50 pages • 1 hour read
Lisa GardnerBefore She Disappeared
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Invisibility and Marginalization of Women of Color
Early in the story, Frankie ruminates on the disadvantages experienced by women from marginalized groups who become victims of crimes. She observes that people like Angelique and Livia and Lani Whitehorse are made invisible and marginalized by law enforcement. For example, the reservation police dismiss Lani Whitehorse as a runaway who abandoned her child. Police are similarly dismissive of Angelique, a dark-skinned immigrant from a poor community, and Emmanuel has to struggle to keep his sister’s disappearance in the forefront of public memory. Livia is invisible to society, a girl whose own family didn’t report her missing for fear of the police.
Frankie focuses her efforts on these young women, who are too easily dismissed by a society that does not see their value. Having been marginalized herself, she wants them to be seen and valued by someone who knows they matter.
Livia illustrates the experience of an intelligent and talented girl who lacks socioeconomic advantage. Livia’s mother and brother didn’t report her disappearance because JJ’s drug dealing put his freedom and family’s economic stability at risk. Despite her teacher’s attempts to help Livia envision a future outside her community, Livia believes such fantasizing is a waste. She is pragmatic and focused on her immediate needs because she has no feasible recourse to leave the socio-economic situation she was born into.
Livia’s Mattapan community has faced certain challenges related to crime. According to local crime data, residents have a 1 in 30 chance of being victims of crime, making the neighborhood one of the most dangerous in Boston (“Mattapan Neighborhood, Boston, Massachusetts Crime Index,” Boston Criminal Law). It is important to note that crime statistics can be influenced by various factors such as socioeconomic conditions, Broken Window policing, and population density. The novel shows how such a high rate of crime impacts public safety and community well-being. Officer Ricardo O’Shaughnessy, with his Irish and Haitian roots, represents the effort to bridge the gap between the police and the community. As the community liaison and outreach officer, O’Shaughnessy wants to build trust between Mattapan’s residents and law enforcement, a bond that is often lacking in areas with high crime rates. He lives in the Mattapan community and has ethnic connections to the majority population. The community knows and trusts him. Detective Lotham is also invested in the community; he knows its people, including criminals like Deke, and sees Angelique and Livia as people and cares about them. He, Detective Lotham, and Frankie show that women from marginalized communities do not have to remain invisible to law enforcement and society. The novel’s social commentary on the generational loop of poverty and crime argues for a healthy, reformed connection between law enforcement situated in the communities they police. Historically, this stands against the norm of policing in the United States, as police officers overwhelmingly live outside of the communities they police. The novel argues that this community-focused vision of policing will help marginalized people, who are traditionally ignored and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.
Guilt, Atonement, and Redemption
Frankie blames herself for her involvement in Paul’s death, and her work is a form of atonement. She believes that if she can ever bring back one lost victim alive, she will have redeemed herself. At the same time, she doesn’t feel worthy of redemption yet.
Paul tried with his last breath to tell Frankie that what happened to him wasn’t her fault. He came to Frankie’s aid because he had a deep understanding that everyone has worth, and everyone has weakness and needs help sometimes. Detective Lotham confirms that Frankie wasn’t responsible for Paul’s death when he looks into the circumstances and tells Frankie outright that it wasn’t her fault. Frankie’s self-blame is immune to rationality because she is so deeply aware of her own shame and weakness.
Paul also told Frankie that she was punishing herself even before his death. Since then, she has been punishing herself for her weakness, avoiding close intimate connections, facing anger and resentment from law-enforcement and grieving families as if it is no more than she deserves. By taking up Paul’s mantle as a rescuer of lost people, she hopes to atone for the better person she feels she took from the world. She offers them the same understanding that Paul gave her. She can see the worth in someone like Deke, who was responsible for so much harm but loved his sister and gave his life trying to redeem himself. Frankie is able to forgive Deke but not herself even though she was barely more than a bystander to Paul’s death. Frankie also gives Angelique the grace Paul gave her, assuring Angelique that Livia’s death wasn’t her fault.
Bringing Angelique home alive fails to transform Frankie or lift her guilt, but it does restore to her some sense of hope that, someday, she may be enough. Frankie learns that atonement is not enough for redemption because Frankie’s inner turmoil goes deeper than her guilt over Paul. Despite her yearning for absolution, she continues to grapple with the same feelings of unworthiness that exacerbated her addiction in the first place. She can’t find redemption until she forgives herself for her whole past, of which Paul’s death was only a part.
Gender Roles in Detective Fiction
The hard-boiled detective genre is typically male-centered, with male protagonists and antagonists. The protagonists embody characteristics such as logic, strength, and independence, while the antagonists represent moral corruption, vice, and violence. Women in the genre have traditionally been femme fatales, victims, or support characters like secretaries or love interests who either help or harm the protagonist along his journey. While classic detective novels have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes, the genre is constantly evolving. Modern detective novels increasingly challenge these traditional dynamics, featuring more diverse and complex portrayals of both male and female characters.
Lisa Gardner’s novels consistently focus on female main characters and their relationships with other women. Characters such as Viv, Guerline, and Lani’s mother are maternal figures. Lani’s mother insists that her daughter would never leave her own child and presses for her daughter to be found. Guerline has taken in and raised her sister’s children in a safer place than Haiti, and Viv plays a maternal role toward Frankie. All the cases Frankie references in the story are about lost children. Lani Whitehorse is a missing daughter as well as a mother herself. Frankie plays a maternal role with the children in the story, including Livia, Angelique, and Emmanuel. Now in middle-age, Frankie has a lifetime’s worth of perspective on the struggles faced by girls like Angelique and her friends. Frankie’s approach to problem-solving is influenced by her experiences as a woman, specifically her memory of mistakes she made as young woman. Frankie recognizes when she needs to push Angelique’s friends for information and how to do so.
Statistically, most violent crime is committed by men, but Gardner doesn’t scapegoat men as a group. Male characters like Stoney and Detective Lotham play significant roles in the novel. They are distinguished from the antagonists by their nurturing interactions with people they care about. Stoney takes the time to sit with Frankie and listen to her talk about Angelique’s case, Lotham gives her emotional support when she is traumatized and assures her that her guilt over Paul is unfounded. Other male characters play nurturing roles as well. Officer O’Shaughnessy’s position as a community liaison is one of connection and communication with others. Paul is the most powerful nurturer in the story. His life was dedicated to nurturing and supporting people with addictions, understanding their weaknesses, and helping them through difficult times. He is the model of what Frankie is trying to be.
