruel to animals and treats women badly?. (hide spoiler)]

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