Keep It in the Family

The narrative shifts to Debbie’s perspective as she confides in Dave. Although Debbie has acted supportive, she secretly suspects that Mia is unfit to be a mother. Debbie confesses that she believes Mia is neglecting Sonny and is mentally unstable. Dave disagrees; he thinks that Debbie is being unfair and that Mia needs support rather than judgment. Debbie and Dave argue until their disagreement turns to snide remarks about their own marriage. Dave gets the last word and storms out, leaving Debbie wounded and angry.

The narrative shifts 18 years into the past and follows the stalker’s perspective as they reveal that they once had an accomplice. The accomplice’s precise age and gender are not specified, but the narrator sees the younger accomplice as a replacement for their brother George. They take great delight in sharing every aspect of their ritual with the accomplice, teaching them about their protocol for stalking, selecting, and murdering victims. They teach the accomplice to bring different clothes with them on each kill and to destroy the clothes they were wearing when the murder was committed, cautioning, “Our own DNA is our biggest threat” (93). The narrator watches their accomplice select a young boy to kill and lures the boy into the woods.

The narrative shifts to Mia’s perspective in the present moment. Obsessed by the mystery of the murdered children and gripped by the horror of their deaths, Mia is desperate to understand how they were taken from their families. She also wants to prevent the same thing from happening to Sonny. She is so afraid that the wrong person will see him and target him that she cannot bring herself to post pictures of him on social media. As her obsession escalates, Mia begins to distrust herself. She knows that she needs to give up her investigation into the children’s deaths and reengage with her family, but she feels powerless to break the cycle, and her inability to stop makes her feel even more guilty. Deep in the midst of her investigation, she pauses when she realizes that one little boy has a relative she recognizes. Mia went to college with his sister, Lorna, and she suddenly thinks that if she could reconnect with Lorna and hear her story, she might be able to give up her obsession. Without telling her family, Mia messages Lorna on Facebook and asks if they can meet.

The narrative shifts to Finn’s perspective as he reflects on his crumbling marriage. Because he and Mia share an iCloud account, he can see her internet history, and he knows how much time she spends in obsessive research. Mia isn’t aware that he knows, and Finn wants to keep her in the dark about his surreptitious surveillance. He observes that living the way he prefers to live “means knowing everything about her life, even when she doesn’t have the first clue about [his]” (103). Finn is hiding something from Mia and is desperate to keep his secret.

The narrative shifts to Mia’s perspective as she meets with Lorna and learns more about Lorna’s little brother, Frankie. As they talk, Mia notices a change in her own perspective. She realizes that although Frankie’s family is heartbroken by his loss, they are also grateful for the time they had with him. Mia realizes that loving someone means accepting the risk that you might lose them. She draws encouragement from Frankie’s family and resolves to connect with Sonny. As Mia heads home, she admits that she needs help to cope with her depression and PTSD and decides to ask Finn, Debbie, and Dave for support to help her recover.