The Chain

Kylie O’Neill is Rachel and Marty’s 13-year-old daughter, who gets kidnapped in the first chapter. She is observant and resourceful, and actively tries to escape her kidnappers. She easily figures out her male kidnapper’s (Jared’s) occupation and general location, which the police could use to pinpoint suspects after her release. Kylie also gauges the kidnappers’ lack of surveillance and uses nearby objects to try and pick the locks on her handcuffs; she even goes so far as to hold Jared at gunpoint. Her escape attempts don’t work, but she is eventually released once Rachel carries out her duties.

Kylie abides by The Chain’s rules once she’s released: She doesn’t reveal her ordeal to anyone because doing so would risk her and her mother. However, like with other links, the trauma of her kidnapping (and her mother’s part in a second kidnapping) remains: She becomes withdrawn and suffers stomach cramps, with her grades slipping in the process. Although Kylie sees a therapist, she can’t be open about her trauma. In order to find peace, she builds upon her resourcefulness by learning tricks such as lockpicking. This combined with her ability to shoot guns (taught by her uncle Pete) allow her to surprise The Chain leaders Ginger and Olly when she, her friend Stuart, and Marty are taken hostage. After ending The Chain, Kylie is finally able to heal.

Marty O’Neill is Rachel’s ex-husband and Kylie’s father. He is described as handsome and charming, and to most people, seems intelligent and responsible. However, he is somewhat shallow and unobservant. Marty appeals to most people because he is a lawyer who presents well in social situations. The Chain allegedly forbids Rachel from involving him when Kylie is kidnapped because they think he is the type of person who would call the police. However, another reason for this decision is The Chain leader Ginger’s attraction to him (after having seen Marty’s Facebook profile). Ginger is later revealed to have killed Marty’s previous girlfriend Tammy and set up a fake chance meeting to date him.

As a supporting character, Marty is mostly used to advance the plot. None of the characters shares truths with him due to circumstances, and Ginger likes him because he is simple and unaware. However, once Marty learns Ginger is not as she seems, he proves just as protective of Kylie as Rachel and Pete—even if he isn’t as physical of a presence as his brother.

Pete O’Neill is Marty’s brother and Kylie’s uncle. He is close with Kylie and his ex-sister-in-law Rachel, and is distraught when Kylie is kidnapped. Although The Chain does not allow Rachel to receive help from Marty, they do allow Pete, because despite being a veteran, he doesn’t always follow laws. Pete was in the Marines for years, and applies his skills to breaking into houses, dismantling computer bugs, kidnapping, and spying. While he tries to be reliable, he has a secret that almost sabotages Rachel’s mission: He uses heroin. At times, he is either high or experiencing withdrawal, both of which impact his judgment. Rachel calls out Pete’s mistakes, but he struggles to tell the truth—until they spend a night together and he promises to enroll in a methadone program. During this night, he also admits to having left the Marines due to his own drug-related (marijuana) negligence.

For most of the novel, Pete’s heroin addiction seems like a subplot unrelated to The Chain, but he is indirectly linked to the crime ring. The Chain leader Ginger, an FBI agent, investigated a specific crime family—the Jaliscos—and adapted their kidnapping scheme for The Chain. The Jaliscos’ cartels had a history of selling heroin to veterans and kidnapping people to run their errands. Thus, Pete is linked to The Chain’s methods of terrorizing the public. He was one of the veterans preyed upon by the Jaliscos and through Rachel, was recruited into a kidnapping scheme. This is ironic because, at the beginning of the novel, he suspects many veterans turn to heroin—which turns out to be correct. After ending The Chain, Pete is finally able to heal.

Heather and Jared Porter are the couple who kidnap Kylie in the first chapter. At a glance, they seem like the novel’s villains—however, they are victims of The Chain. While Heather is a college administrator and Jared is an English teacher, as normal as can be, they are forced to kidnap in order to save their own kidnapped son. As the link before Rachel, Heather both helps and hinders her. She kidnaps Rachel’s daughter but also offers advice to help Rachel achieve her goal of getting Kylie back.

As a couple, Heather and Jared demonstrate the love necessary for The Chain to function properly. Because Heather loves her son like Rachel loves her daughter, Heather is willing to become part of a monster (The Chain) to ensure her child’s survival. Both Heather and Jared are out of their element with kidnapping, but Heather proves harsher than Jared, and even kills a police officer to ensure their son’s survival. Whereas Jared often panics, Heather maintains a clear head—to the point of disturbing her husband. While being held hostage, Kylie realizes most links in The Chain kidnap children because most parents will fight to save them.

