59 pages • 1 hour read
Jeneva RoseOne of Us Is Dead
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 59-85Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 59 Summary: “Jenny”
Present
Detective Sanford asks if Jenny knew about the Petrovs’ money problems. She says that she guessed when Olivia’s card was also declined for her monthly dues. He also asks if she knew that Olivia catfished Shannon (no), Karen and Keisha had a relationship (yes), Shannon had Crystal privately investigated (no), Olivia slept with Mark (yes), and Olivia knew about Karen (yes). She demands to know what the detective wants from her, and he asks her to help him understand these women and find answers.
Chapter 60 Summary: “Jenny”
Keisha and Jenny clean after the others leave. Keisha tells Jenny about her relationship with Karen as well as Olivia’s earlier interruption of them. Given Karen’s situation, Jenny voices concerns, and Keisha acknowledges them but explains that her connection with Karen feels different compared to previous relationships.
Jenny is outwardly positive but inwardly feels some frustration that Keisha’s relationship with a customer could jeopardize her business. She advises Keisha to talk with Karen and keep an eye on Olivia. They wonder what she’ll do.
Chapter 61 Summary: “Karen”
Shortly after she wakes up, a hungover Karen finds Olivia at her door. Olivia excuses her behavior last night, citing an emergency with Dean. Olivia then claims that Karen’s betrayal of Mark weighs heavily on her. Karen asks for some time, and Olivia blackmails her for $50,000, which she demands by Saturday night, the night of the Madisons’ Halloween party.
Chapter 62 Summary: “Crystal”
Crystal directs the event decorators as they prepare for the next day’s party. Bryce is at the campaign office, and the door to his office at home has been left open. She goes to the computer monitor to shut it off but sees a folder named “Insurance Policy.” Curious, she opens it, but it doesn’t relate to their new life insurance. Instead, she discovers pictures of illegal imports and the trafficking of young girls. Horrified, she plays a video in which Dean carries a dead woman off-screen and hears her husband ask how many didn’t make it. There were six deaths, and Bryce tells Dean that the price will come out of Dean’s pocket because the women were pre-purchased. Cowed, Dean agrees, and Bryce laughs as he says, “Good. I wouldn’t want Olivia to end up in that pile too” (277). Crystal sobs and vomits before emailing the video to herself and going to warn Olivia.
Chapter 63 Summary: “Olivia”
Alone in her house, Olivia gloats over the knowledge that she’s milking both Karen and Mark for money. Crystal shows up and plays the video. Bryce’s involvement surprises Olivia, but she’s always known—and not particularly cared—that Dean was involved in illegal enterprises. She has Crystal send her the video. Crystal talks about speaking to the police, and Olivia throws her out, asserting that it’s just business. She plans to get involved in the operation and thinks, “Trafficking [needs] a woman’s touch” (283). She calls Bryce’s office and tells his secretary that she’ll be stopping by.
Chapter 64 Summary: “Crystal”
As Crystal leaves, she sees the man who stole her purse, recognizing him by his tattoo. She overhears him demanding more money from Olivia because the other man she hired to break into the salon assaulted the proprietor, attracting police attention.
Chapter 65 Summary: “Shannon”
Crystal turns up at Shannon’s apartment and looks so wretched that Shannon stops herself from slamming the door. She reaches out and holds Crystal while she falls apart. Crystal then shows her the video and tells her about Olivia. The two women comfort each other after the discovery of Bryce’s crimes. Shannon feels guilty and confesses that she hired a private investigator to look into Crystal but not Bryce. Crystal realizes that Shannon has known about her past all along.
Crystal’s original name was Savannah Hall, and she shot and killed her abusive ex-boyfriend. It was ruled a clear case of self-defense, but his family and friends hounded her in the aftermath. Desperate, she changed her name. When Shannon discovered everything, she decided not to use the information against Crystal.
Chapter 66 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia visits Bryce at his office and blackmails him with the video, though she doesn’t tell him where she got it. She demands $500,000 by the next night and full partnership in the business.
Chapter 67 Summary: “Jenny”
The evening of the housewarming Halloween party, Keisha and Jenny prepare for their final customers, Crystal, Olivia, Karen, and Shannon, who made a last-minute appointment. Jenny tells Keisha her decision to reduce their working hours and focus on building relationships. They hug, and Olivia arrives, making a comment about Keisha “converting another one.” She settles her debts from earlier.
Chapter 68 Summary: “Karen”
Karen enters the salon and exchanges warm smiles with Keisha. She throws a purse full of money at Olivia—the $50,000 Olivia extorted from her—pretending that Olivia left the purse at her house. Karen is dressed as a sexy skeleton for the Halloween party, wearing the same costume as Olivia. Crystal arrives and chats about the party.
Chapter 69 Summary: “Shannon”
Shannon greets everyone, including Crystal. She refills everyone’s drinks, but deliberately pours wine onto Olivia’s lap. Olivia tells Shannon that her animosity comes from the nickname “Nemo.” Almost laughing at the absurdity of it all, Shannon apologizes for hurting Olivia and says that she’s no longer that person.
