The Blue Heron is a symbol of the Bennetts’ daughter Allison. When Jason first arrives at the Delaware safehouse, he has been suppressing his grief about Allison to stay strong for his family. He walks alone to the beach and thinks about Allison, letting the grief take hold, and a Great Blue Heron takes flight near him. The heron’s strength and grace remind Jason of Allison, and the fact that the heron is taking off conjures for Jason an image of Allison’s spirit lifting. This symbol makes such an impact on Jason that he recalls it later in the novel. When he is blindfolded and tied up in Big George’s van, Jason confronts the impossibility of his mission. But instead of cowering or giving up, he calls upon the image of the Blue Heron to give himself the resolve to keep going, for Allison’s sake. Fittingly, when the Bennetts plant a tree in Allison’s honor at the end of the novel, Jason chooses to attach a tag to the tree in the shape of a heron.

One of the ways that Scottoline renders the FBI as flawed is by revealing their reliance on procedures—the “rules” that Jason eventually refuses to play by.