Amelia Dunleavy is the eight-year-old child whom Rachel and Pete kidnap to save Kylie. They initially plan to kidnap Amelia’s older brother, Toby, but unforeseen circumstances force them to take Amelia instead. Amelia is kidnapped not because of who she is, but because of who her parents are—relatively typical people with money and no relation to law enforcement. She herself is curious, imaginative, and friendly. These traits make it easy for Rachel and Pete to convince her that her kidnapping is a game. Like Kylie’s kidnappers, Rachel and Pete give Amelia toys and snacks to comfort her.

Timing aside, Rachel originally planned to kidnap Toby instead of Amelia because Amelia has a severe peanut allergy. This almost leads to catastrophe when Pete gives Amelia snacks that contain traces of nuts, and Rachel knows bringing her to a doctor will result in Kylie being killed. Rachel and Pete are willing to let her die, but Pete’s EpiPen arrives in the mail in time for her to be spared. This moment illustrates How Love and Parenthood Complicate Morality and Rationality, because “good” people like Rachel and Pete still draw a line between their family and others. Still, it is Mike and Helen Dunleavy’s understanding of Rachel and Pete’s circumstances (as fellow victims of The Chain) that allows the latter pair to escape prosecution for kidnapping Amelia.

Erik Lonnrott is a survivor of The Chain, whose daughter Anna was kidnapped and currently lives in a psychiatric hospital due to the trauma. Erik and Rachel meet through anonymous messages via the internet and newspapers. He is a math professor at MIT and is skilled at decoding systems, recognizing patterns, and recalling numbers. Since his and his daughter’s ordeal, he has worked on an app to trace calls to their closest cell phone tower in the hopes of identifying The Chain leaders.

The Chain catches on to Erik and kills him before he and Rachel can carry out their plan to identify the leaders. However, he leaves a posthumous message instructing Rachel and Pete on what to do. Together, Erik, Rachel, and Pete are able to end The Chain.

Ginger is one of the creators of The Chain, along with her twin brother Olly. Both twins experience changes in name as children, whenever they change guardians; Ginger was originally Mushroom, then Margaret, and finally Ginger, which her grandfather Daniel (or Red) chose to match her hair. Ginger is intelligent and manipulative, allowing her to earn degrees, become an FBI agent like her father Tom, and gain others’ trust. She also lacks remorse, having killed most of her (albeit abusive) family—including pressuring her stepmother Cheryl into suicide and shooting Tom and framing it as a suicide—as well as strangers through The Chain. She does seem to care about Olly, as she kills their half brother Anthony to avenge him. Ginger initially starts The Chain to pay off her and Olly’s student loans and afford houses; she also respects her grandfather Daniel (despite his part in the twins’ mother Alicia’s death) and uses money to improve his house.

After the twins and Daniel are financially secure for life, Olly wants to end The Chain, but Ginger craves more money and power. She starts using The Chain for personal matters and even orders the murder of Marty’s girlfriend Tammy due to her own attraction to him. Despite both twins having a part in The Chain, Ginger turns against Olly when he defies her, arguing that The Chain was her idea, so she can do whatever she wants. This is the extent of her reasoning, any semblance of her previous intelligence and self-preservation lost to greed. The Chain—once a means of providing for her family, a means of retaliating against childhood bullies and parents who abused her and Olly—ends with her, Olly, and Daniel’s deaths.

Olly is Ginger’s twin brother and one of the leaders of The Chain. Although The Chain was Ginger’s idea, Olly helped build it with his software engineering background. He shares many of Ginger’s traits, being intelligent and manipulative. However, he is the more rational of the two, and worries about the logistics of being caught. Ginger insists The Chain was her idea so she can do whatever she wants, creating a division between her and Olly that did not always exist.

Despite The Chain bringing in enough money, Olly doesn’t see a point in continuing it. He is willing to hurt others for his own gain, but does not take pleasure in it like Ginger. While the twins stood up for each other as children, against an abusive family and childhood bullies, The Chain ultimately comes between them.

Daniel, also known as Red, is Tom’s father, and Ginger and Olly’s grandfather (who renamed the twins Ginger and Olly). He is the one member of the twins’ family whom they seem to respect. Although he assisted Tom in killing the twins’ mother Alicia and kidnapping the twins from their commune home, he doesn’t see them again until they are charged to him. The twins seem to respect Daniel because his house is full of dead animals, and he doesn’t waste time on petty matters. He’s a former police officer like Tom, but isn’t a law-abiding citizen. In this regard, he resembles Pete, someone else with a military background but no interest in laws.

While unstated, Daniel is likely complicit in The Chain, as his grandchildren finance improvements to his house. Like other characters, he seems to prioritize family, and will do anything to protect his grandchildren—even attempting to kill innocent people like Rachel’s family.