52 pages • 1 hour read
A. R. TorreA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Gwen goes to work and finds Robert waiting for her in the lobby of her private practice. They go into her office to speak, and Robert asks her questions about confidentiality that feel accusatory; he does not know if Gwen is trustworthy. He gives her Gabe’s case file, and although Gwen is eager to take the job, she rejects the offer just “to see how much he really [needs her]” (59), citing the potential conflict of interest given the fact that they have had sex. This attempt at reverse psychology fails, as Robert claims that he can simply find another expert. Gwen gives in and takes the file, and Robert leaves.
Now that Scott is back home, he has been on the news frequently and has appeared in many interviews. Nita watches him do another interview, during which he tells the story of what happened to him and how he escaped the Bloody Heart Killer. Nita notes that Scott enjoys being on television; he is gaining a great deal of attention and many new social media followers. He begins to show the interviewer and the crowd how he managed to unlock his handcuffs with a fork, after which he ran home. Nita is still sure that Scott is lying, but she does not know what he is lying about.
Gwen examines Gabe’s case file, looking at the pictures and screenshots from his social media and the details of his disappearance. Gabe was the Bloody Heart Killer’s sixth victim, and Gwen notes that by the time Gabe was kidnapped, the people of Los Angeles had started to grow desensitized to what was happening. She keeps reading through the file, which also contains information on Gabe’s family. The file reveals that his mother died seven years earlier from a gunshot wound, which surprises Gwen.
Gwen reviews the report on Natasha Kavin, Robert’s late wife. Natasha was shot in their home while Robert was out of town and the then 10-year-old Gabe was sleeping. The file also contains a list of potential suspects in her murder, including a former client of Gwen’s. Robert himself has an alibi for the night of Natasha’s murder. Gwen stops reading for the night, then receives a text from her receptionist, Jacob, along with a news article announcing that Robert is representing Randall Thomspon in court. Realizing that her profile will be used for the defense rather than the prosecution, Gwen is confused and wonders what Robert is planning.
Supervised by guards, Robert has a brief first meeting with Randall Thompson to offer representation. After the paperwork has been signed, Robert is granted permission to speak with Randall privately. Randall and Robert meet in a private room in the jail. Randall is distrustful of Robert’s offer to represent him pro bono.
They discuss the evidence against Randall; Randall says that Scott’s accusation is a lie. Randall knows who Scott is, but he was not his teacher and never interacted with him. However, Randall has no alibi for the day that Scott was taken—he claims that he was at home alone. Robert brings up a photo of the box that was found under Randall’s bed, with souvenirs from each of the victims. Randall asserts that someone else must have put it there and maintains that he did not hurt or kidnap anyone.
Nita listens outside Scott’s door, eavesdropping on him talking. When she knocks on the door, he answers and says that he was just watching videos. Nita reluctantly leaves him alone, noting that since he has been home, none of his friends have been around. Scott has not wanted to see any of them and has not returned their messages. She goes to bed, but she is certain that Scott was talking to someone and asking them to call him back.
Detective Saxe has returned with a warrant that requires Gwen to answer questions about John Abbott. He asks Gwen if she was aware of Peeping Tom reports against John, who had been caught on security cameras spying on various women. Gwen is shocked. She does not feel that this behavior matches his personality, and John did not have any unhealthy sexual tendencies that she was aware of. She says that his focus was always entirely on his wife. Though she does not say so out loud, she often suspected that John was either gay or bisexual. The detective questions her about her assumption that John died by suicide, and she stands by her belief that he did. Saxe then throws out a wild theory—that Brooke killed John and then died of a heart attack—which Gwen immediately rejects. Saxe leaves, and Gwen hopes that he never comes back to question her.
