Finlay “Finn” Donovan is the protagonist of the book and through whose perspective the story is narrated. She is a 31-year-old divorcée and a single mother to two children, Delia and Zachary. Finn writes romance suspense novels for a living but finds herself drawn into the life of a contract killer following a mistaken assumption.

Finn is impulsive and disorganized. Her actions are not always well thought through, and she occasionally behaves unscrupulously, especially toward people who have given her reason to be angry, such as Steven and Theresa. Early in the story, Finn displays a capability of working in the morally gray.

Despite this, however, she also adheres to some internal moral code. Her questionable actions are ultimately motivated by a sense of justice—for instance, she explains her behavior toward Theresa with the fact that Theresa wronged Finn by sleeping with Finn’s husband. Nevertheless, Finn does not wish actual harm upon anyone, whether it be Theresa, or people like Harris and Andrei who have hurt other people. She does not actually kill either of the men, and throughout the Mickler investigation, she actively tries to keep Theresa out of harm’s way.

Finn is also intelligent and talented, even if under-appreciated.