Laurel Mack's carefully constructed routine is shattered when the police call her in regarding a new development in her daughter Ellie's disappearance. Ten years have passed since Ellie vanished, leaving Laurel's life in ruins: her marriage to Paul Mack is over, and her relationships with her other children, Jake and Hanna Mack, are strained. As Laurel drives to the station, she braces herself for the worst, convinced that the police are about to confirm her daughter's death, a culmination of a decade of agonizing uncertainty and Grief, Loss, and Moving On.
Chapter 6: A World Loaded with Portent
Laurel reflects on her stagnant existence since Ellie's disappearance in 2005. She envies Paul's ability to move on and wishes she could similarly "say good-bye to herself" and start anew. The call from the police is the first significant event in years, forcing her to confront the possibility of finally learning what happened to Ellie Mack.
Chapter 7: My Best Student
The narrative flashes back to the months before Ellie's disappearance, focusing on her weekly math tutoring sessions with Noelle Donnelly. Noelle's behavior grows increasingly strange, marked by small gifts and unsettlingly personal questions that hint at Obsession and Psychological Manipulation. She expresses bitterness about her own life, contrasting her perceived emptiness with Ellie's seemingly perfect existence.
Feeling "freaked out" by Noelle's mood swings and inappropriate questions, Ellie decides to quit tutoring. However, instead of telling her mother the truth, she lies, claiming she has learned all she can from Noelle and needs time to study for other subjects. This act of Deception and Hidden Truths proves pivotal. Laurel, concerned about the expense, readily agrees to cancel the sessions. The narrative voice foreshadows Ellie's future regret: "How she wished she had told her the truth. Maybe if she’d told her the truth, her mother might have been able to work it all out and then everything would have been different."
Chapter 8: A Bag in the Woods
Back in the present, Laurel meets Paul at the police station, their strained relationship evident. Detective Dane presents them with photographs of items found in a rucksack in woodlands near Dover. Laurel recognizes Ellie's belongings: her rucksack, T-shirt, jeans, trainers, keys, schoolbooks, and purse.
The final photograph is of a passport. Laurel is confused, as she still has Ellie's passport at home. She realizes it is Hanna's passport, which the family had assumed was lost years ago. Laurel connects this to a burglary at their home a few years after Ellie disappeared, an event she had always suspected Ellie was responsible for. The police suggest Ellie ran away and planned to travel to Europe. Just as Laurel processes this information, another officer enters and informs Detective Dane that human remains have been found at the site. In shock, Laurel instinctively reaches for Paul’s hand.
Chapter 9: The Friday Night of Summer
A brief flashback transports the reader to a sunny Saturday in May, a week before Ellie’s GCSE exams. Ellie is in her bedroom with her boyfriend, Theo Goodman. They discuss their summer plans, with Ellie expressing a desire to do "everything" and feel alive after her exams.
She mentions paragliding and that her mother has offered them the use of her grandmother’s cottage. The atmosphere is light, happy, and full of anticipation for the future. This chapter serves as a heartbreaking contrast to the grim discovery in the present day, emphasizing the vibrant life that was cut short.
Chapter 10: The Madness Was Back
This chapter delves deeper into the burglary that occurred four years after Ellie vanished. Laurel recalls her feeling that Ellie had been in the house. The stolen items—an old laptop, candlesticks Laurel disliked, and a chocolate cake Hanna had baked—were peculiar, while more valuable things were left behind. The lack of forced entry convinced Laurel that Ellie had used her key, but the police dismissed her theory. For years, this hope kept Laurel tethered to the family home, contributing to the emotional distance between her and her other children and illustrating The Nature of Family and Motherhood under extreme stress.
The narrative returns to the present. Laurel sits in her car after leaving the police station, the confirmation of Ellie’s death sinking in. The "madness" she has suppressed for years erupts. She lets out a "dreadful roar" and pounds her fists on the steering wheel, expressing a decade's worth of repressed grief. Across the street, she sees Paul, his face sagging with sorrow. When he starts to walk toward her, she drives away, unable to share this moment with him.
Character Development
Laurel's character undergoes a significant shift as the truth about Ellie's fate begins to emerge.
- Laurel Mack: She exists in a state of suspended animation, her life defined by Ellie's absence. The news shatters her numb routine, forcing her to confront her deepest fears. The confirmation of Ellie's death unleashes a decade of repressed grief in a raw, violent outburst, while her rejection of Paul highlights her profound isolation.
- Noelle Donnelly: Introduced in a flashback, Noelle is immediately established as an unsettling and manipulative figure. Her bitterness, inappropriate questions, and obsession with Ellie's "perfect" life provide the first concrete clues that she is a central figure in the mystery.
- Ellie Mack: Through flashbacks, Ellie is portrayed as a bright, hopeful, and normal teenager with a promising future. This characterization makes the revelation of her death all the more tragic. Her decision to lie about Noelle is shown as a fateful, if understandable, mistake.
- Paul Mack: Paul is depicted as estranged from Laurel, a fellow griever whom she can no longer connect with. He appears rumpled and tired, and Laurel's annoyance at his presence underscores the complete breakdown of their shared emotional life.
Themes & Symbols
The themes of grief, deception, and obsession intertwine to drive the narrative forward. Ellie's lie and Noelle's manipulative behavior set the stage for tragedy, while the discovery of Ellie's remains forces Laurel to confront the full weight of her loss.
- Grief, Loss, and Moving On: This section marks a critical shift in Laurel's grieving process. For ten years, she has lived with the ambiguity of not knowing. The confirmation of Ellie's death does not bring closure but instead triggers a more acute and violent stage of grief, demonstrating that the absence of hope can be as painful as the absence of a loved one.
- Deception and Hidden Truths: Ellie’s lie to her mother about why she wants to stop seeing Noelle is a pivotal moment of deception. It is a small, teenage lie with catastrophic, unforeseen consequences. The discovery of Hanna’s passport in Ellie’s bag introduces another layer of mystery and misdirection.
- Obsession and Psychological Manipulation: Noelle’s behavior toward Ellie is a clear example of psychological manipulation. Her probing questions and expressions of envy are early indicators of a dangerous obsession that drives the novel's central crime.
- Symbol: The Burglary: The burglary from years past symbolizes Laurel’s lingering, desperate hope and her powerful maternal intuition. The police dismissed her "feeling" that Ellie had been there, but the discovery of Hanna's passport validates her instinct, suggesting that a mother's sense of her child transcends logic and evidence.
Key Quotes
"How she wished she had told her the truth. Maybe if she’d told her the truth, her mother might have been able to work it all out and then everything would have been different."
This quote highlights the theme of deception and its devastating consequences. Ellie's seemingly small lie to her mother sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to her demise. The reader understands the weight of this decision in a way that Ellie could not have at the time, creating a sense of dramatic irony.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters mark a turning point in the novel, shifting the focus from a missing person case to an active investigation into Ellie's death. The introduction of Noelle Donnelly provides the first glimpse of the antagonist and establishes the psychological suspense that will drive the rest of the plot. This section solidifies the novel's emotional core by plunging Laurel—and the reader—into the raw reality of her loss.