Local Woman Missing

Meredith is one of the novel’s three main narrators. Her portions of the story cover events leading up to her disappearance and death. Small in stature but highly driven by nature, Meredith invests her time and energy in what she sees as worthwhile causes, particularly through her work as a doula, which she performs even though her family doesn’t need the money. As a mother of two children, Meredith is attentive and engaged, though she sometimes feels conflicted about dividing her time between her work and family. Meredith highly values her independence, which leads her to avoid mentioning certain things to Josh.

Meredith derives particular satisfaction from supporting vulnerable women who might otherwise not be treated with the dignity they deserve. Her morality creates a huge internal conflict when she and Bea run over Shelby. Instead of championing Shelby, she allows Bea to convince her to help hide the body. Eventually, Meredith’s conscience-driven nature wins out. Though Bea deprives her of the opportunity, she resolves to tell the authorities the truth, demonstrating Meredith’s moral resilience.

Kate is another of the novel’s three main narrators. She is primarily responsible for recounting events that transpired immediately following Meredith’s disappearance. A veterinarian by trade, Kate is kind and thoughtful in her treatment of others. Her relationship with Bea is generally a happy one, with Kate being the more conventional and passive of the two. Inwardly, Kate is prone to some neurotic tendencies, including her fearful resentment of the workers renovating her home and her tendency to panic and assume the worst in crisis situations.

Ironically, Kate doesn’t fear the murderer in her own home. She is afraid of the construction workers, but doesn’t realize that Bea has killed two people and hidden a third in her studio. By the novel’s conclusion, Kate’s world has been turned upside down. When she learns what Bea did to Meredith and Delilah, Kate is shocked and heartbroken. Her transformation contrasts with characters like Josh, whose early trauma gives way to later healing.

As the third of the novel’s narrators, Leo covers events in the later timeline, following Carly’s escape. At first glance, Leo comes across as harsh and cynical. As he explains on one occasion, “externalizing feelings isn’t my thing” (174). Similarly, he prefers math to other academic subjects for its clear-cut, objective nature. He is highly judgmental of people like his father, whom he sees as weak and susceptible, and Carly, whom he views as erratic and irrational.

Over the course of the novel, Leo reveals a softer side. His story develops along both timelines. The earlier timeline reveals that Leo was bullied and lonely even before Meredith’s death and Delilah’s disappearance. In the later timeline, Leo gradually comes to understand, accept, and then admire Carly, perhaps seeing his own vulnerability in her. Overcoming his prejudices against Carly illustrates his growth. He is a round character, meaning that he changes from the beginning of the novel to the end.

Bea becomes the novel’s antagonist after a series of poor choices, such as killing Meredith and kidnapping Delilah to protect herself from going to prison. Unlike Kate, Bea is flamboyant, stylish, and assertive; Kate considers Bea to be the “decision maker” in their relationship. In crisis situations, Bea reveals herself to be more of a thinker than a feeler; she views Meredith’s death as a regrettable necessity. Bea also likes to maintain control of situations, as her discomfort in Dr. Feingold’s office during Kate’s exam reveals.

Though Bea manages to cover her tracks well, Kate notices a change in her following Shelby and Meredith’s catastrophic deaths. Once carefree, Bea becomes more somber and burdened. That said, her character is still mostly flat. She changes very little, illustrated by her response to the police investigation of her music studio and her comments over the phone in prison. Even in the end, she still seeks to justify and preserve herself above all else.

Josh is Meredith’s husband. At the beginning of the novel, he is kind and confident, not to mention a successful businessman. Josh is utterly broken by Meredith’s death. He goes on to become a workaholic who obsessively follows up on even slim leads regarding Delilah’s whereabouts, leaving Leo feeling neglected. Carly’s appearance, followed by the revelation that she is not Delilah, wreaks further havoc on his mental health. Only when he is reunited with Delilah does he begin to show signs of healing, though he proves less able to bounce back than his children. His character arc illustrates The Lingering Effects of Trauma.

Carly Byrd is a young woman and kidnap survivor. For most of the novel’s duration, she is mistaken for Delilah Dickey, including by herself. In her captivity, Carly demonstrates remarkable resilience, such as when inventing an imaginary friend to play games with her. By the novel’s conclusion, Carly still has a long way to go in adjusting to society, but she is, perhaps, a bit more confident in her abilities to rise above difficult circumstances.

On the surface, the Hanaka family seems to be the “picture-perfect” family, as Meredith describes them. However, the Hanakas embody the superficiality and repressive extremes of life in the suburbs. As Meredith discovers, hidden resentments and jealousies plague the Hanakas. Marty keeps his former acquaintance with Meredith a secret from both of their spouses, perhaps knowing that Cassandra would grow jealous or suspicious.

In fact, when Cassandra stumbles across proof that Marty and Meredith knew each other, that’s exactly what happens. The narrative implies that Marty may, in fact, be cheating on Cassandra, though not with Meredith. When Cassandra sends sinister text messages to Meredith, she fractures her family’s relationship with the Dickeys. However, the novel hints that Piper and Leo may repair that relationship in time.