Opening
Across Chapters 36–40, the fallout from Ryan Blanchard’s arrest detonates inside Mapleton’s homes: Erin Wooler turns grief into a relentless, door-to-door hunt, Al Blanchard crosses a violent line, and hidden in Marion Cooke’s basement, Avery Wooler scripts her own sensational “return.” Domestic implosions eclipse the police work, and the story tightens into a high-wire act of secrets, suspicion, and escalating danger.
What Happens
Chapter 36: Baggage
Erin reels from the news of Ryan’s arrest with a grim, hollow relief that quickly curdles into “colossal rage” at the anonymous witness who waited to come forward. She fears permanent damage to her family, especially her son, Michael. In a tender, fragile moment, she coaxes Michael from his room for a grilled cheese sandwich; his pallor and quiet fear signal how deeply he’s unraveling. The small act of care briefly steadies them, a fragile attempt to repair their shattered bond and the larger pattern of Family Dysfunction surrounding them.
In a hotel room, William Wooler weeps, imagining what Ryan might have done to Avery. He absolves Nora Blanchard of any blame for her son’s alleged actions, telling himself that children come “a certain way,” the same fatalistic logic he applies to his own kids. He clings to his love for Nora even as he recognizes the immense “baggage” their affair now carries. At the station, Nora sits in shock after watching police take Ryan away. Her lawyer, Oliver Fuller, explains that without physical evidence, they can’t hold Ryan for long. Nora catches herself hoping the police never find Avery’s body. As Al drives them home in brittle silence, a dreadful question forms: could Al, in a vengeful rage, have harmed Avery himself?
Chapter 37: You Utter Whore
In the car, Nora asks Al whether he thinks Ryan is guilty. He denies it so vehemently that she suspects performance. She tearfully apologizes for the affair; he cuts her down, even suggesting William might have framed Ryan. When Nora defends William, Al boils over. In a panic, Nora accuses Al outright of kidnapping Avery to punish her and frame William. Al slaps her hard—something he has never done—and orders her out of the car. His fury spikes because she believes him capable of hurting a child, yet still defends her lover.
Al speeds onto the highway, crying and raging, realizing he hates Nora with “pure, white-hot zeal.” He insists his son isn’t a monster, but admits he might be “capable of something unspeakable.” Elsewhere, Detective Gully fields an enraged call from Erin, who demands the witness’s identity. Gully refuses, saying there’s a “good reason” for secrecy. Erin’s distrust hardens.
Chapter 38: A Sensation
The narrative shifts to Avery in Marion Cooke’s basement, stewing that Ryan has been arrested—her plan is about punishing her father, not destroying the Blanchards. She coldly outlines a new script of Deceit and Lies: she will claim a masked man abducted her, kept her in a dark basement, then released her in the woods, a story both dramatic and impossible to disprove. She predicts her father will suspect the truth but stay quiet, afraid she’ll reveal he hit her, giving her maximum Manipulation and Control. She imagines national TV spots—Good Morning America—and adores the idea of notoriety.
Back at the Woolers’, Erin’s anger crystallizes into purpose. Convinced the witness lives on their street and that the police are bungling the case, she commits to canvassing Connaught Street herself. Michael offers to go with her; the moment is briefly heartbreaking. Erin heads out alone. First stop: Alice Seton’s house, where Erin suspects someone lied to protect Alice’s son, Derek.
Chapter 39: We Don’t Know Our Own Children
Alice, rattled by Erin’s wild-eyed urgency, lets her in. Erin asks bluntly if Alice or her husband placed the anonymous call; Alice denies it. When Erin mentions the police suspicion around Derek, Alice grows defensive, insisting on her son’s innocence. Erin leaves with a bleak truth that echoes through the novel: “We don’t know our own children as well as we think we do.”
William, mired in shame at the hotel, calls Michael to apologize. Michael listens in silence, then hangs up, severing William’s last tether to his family. At the station, Gully runs down the witness’s background. Marion Cooke has a documented history of abuse; her ex-husband carries assault convictions and a restraining order. The detail aligns with her need for anonymity, making her a “very credible” witness on paper. Nora sits alone in the dark, bracing for Al to return. She feels she deserves punishment, but steels herself to learn what happened to Avery—no matter whom it implicates.
Chapter 40: It’s Worse Than That
Erin continues door-to-door. Some neighbors pity her; others hide behind curtains. At Gwen Winter’s, Erin quickly clarifies she isn’t there to accuse Adam, Gwen’s autistic son, who’s been the target of cruel gossip. The two mothers share a flash of understanding about raising “difficult” children. Gwen offers friendship; Erin declines—she has to find the witness.
Al parks behind the Breezes Motel, where he used to watch Nora and William meet. The setting warps his nostalgia into violent fantasy: he imagines strangling Nora and dumping her body in the motel’s dumpster. The thought shocks him less than it should. Something in him has shifted.
