The Other Mrs.

Two narratives in this section are woven together: Sadie’s and Mouse’s. The present-day story of Sadie trying to solve Morgan’s murder has at times been interrupted by flashback sections of Camille or Mouse, but in this section, Mouse’s narratives become tightly plotted and tell the sequence of events leading up to (but not yet revealing) her trauma. The pace of her story has quickened, and the mood has become ominous as she is left alone more with the increasingly mean Fake Mom. Her story ends with a cliffhanger, leaving the reader in suspense.

Sadie’s story takes a more serious turn with Officer Berg showing up at the clinic to discuss her alleged fight with Morgan. Sadie’s reliability is consistently called into question. Her work alibi is discounted because she left for several hours that day, and her suspicions that Berg is bribing the Nilssons to testify against her turn out to be another red herring. Information about women and domestic violence is somewhat clumsily introduced by Berg, which makes Sadie a stronger suspect in Morgan’s murder and undermines her idea that Jeffrey was the murderer. Sadie is more determined now to solve the murder, as she must clear her name. She decides to visit Courtney, Jeffrey’s ex-wife, acting erratically when she steals her house keys and breaks into her house. This behavior links Sadie more closely to Camille, though Camille does not make an appearance in these chapters. At Courtney’s house, Sadie finds a letter about a custody dispute, providing another woman to fit Berg’s gendered theory. This, too, turns out to be a red herring.

Sadie’s relationship with Imogen grows stronger in this section as the truth is revealed, helping to set the stage for Imogen’s actions that save Sadie’s life later in the novel. Their shared trauma also contributes to the theme of Female Resilience in the 21st-Century Thriller. Imogen was traumatized by her mother, who roped the teenager into helping her die by suicide. This helps to explain Imogen’s angry behavior. Imogen shares this brutal story with Sadie and asks her to keep it between them. She also acknowledges that they are both messed up; she is reaching out to Sadie for support by finding common ground. This new version of motherhood, built on mutual trust, stands in contrast to other models of motherhood depicted in the story, particularly Mouse’s experiences with Fake Mom.

It is not clear that Sadie is capable of being the surrogate mother that Imogen needs. Sadie, who was in the middle of a crime when the school called, at first lies to Imogen about the pictures. Sadie has assumed the worst about Imogen since their first encounter and has grown increasingly frightened of the adolescent, but Sadie’s moral clarity and insight have both been shown to be seriously lacking. She lies frequently and engages in devious and now criminal behavior. She also is quick to blame others for lying, cheating, and even killing. With Sadie as the narrator, the reader must navigate her clouded perspective, a minefield of false clues fabricated by characters, and red herrings planted by the author.