That's Not My Name

Drew Carter-Diaz, the novel’s second protagonist, is the high-school senior who goes on a quest to find out what happened to his missing girlfriend, Lola. Because the sheriff and members of his community believe that he is responsible for her disappearance, Drew is isolated, hurt and angry. He makes erratic decisions that unintentionally create even more suspicion around him, making his plotline a key part of the novel’s thematic consideration of The Dangers of Isolation and The Deceptive Nature of Appearances.

Drew has his flaws. He omits information from his initial police statement, trying to hide the fight he had with Lola on the night she disappeared. He can be sarcastic when he feels attacked, skips school when he is feeling emotionally overwhelmed, and is even willing to break the law when it is necessary to find out what happened to Lola. He withdraws from his family while he processes his feelings about Lola’s disappearance, causing them a great deal of worry. On balance, though, Drew is an intensely moral person who cares deeply about the people he loves. He is almost comically anxious about the idea of stealing information from the sheriff’s office, and he feels great guilt about the fight he had with Lola on the night she disappeared. Drew cannot stand the idea of breaking Lola’s heart—he tells Roane that he “[hates himself] for it” (149). He also feels guilty about not sharing his feelings completely with his fathers and about worrying them by leaving town to follow the lead about Lola’s appearance in Waybrooke. By the end of the novel, Drew has made progress with his tendency to keep information to himself. He is eventually honest with everyone about his fight with Lola, and he becomes more open about his feelings with his friends and family.

In general, Drew holds himself to higher standards than others would agree are necessary. Because his fight with Lola is what caused her to storm off into the night alone, he is sure that he is responsible for her disappearance. Even Sheriff Roane tries to get him to see that the fight with Lola was perfectly understandable, but Drew cannot accept Roane’s perspective. It takes Madison’s kind intervention in the novel’s epilogue to convince him that he could not have saved Lola and ease the guilt he has been torturing himself with for months. His high standards also show in his decision to risk himself in order to find Lola—a decision that Max points out not everyone would come to—and his decision to stay and save Madison even once he knows she is not Lola. Yet despite his obvious courage and integrity, Drew does not see himself as special in any way—he is a humble young man who is simply trying to do what he believes is right.

Wayne Boone is the serial killer who kidnaps Madison, functioning as the story’s antagonist. By the time he takes Madison, he has already killed Lola and several other young women, choosing his victims based on their resemblance to his daughter, Mary, who was his first victim. Wayne finds his victims online and then stalks them in person, operating under the delusion that he is finding and bringing home his daughter, Mary, each time. His obsessive behavior related to Mary is a part of the novel’s motif of parents and children.

Wayne is a wiry middle-aged man, graying at the temples. He has conservative and misogynistic ideas about women and exhibits controlling behavior toward Madison, just as he did toward his real daughter, Mary. He does not approve of Madison wearing V-neck T-shirts or dark colors, preferring to see her in the stereotypically feminine and conservative clothing he dressed Mary in. He only allows Madison access to conservative, Christian-oriented media and recalls pulling Mary out of school because of her supposedly inappropriate friends. His interactions with the thrift store owner, Officer Bowman, and others demonstrate that Wayne can present himself as a kind and reasonable person. It is this side of his personality that helps him fool Madison for several days—he fusses over her comfort and safety, cooks her a big breakfast, and offers her constant reassurance that she will recover her memories. In reality, however, he has a violent temper and feels justified in harming others who stand in the way of his own desires. This aspect of Wayne’s character supports the novel’s thematic arguments about The Deceptive Nature of Appearances.

Autumn Roane is a friend of both Drew’s and Lola’s. Although she knew Drew first, she has subsequently become best friends with Lola. She is the one who designed and sewed the floral-sleeved jean jacket that Lola always wore. She is also the person that Lola called to seek comfort from on the night that Drew broke off their relationship. Because of her love for Lola, she turns over Lola’s voicemail to her father, Mark Roane, who is Washington City’s sheriff, and she harasses Drew, believing him to be responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Autumn is a person who is not afraid to take bold actions to support a just cause—when she believes that Drew is a killer, she is not afraid to confront him, and when she learns that he is not, she is not afraid to cross her own father in order to help Drew and find Lola. Autumn is also brave about confronting both her own flaws and those of the people she loves most. When she learns that she misinterpreted Lola’s phone call and that Drew is innocent, she immediately switches gears and asks how she can help Drew instead of doubling down on her original mistake and refusing to admit that she was wrong. When she sees her father treating Drew unfairly and conducting a lazy investigation, she openly admits that this is the case instead of refusing to see her father’s flaws.