Geoffrey Bell Character Analysis

Geoffrey Bell is an English man form Newcastle who is the third mate of the Neptune Cumberland. He’s Vincent’s coworker and, later, her boyfriend. When Vincent first meets Geoffrey, she believes he will play an important role in her life, and this proves to be true, as they become partners and, later, Geoffrey will be considered a person of interest in Vincent’s disappearance at sea, though the narrative ultimately reveals Vincent’s death to be an accident. Vincent and Geoffrey have a loving but strained relationship that is complicated by Vincent’s refusal to let other people control her life. The night of her disappearance, Geoffrey pleads with Vincent not to go outside and film the sea, as the Neptune Cumberland’s crew was instructed not to go outside during hazardous weather. Vincent defies Geoffrey and goes outside, where she loses her balance and is swept overboard and into the roaring sea. Heartbroken by Vincent’s disappearance and by his inability to help her, Geoffrey disembarks from the ship when it docks in Rotterdam, Germany, and disappears. Geoffrey’s actions make him look guilty to other crew members, including the ship’s steward, Felix Mendoza, who alleges that Geoffrey had a history of domestic violence. Ultimately, though, the shipping company’s lead investigator, Michael Saparelli, chooses to ignore these suspicions in order to avoid a scandal for his company, and Geoffrey remains on the lam at the novel’s conclusion.