Chapter 70 Summary: “Crystal”
Crystal returns home before the guests are due to arrive. Dressed as a cowboy, Bryce remarks that she was supposed to be a cowgirl instead of Sandy from Grease. Crystal tries to act “normal” around her husband. She reflects that she doesn’t know if she’s going to survive the night. She’s sure that Bryce doesn’t know she found the video yet and wonders how Olivia plans to use that information. Shannon arrives early, and Crystal is grateful for her strength and proud to call her a friend. Shannon tells Crystal that so long as she keeps Bryce away from his office, Shannon can get what they need. The others arrive, and Crystal momentarily mistakes Karen for Olivia, so close is the resemblance in costume.
Chapter 71 Summary: “Jenny”
Present
Detective Sanford asks if Jenny saw any of the women leave the party, and she says no. She tells him that he isn’t asking the right questions and should ask about Bryce.
The next several sections relate the official narrative as given to the police. Because of that, Shannon’s, Crystal’s, and Karen’s accounts of the party all contain misleading or incorrect information.
Chapter 72 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia and Dean arrive. She hasn’t told him about her arrangement with Bryce, not trusting him to handle matters well. She greets the other women and realizes that Karen looks identical to her, even including the purse Karen gave her earlier. She wonders why Karen had two of the same purse. She receives a text message from Bryce’s phone telling her to meet him in the guesthouse in 10 minutes.
Chapter 73 Summary: “Shannon”
Crystal gives Shannon a key to Bryce’s office and promises to text if she sees him coming. Pretending to be intoxicated, she gets in and turns the computer on, only to discover that the folder is missing. Reacting quickly to a text from Crystal, Shannon closes everything and hides under the desk as Bryce enters the office. Shannon remains unseen and texts back that Bryce is now carrying a gun.
Chapter 74 Summary: “Crystal”
Crystal anxiously awaits Shannon’s return. Bryce comes downstairs carrying a duffel bag and explaining that he needs to run an errand but will return before the fireworks start. Crystal heads upstairs and pounds on the locked office door, hugging Shannon when she opens it and asking if she has what they need. They worry about what Bryce intends to do with the gun.
Chapter 75 Summary: “Karen”
Keisha asks what Karen intends to do about their relationship as well as the private investigator’s confirmation that Mark is sleeping with Olivia. Karen storms over to Mark, yells that she knows about the affair, and informs him that she’s leaving him for Keisha. Then she publicly embraces Keisha, shocking the crowd.
Chapter 76 Summary: “Olivia”
Olivia goes out to meet Bryce but finds only the bag full of money. Just as she grabs for it, she is knocked unconscious.
Chapter 77 Summary: “Jenny”
Present
Before Jenny can tell Detective Sanford about Bryce, another officer runs in with the news that Dean has shot Bryce. Jenny is relieved that it’s finally all over. She shows Sanford the video, claiming that Bryce had police on the payroll and she didn’t know if she could trust him. He asks if Bryce killed Olivia, and she says yes, suggesting that Olivia finally blackmailed the wrong person.
Chapter 78 Summary: “Karen”
Present
Three weeks after Bryce’s death and Dean’s arrest, Buckhead is finally returning to a new normal. Karen arrives at Glow to find Shannon and Crystal bonding. She goes to kiss Keisha and overhears Jenny talking to a new client, Laura, who recently moved to the area. Laura asks if they knew the woman who was murdered.
Chapter 79 Summary: “Jenny”
Present
Laura offers her condolences for the loss of Olivia, and Jenny reflects on all the recent changes. Shannon and Crystal are close friends, and together they lead the Buckhead Woman’s Committee. Keisha and Karen are happy, and Karen has filed for divorce from Mark. Now that the case has been resolved, Jenny is dating Detective Sanford. Having seen a picture of Olivia, Laura remarks that she was beautiful. Shannon says Olivia was only beautiful on the outside. Laura wonders how someone could kill another person, and Jenny thinks, “Easily.”
Chapter 80 Summary: “Crystal”
The night of the housewarming party
Crystal has replaced Olivia and Bryce’s phone numbers in each other’s phones with burner cells that she’s been using all night. She has manipulated Olivia to the guest house, and Bryce has gone to the office. She and Shannon also fabricated the exchange about Bryce’s gun. Shannon went into the office to retrieve the gun, which she now presents to Crystal.
Chapter 81 Summary: “Karen”
The night of the housewarming party
Keisha and Karen wait for their cue. Keisha jokes that she’s having a hard time finding Karen attractive right now, alluding to the fact that Karen has deliberately made herself look exactly like Olivia. Karen then storms over to Mark, making as much noise and drawing as much attention as possible. She and Keisha are the planned distraction. After their embrace, Karen will circulate, separate from Keisha and confident that many will mistake her for Olivia at a distance. This will make it hard to tell when Olivia left the party.
Chapter 82 Summary: “Crystal”
The night of the housewarming party
Crystal waits for Olivia upstairs. When Olivia takes the bait—the bag of money—Crystal knocks her unconscious with a baseball bat.
Chapter 83 Summary: “Shannon”
The night of the housewarming party
Also in the guesthouse, Shannon affirms that Olivia is still breathing. Keisha joins them, and the three carry Olivia out of the guesthouse to Bryce’s Range Rover.
