The Forests of the Night the war as it really was, as James Kirkup observed, an "acid portrait of those who played at being members of the [French] Resistance". The novel's theme and title come from the opening lines to William Blake's poem "The Tyger": "Tiger, tiger, burning bright - in the forests of the night." "The Forests of the Night" was translated in 1951 into English by Nora Wydenbruck; it has not been re-printed since. Francis is the son of the Comte de Balansun, whose family resides in the French town of Saint-Clar, near the Pyrenees. Francis, in the beginning of the novel, skips
Red John Smith informs him that the "Tyger, Tyger" quote is used by dirty officers of California Law Enforcement. Smith is one of them. When he gives Kirkland the address to a safe house, he then shoots him to death while running to his freedom. He and the driver cover it up and before departing say, "Tyger, Tyger." While Kirkland originally monitored Jane through his connections in the FBI and researched Red John on his own accord, Kirkland's findings into the existence of this criminal organization enabled him to authorize Homeland Security to openly investigate Red John, as he is a suspected