Gwen has lunch with her friend and fellow psychiatrist, Meredith, who remarks that Gwen seems different. Gwen admits that she is stressed and tells her friend about the job she has accepted from Robert. She leaves out the fact that she and Robert slept together, but Meredith has already seen news stories about Robert and intuits this fact. Gwen has not heard from Robert since he gave her the case file. Meredith and Gwen discuss whether Randall is innocent. Meredith posits that maybe Robert himself is the killer; they discuss the hypothesis and then dismiss it as illogical. After lunch, Gwen checks her phone and sees that Robert has finally called her back.
Robert’s secretary has left a voicemail, asking Gwen to meet with Robert. The next morning, Gwen goes to Robert’s building to meet him and feels the sexual tension between them, but Robert only discusses the case files and asks for her insight on Gabe’s case. Gwen insists on seeing the other six case files before coming to conclusions. She asks why he came to her for this job, and he simply says he is determined to ensure that “anyone who could have prevented or who caused [Gabe’s] death answers for what they did” (91). Gwen thinks that the situation is a “broken equation” and is unsettled by the reality that Robert is defending Randall only nine months after his son’s death even as Gwen is fighting her attraction to him while trying to help his cause.
Nita stops Scott as he is leaving the house; he claims to be going for a drive by his school. She offers to drive him, but Scott insists on going alone. When Scott leaves, Nita goes to her laptop. She has set up tracking devices on his truck, his phone, and his shoes, and she now watches his movements from her computer. Her husband, George, tries to convince her that everything is fine and that Scott is safe now, but Nita is still obsessively worried about him. She can see on the map that Scott parks and makes a phone call, then paces up and down the street. Nita checks his phone records and sees that the number he just called was to a real estate company.
Gwen spends two days studying all the case files. She dedicates a wall in her office to her investigation notes, musing about serial killers and the motives behind their actions. She is trying to establish commonalities among the six killings in order to build her profile on the killer. Given the physical similarities of the victims and the sexual nature of the crimes, she hypothesizes that the killer was bullied or molested by a boy similar to the victim profile in the past, sparking hatred that led to these killings. Meredith enters, and they discuss the crimes together. Gwen notes the patterns among the deaths; all the victims were strangled, which is a relatively quick and merciful death. Gabe Kavin’s death is the exception; he was waterboarded, a uniquely violent and painful method.
Gwen meets with Robert again, and he asks how her profile is developing. She updates him on the patterns she has noticed between the killings, the victims, and the methods. She notes that the crime scenes are carefully planned and staged, which indicates a highly detailed and organized killer. She also hypothesizes that the killer is likely gay or bisexual and is living as a straight man, feeling deep shame over his sexual orientation. She talks about how Gabe’s death was different from the others and wonders why the killer was more violent with him. She has a pervasive sense that something is “off,” as though there is a piece she is missing. Robert tells her to disregard Scott’s case completely because the boy is lying about Randall Thompson; he hypothesizes that the killer intentionally let Scott Harden go so he could blame someone else for the crimes.
As in the novel’s earliest chapters, Gwen’s point of view predominates, showing her version of the investigation and highlighting her thoughts, doubts, and inner conflicts. At the same time, Robert’s interactions show a glimpse of his motives, while Nita’s perspective describes the aftermath of Scott’s return and the questions that his evasive behavior poses. To maintain the tone of mystery, however, the author deliberately limits these glimpses into other characters’ points of view, as much of the novel’s suspense hinges on the fact that key characters are keeping secrets and concealing the truth. With Gwen as the primary protagonist, the narrative is largely limited to her view of the wider scope of events, and her biases also influence how the story is told. For example, Torre conceals most of Robert’s thoughts in order to create the impression that he is hiding something significant. Instead, this part of the story provides more details on the nature of the Bloody Heart Killer crimes through Gwen’s analysis of the case files and the patterns between the victims. As her investigations conform to the expected “murder mystery” format, her activities gain an edgier tone because she finds the task equal parts fascinating and tragic, especially as she reviews the details of the boys’ deaths. Gwen’s analysis also provides more insight into the Bloody Heart Killer’s activities and possible traits; this information implicitly invites a comparison between the profile that Gwen is creating and the personality quirks of Randall Thomspon, the accused.