Chapter 84 Summary: “Jenny”
The night of the housewarming party
Jenny and Keisha use a tarp to drag the unconscious Olivia to a shipping container in an empty truck yard. Keisha leaves to wait in the car, and Jenny shoots Olivia to death when she wakes up. They drive back to the guest house, meeting Shannon there. Keisha wipes down the gun, and Shannon gives them the bat to throw in the back of the car and takes the gun to return to Bryce’s office. Crystal is keeping an eye on Bryce, who has returned. Jenny and Keisha smile over the fact that no one has noticed their absence. As “the help,” they had counted on it.
Chapter 85 Summary: “Jenny”
Present
Jenny believes killing Olivia was the only way to ensure that all three wealthy culprits would be punished. After killing Olivia, they waited for her body to be found. Immediately thereafter, Jenny went to the lead detective on the case and claimed to have information. She spent hours distracting him so Dean would have time to kill Bryce. Between Dean’s temper and Bryce’s earlier threat, the women assumed Dean would go after him. Jenny reflects that she only did what she always does—take care of her clients.
Chapters 59-85 Analysis
The final quarter of the book brings character arcs to a close and purges Buckhead society of its worst antagonists. Olivia’s murder only strengthens the relationships between the other five women, bonding them together. The novel ultimately invests in the importance of authentic self-expression and female community.
Shannon and Crystal bond over the discovery that Bryce is a “monster and a murderer” (309), and their compassionate response to Crystal’s discovery provides a pointed contrast to Olivia’s selfish and anti-feminist attempt to capitalize on her husband’s exploitation of women. After discovering Bryce and Dean’s criminal activity and Bryce’s threat against Olivia, Crystal immediately worries for Olivia’s safety and rushes to inform her of her possible danger. Olivia sees only opportunity for blackmail and greater riches in the situation. She values Dean as a (usually) good “provider” and chastises Crystal for failing to support her husband. She’s perfectly happy to embrace the violence that supplies her wealth, noting that “American dream was built on the backs of others” (284), and she even wants to take an active role in the operations. She thinks, “Trafficking needed a woman’s touch” (283), a cruelly ironic sentiment about the forced prostitution of women. Oliva rejects female community in small as well as big ways. Shannon observes that Olivia “was one of those women who had issues with every other woman, most likely due to her own insecurities” (305). On the other hand, Shannon opens her door to a distraught Crystal despite her issues with Bryce’s second wife. She feels the same instantaneous revulsion and need for action that Crystal did upon seeing proof of Bryce’s crimes. During their conversation, Shannon also confesses that she has long known about Crystal’s traumatic past. No matter how lost she felt in the wake of the divorce, she never revealed Crystal’s secrets. She learned “that Crystal was strong. She was a fighter, and [Shannon] would never use another woman’s strength against her” (290). Her response again contrasts Olivia’s predatory eagerness when Crystal started to approach the subject of her past before rapidly retreating.
Olivia’s murder unites the women. While Jenny commits the actual murder, the plot requires all five of the women’s complete participation and trust. Each single step requires collaboration. Wearing an identical costume, Karen plays the role of Olivia’s doppelgänger, which evokes Jenny’s assertion in the book’s that everyone has a doppelgänger within them. She and Keisha stage a scene together before separating. Having visually linked Karen to Keisha, they make it more likely that people will mistake the solo Karen for Olivia at a distance. They confuse the timeline and will also attest to Keisha and Jenny’s continual presence if necessary. Crystal manipulates Olivia and Bryce to separate locations while Shannon retrieves the gun and they text pre-scripted messages about Bryce being armed. They both wait for Olivia in the guesthouse, and Crystal clubs her over the head. Shannon hands over the gun, and Crystal fetches Bryce’s car. Keisha and Jenny drive and then carry Olivia to the abandoned storage container where Jenny shoots her. Upon returning, Shannon places the baseball bat in the trunk. The series of physical handoffs reinforces the amount of teamwork needed to pull it off.
The murder plot further provides Karen with an opportunity to resolve both her inner conflict and the tension between her public persona and her emerging identity. After worrying about the possible effects of the discovery of her relationship with Keisha, she embraces Social Performance and Image Construction but turns these practices against the harmful norms that govern them elsewhere in the novel. She claims her scandal and harnesses its power to suit her own ends. She and Keisha plan the announcement of their love as “the distraction, the car accident you can’t keep your eyes off” at the housewarming party (341). By making themselves vulnerable to the judgment of others in a spectacular fashion, they create the opportunity for Olivia’s abduction.
The novel suggests that the health of the community requires Olivia’s death. Jenny reflects, “Olivia was like a cancer, and not one that could be treated. She needed to be cut out” (351). Only by killing her can the others ensure that Olivia, Bryce, and Dean are all held accountable. Otherwise, they will use their money and power to avoid the consequences. Jenny claims, “We all know what happens to wealthy people […] Nothing” (351). Olivia’s death saves the women that would otherwise be enslaved and rids Buckhead of three corrupt and powerful individuals.
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