Themes Obsessed James Patterson and James O. Born

The Commodification of Women in James Patterson’s Obsessed

Thematic Claim

In Obsessed, James Patterson argues that when women are reduced to purchasable commodities—bodies to be rented, displayed, and discarded—their lives lose value in the eyes of both the system and its individual predators. The novel exposes this dehumanization through “The Girlfriend Experience” escort network, where young women are paid to simulate romance at parties and events, and through the violent aftermath when clients treat those women as disposable property. The Hudson River becomes a literal dumping ground for victims dressed in expensive clothes, underscoring how the market that priced them while alive also writes them off in death.

Three Plot Threads That Illustrate the Theme

1. The Recovery of Emma Schrade (Chapters 1–2)

The novel opens with Detective Michael Bennett and Bronx detective Terri Hernandez retrieving the body of a young woman from the Hudson River. She is “stunning,” dressed in a designer Gucci dress and Christian Louboutin heels, and bears a small puncture wound. Hernandez immediately notes how eerily similar this is to a previous Bronx victim: both were “pretty, both in formal wear, and both discarded like an old fast-food container.” The expensive clothing functions as the final irony—the victim was adorned in luxury goods intended for display, yet her body is treated as trash. Bennett’s silent prayer and his reflection that he must still feel sadness or retire hint at how the system forces detectives to desensitize themselves to the casual disposal of young women.

2. The Girlfriend Experience as a Market (Chapters 55–62)

Through informant Ronald Higdon and tech analyst William Patel, Bennett learns the terms of the commodity. The Girlfriend Experience is a “group of young ladies who make money renting themselves out as dates,” where sex is “negotiable” and everything is handled online with burner phones and prepaid devices. The network’s coordinator, Allie Pritz, a former NYU student, earns $10,000–$12,000 per month. She tells Bennett and Hernandez that the girls keep identities secret and cut off problem clients. This system deliberately camouflages exploitation as empowerment: the women run it themselves, set their own boundaries, and avoid pimps. Yet the very structure of renting one’s presence for money creates a class of people who can be hired, used, and—as the murders prove—eliminated when they become inconvenient. The commodification is not merely economic; it transforms the women into fungible objects whose safety depends on the goodwill of anonymous buyers.

3. The Murder Investigation and Perry Martin (Chapters 77–91)

The theme reaches its climax when the evidence leads to Coach Perry Martin, a Wolfson Academy football coach who regularly called The Girlfriend Experience line. Veterinarian Dr. Sloan, another client, admits he used the service multiple times and that his son is in jail on a “bullshit rape charge.” Martin, the murderer, used the network to procure women and then killed them, dumping their bodies in the river. Bennett and Hernandez set up a sting using Allie Pritz to answer a call from Martin. The operation exposes how the market that devalues women also creates opportunities for predators who see no inherent worth in the lives of the women they hire. Martin’s casual assumption that he could keep using the service after killing three women shows the ultimate logic of commodification: if a person is a product, replacing her is merely a transaction.

Character Connections to the Theme

  • Michael Bennett serves as the moral compass who refuses to let the victims become just another case. His personal connection through his daughter Juliana, whose friend Suzanne Morton was killed, personalizes the loss. Bennett’s insistence that “somebody’s missing her” challenges the abstracting effect of commodification.

  • Allie Pritz embodies the complexity of agency within the system. She is savvy, independent, and genuinely horrified when she learns her friends were murdered. Yet she dropped out of NYU because the money was too good, and she constructed a network designed to be “untraceable” — a design that also made the women easy to target.

  • Kyle and Jaden Banning act as casual consumers. Jaden flaunts his brother’s purchase of a “Girlfriend Experience” date for a school dance, bringing Emma Schrade (later murdered) into the Wolfson Academy social space. Kyle is a financial analyst who treats the service as a perk. Their detachment reinforces how normalised the rental of women has become among the wealthy.

  • Perry Martin is the embodiment of predatory entitlement. His repeated calls to the network and his willingness to kill show how the commodified lens erodes empathy; the women are never fully human to him.

Symbol Connections

  • The Hudson River — Where victims are dumped, the river becomes a symbol of erasure. The expensive dresses and heels contrast with the indifference of the water, suggesting that the market that valued the women’s appearance offers no protection after death.

  • The Girlfriend Experience — The name itself is a euphemism that repackages exploitation as a service. It sanitizes the transaction by likening it to a relationship, obscuring the power imbalance and the risk that the “girlfriend” is a temporary possession.

  • Wolfson Academy — A private school that hosts dances where students can bring hired dates. The academy represents the breeding ground for the culture of entitlement; Jaden Banning and others learn that women can be purchased for social occasions.

  • Basketball — Bennett’s return to coaching the Holy Name girls’ team in the final chapters (Chapter 109) offers a counter-model. Here, young women are valued for their skill and teamwork, not their appearance. The normalcy of the family celebration at the Fun Zone Grill symbolises the world Bennett is fighting to protect—one where women are not commodities.

Complexity and Contradictions

Patterson does not present a simple condemnation. Allie Pritz’s operation was created by women for women; she insists that the clients are “businessmen and professionals” and that the network had “never had a problem” until the murders. This raises uncomfortable questions about agency and harm. Is Allie complicit in the commodification, or is she a survivor in a structure that offers few other paths? The novel also shows that the perpetrators are not just anonymous strangers: Martin is a respected coach, Sloan a veterinarian, Banning a financier. The commodity system does not require malice from every participant—only indifference. The fact that Allie herself becomes a key witness willing to risk her life to stop Martin suggests that even within a commodified world, solidarity and justice remain possible.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the description of the first victim’s clothing in Chapter 2 reinforce the theme of commodification?

The expensive designer dress and heels emphasise that the victim was valued for her appearance while alive, yet after death she is discarded like trash. The contrast between the luxury goods and the river’s indifference shows the market’s refusal to grant her lasting worth.

2. In what ways does Allie Pritz both resist and perpetuate the commodification of women?

Allie resists by running a network free from pimps and setting clear boundaries, and by cooperating with police to catch a killer. She perpetuates it by profiting from renting out women’s company and by designing the system to be secret and untraceable—features that also made the women vulnerable.

3. Why does Patterson include the scene where Jaden Banning brings Emma Schrade to a school dance?

It demonstrates how young, privileged men learn to treat women as purchasable accessories. Jaden’s casual boast—“my brother got me The Girlfriend Experience”—normalises the transaction and connects the elite Wolfson Academy culture directly to the exploitation that leads to murder.

4. How does the symbol of the Hudson River function in relation to the victims?

The river acts as a dumping ground that obscures identity and destroys evidence. It represents the ultimate erasure of a person who has been commodified: once she stops being useful, she is simply disposed of. The fact that the river is also the place where Bennett begins his investigation symbolises the challenge of recovering value and humanity from a system that discards women.

5. The novel ends with Bennett returning to coach girls’ basketball. How does this scene provide a thematic counterpoint to the Girlfriend Experience?

Coaching emphasises skill, teamwork, and personal growth over appearance. The celebration at the Fun Zone Grill and the mention of Lisa Leslie (“not LeBron”) affirm that women’s achievements matter. It offers a vision of community where women are subjects, not objects—directly opposing the transactional relationships of the Girlfriend Experience.

For further context, see the main book page, the characters Michael Bennett, Kyle Banning, Perry Martin, Allie Pritz, and Terri Hernandez, and the symbols The Hudson River, The Girlfriend Experience, Wolfson Academy, and Basketball.