Erin reaches the final house on her list: Marion Cooke’s. Marion opens the door and freezes—Avery is in the basement directly below them. Marion hustles Erin to the kitchen, away from the basement stairs, babbling small talk and praying Avery stays quiet. The two women sit at the edge of a secret that could explode with a single sound.
Character Development
Erin Wooler
Erin pivots from stunned grief to focused action. The grilled-cheese truce with Michael reveals her core as a mother, but her rage pushes her into risky, decisive investigation.
- Turns investigator, canvassing Connaught Street herself
- Balances tenderness for Michael with a relentless drive for answers
- Distrust of police hardens after Gully’s refusal
Al Blanchard
Al’s victimhood calcifies into violence and vengeful ideation.
- Strikes Nora for the first time and ejects her from the car
- Admits he might be “capable of something unspeakable”
- Fantasizes about murdering Nora at the Breezes Motel
Nora Blanchard
Shock gives way to suspicion and moral risk.
- Defends William when Al suggests he framed Ryan
- Accuses Al of kidnapping Avery, then fears what he might truly do
- Resolves to uncover the truth, even if it destroys her marriage
Avery Wooler
Avery’s interiority confirms calculated narcissism.
- Designs an unverifiable abduction narrative for fame and leverage
- Anticipates her father’s silence as protection for herself
- Focuses on attention and control over any remorse
William Wooler
Guilt isolates William completely.
- Clings to fatalistic beliefs about “how children are”
- Laughs bitterly at the “baggage” of his affair with Nora
- Fails to reconnect with Michael, losing the last thread of family
Marion Cooke
Marion’s veneer of control begins to crack.
- Credibility looks strong on paper due to her abusive ex
- Panic spikes when Erin arrives, forcing evasions in her own kitchen
- Lives with the constant fear that Avery will expose them both
Themes & Symbols
Appearance vs. Reality
The quiet charm of Connaught Street masks violent undercurrents: Al’s shift from wronged husband to a man who fantasizes about murder, neighbors who pity Erin while hiding information, and a witness who appears “very credible” even as she shelters Avery. The gap between façade and truth tightens the suspense, especially inside Marion’s tidy kitchen above a hidden child.
Family Dysfunction
Parents and children fail one another at every turn. Erin and Michael’s fragile sandwich truce tries to mend a deeper fracture. William’s call to Michael underscores the collapse of trust, while Nora and Al’s marriage implodes into physical violence. The novel insists that families are both damage sites and damage-makers.
Revenge and Obsession; Guilt and Blame
Avery’s plot begins as revenge against her father and grows into a bid for celebrity. Al obsesses over Nora’s infidelity until it curdles into action. Erin’s fixation on the anonymous caller propels her feet to Marion’s door. Meanwhile, guilt—William’s, Nora’s, Erin’s—drives choices that deepen the crisis.
The Breezes Motel Dumpster
A personal symbol for rot. It marks the spot where Al once watched infidelity; now it becomes the mental staging ground for murder. The dumpster literalizes the moral decay overtaking a “respectable” marriage.
The novel’s core premise—that Everyone Here Is Lying—sharpens: private thoughts expose who characters are beneath their performances, while their public actions push the plot toward collision.
Key Quotes
“Colossal rage.”
Erin’s reaction reframes her from passive victim to an engine of momentum. The phrase powers her neighborhood canvass and signals how grief mutates into risky resolve.
“Baggage.”
William’s bitter joke about his affair with Nora shrinks an immense moral and emotional burden into a glib word. The understatement reveals his denial and the unshed despair beneath it.
“There’s a good reason.”
Detective Gully’s refusal to identify the witness exacerbates Erin’s distrust. The line speaks to institutional opacity and primes the novel’s reliance on secrecy.
“We don’t know our own children as well as we think we do.”
Erin’s parting shot to Alice is the book’s thesis in miniature. It indicts parental blind spots from the Woolers to the Blanchards to the Setons—and to Marion, who thinks she understands Avery.
“Pure, white-hot zeal.”
Al’s self-diagnosis of hatred marks a moral point of no return. He recognizes a capacity for violence he previously denied, making him newly dangerous.
“Capable of something unspeakable.”
Al’s admission breaks the barrier between thought and deed. The line foreshadows potential escalation and reframes him not as cuckold, but as a threat.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters pivot the story from a procedural to a domestic powder keg. The police investigation recedes as Erin’s street-by-street search and Al’s violent awakening create new, immediate dangers. Avery’s self-authored myth readies a media spectacle designed to silence her father and enthrone her as a “sensation.”
The final image—Erin in Marion’s kitchen, Avery just below—turns dramatic irony into a cliffhanger. The narrative now runs on converging secrets: a mother inches from her child, a witness at the edge of exposure, and a husband imagining murder. The cost of lies rises, and the next rupture feels inevitable.