As Gwen dives into the case and examines patterns between the victims, her suspicions of Robert and his motives grow alongside the looming sexual attraction that she feels for him, and this intensifying conflict of interest foreshadows the inevitable collision that occurs much later in the novel. While Gwen’s motivations are straightforward, Robert presents as hot and cold, for although he willingly acts on the sexual tension between them, he also leans toward a chilly and business-like demeanor, at times questioning Gwen in an openly accusatory fashion, and he attaches very little significance to their sexual liaison. Despite the intimacy of their initial meeting in Gwen’s home, they now pull back to the professional sphere, meeting only within Robert’s or Gwen’s offices, thereby emphasizing that their professional boundaries are firmly in place.
Just as Gwen’s dealings with Robert are designed to raise new suspicions about Robert’s hidden agenda, Nita’s growing suspicion of her son is also explored in this section. Specifically, her intuition tells her that Scott is behaving strangely, and although he tries to justify his deceptive, evasive behavior as a response to trauma, she remains suspicious nonetheless. Thus, although the killer is believed to be caught, Torre builds an increasingly tense scenario that portrays multiple characters in a dubious light, implying that there is far more at stake than surface-level appearances would indicate. The cerebral nature of Gwen’s investigation also raises tension; given the conventions of the psychological thriller, such plots often escalate into moments of sudden and explosive violence in the climactic scenes. As Nita continues to worry about Scott obsessively, tracking his movements and his phone activity, Scott’s strange behavior adds to the building sense of mystery and calls his accusation of Randall Thompson into question.
The Psychology of Violence and Criminality becomes increasingly prevalent as Gwen conducts her research into the Bloody Heart killings and builds her psychological profile. However, despite the heinous nature of the crimes, Gwen clings to her empathy for violent clients, and when Robert questions her, she says, “We all battle demons. If they’re in my office, it’s because they’re trying to fix that part of them. I can relate to that. Can you?” (58). As Gwen reviews the grisly details of the Bloody Heart Killer’s activities, the novel explores the nature of serial killers and their motives, noting that each is fed by a different reason. Some kill because the urge is difficult to control; some view killing as a means to an end, and still others enjoy the attention and “power rush” that accompany their crimes. While the novel’s explanation of these dynamics is necessarily oversimplified, Torre attempts to apply a layer of nuance to a topic that is often overly sensationalized, and Gwen’s active efforts at empathy render her unique among the investigating characters whose actions typically drive such stories.
The theme of Coping With Guilt and Grief is also explored in more depth as Gwen gains more insight into Robert’s life and realizes that he also grieves the death of his wife. In this light, it becomes clear that Robert’s approach to dealing with his grief is not entirely healthy, for rather than finding ways to move on from the family’s tragedies, he has pored over the gruesome details of his son’s case file as well as those of the other victims, and Gwen notes that he is now “obsessing” over his son’s killer. However, Robert claims that this fixation helps him because the knowledge that there are other victims eases his guilt over the belief that he “failed” as a parent. In this context, his involvement in Randall Thomspon’s case represents his best attempt to bring the real killer to justice. Thus, Robert’s efforts and Gwen’s involvement also touch on the theme of Due Process Versus Vigilante Justice, and the narrative’s treatment of the topic pointedly declines to pass judgment on Robert’s actions or to promote a more traditional, law-abiding approach to justice.
When Saxe returns to question her, Gwen still maintains a vague, evasive approach on the subject of John and Brooke Abbott’s deaths, as shown when she refuses to disclose her speculations about John’s sexual orientation. She also feels a strong duty to protect Brooke’s image when Saxe posits that she killed John, saying, “[T]here was no way I would allow them to drag a dead Brooke Abbott’s name through the mud. I’d break John’s confidence and risk my own reputation if need be” (82). Gwen’s continued struggle with balancing The Tension Between Professional Ethics and Personal Duty thus lurks in the background as she pivots her attention toward the Bloody Heart Killer case.