Adam Macintosh

Quick Facts

• Role: Murder victim whose death propels the investigation and family drama
• First appearance: The novel’s opening, found stabbed in the East Hampton house
• Age at death: 47
• Occupation: Former federal prosecutor; later a partner at a private law firm
• Family: Husband of Chloe Taylor; ex-husband of Nicky Macintosh; father of Ethan Macintosh
• Central conflicts: Career resentment, domestic abuse, secrecy about cooperating with the FBI

Who He Is

At once dazzling and damaged, bolded name on first mention: Adam Macintosh is the novel’s most complicated absence—seen almost entirely through the contradictory memories of Chloe and Nicky. Handsome and charming in public, he curates a spotless reputation that makes him a poster child for the book’s meditation on Public Image vs. Private Reality. In private, however, he resents the life he built after leaving public service, lashes out at the people closest to him, and obsesses over whether he’s still “one of the good guys.” Even his looks—dark wavy hair, green eyes, ageless poise—function as a mask, smoothing over fissures that only his family sees.

Personality & Traits

Adam’s defining trait is duality: the impeccable public advocate versus the volatile, controlling man at home. That split doesn’t just create plot tension; it exposes how a cultivated image can enable abuse by making contrary testimony seem unbelievable.

• Publicly charming and supportive: He keeps a running list of Chloe’s accomplishments to brag about, wins over waiters and interviewers, and appears universally liked—“not a person on this planet who would say a bad word about him.” That social sheen becomes a shield, discrediting any private dissent.
• Privately resentful and bitter: After moving from prosecution to a high-paying firm at Chloe’s urging, he feels he has “sold out.” Compliments to Chloe carry an “edge,” revealing simmering envy and self-loathing that corrode their marriage.
• Controlling and abusive: He’s verbally abusive to Nicky and later to Chloe and Ethan, escalating to physical violence. Adam’s behavior repeats his father’s cruelty, making him a case study in Domestic Abuse and Its Legacy.
• Secretive and performative morality: He lies to Chloe about “client meetings” while secretly meeting with the FBI in Kew Gardens, a clandestine bid to reclaim his self-image as a principled prosecutor—even as the deception further erodes trust at home.
• Disarming appearance: He looks younger than his age and was a high-school heartthrob; his perpetually polished exterior camouflages the chaos within, reinforcing how image can be weaponized.

Character Journey

Adam’s arc unfolds after his death, peeling back layers of myth. Early recollections cast him as a stabilizing savior—he rescues Nicky from her worst impulses, then builds a seemingly model life with Chloe. But the lucrative career he adopts at Chloe’s urging corrodes his identity: the public servant becomes a corporate partner who despises his own success, and the son who fled a violent father replicates that violence at home. His secret cooperation with the FBI adds the story’s most confounding turn. It can read as a last-ditch return to principle—or as a scorched-earth rebuke of the life he blames others for making him live. The knife in the East Hampton house doesn’t cut short a steady climb; it exposes a man already in free fall, forcing everyone who loved him—or needed him—to confront who he really was.

Key Relationships

• Chloe Taylor: With Chloe, Adam begins as the perfect partner: gregarious, supportive, proud of her achievements. Over time, his resentment over the career shift metastasizes into cruelty, leaving Chloe both protective of the image they built and trapped within it; her affair with Jake Summer follows the void his abuse creates.
• Nicky Macintosh: As Nicky’s first husband, he is both rescuer and jailer—initially her lifeline, ultimately her controller. His manipulation of the near-drowning incident to secure sole custody shows how far he’ll go to control the family narrative and consolidate power.
• Ethan Macintosh: To Ethan, Adam is first a heroic single father, then a tyrant whose threats (including military school) turn their home into a battleground. Ethan’s secret recording of a screaming tirade captures the private Adam the world refuses to see, and becomes the prosecution’s motive in Ethan’s trial.
• Bill Braddock: A mentor-like figure whose standing at the firm—and connection to Chloe—initially elevates Adam. When Adam flips to the FBI about Bill’s corruption, the alliance reverses into a lethal rivalry, opening a non-domestic motive for murder.

Defining Moments

Even offstage, Adam’s choices script the novel: every revelation about him shifts the suspects, the stakes, and the meaning of “good guy.”

• The Met Gala call: Adam phones Chloe for help with Nicky, ending one marriage and starting another. Why it matters: It inaugurates his pattern of rebranding crises as noble rescues—and of choosing image-preserving exits over accountability.
• Custody maneuver after Ethan’s near-drowning: Adam inflates the incident to win sole custody. Why it matters: It exposes his willingness to distort truth to control his family, foreshadowing the legalistic, strategic mindset that later drives him to the FBI.
• Ethan’s argument video: The secret recording of Adam screaming at his son surfaces during the investigation. Why it matters: It punctures his spotless public persona and reframes the father–son bond as volatile, offering a domestic motive.
• Secret FBI cooperation (Kew Gardens): Adam meets agents while lying to Chloe about clients. Why it matters: It recasts him as a potential whistleblower seeking redemption, while introducing external enemies with lethal incentives.
• The murder in East Hampton: Adam is found stabbed in the family home. Why it matters: His death forces Chloe, Nicky, and Ethan to confront not just who killed him, but the private truths his public life kept concealed.

Essential Quotes

I kid you not: there’s not a person on this planet who would say a bad word about him. This line epitomizes Adam’s curated reputation—so comprehensive that it borders on the unbelievable. The hyperbole foreshadows the novel’s central irony: universal praise is not proof of virtue but evidence of how effectively public performance can silence private truth.

He looked at me for a full five seconds, studying my face. “But it’s what you’ve always dreamed of, isn’t it? And now you have it.” The studied pause turns a supportive remark into a diagnostic—and accusatory—one. Adam’s words flatter Chloe while indicting her for his discontent, crystallizing how admiration curdles into resentment after his move to the private firm.

You’re a loser, a druggie zombie. Don’t you even see that you’re losing your mind, just like your mother? Is that what you want? To be a dysfunctional invalid? Here Adam weaponizes stigma and family history to dominate Ethan, echoing the violence he endured from his own father. The slur-laden tirade reveals the ugly private reality behind his charm and anchors the motive theory that pits father against son.