Ask for Andrea

Content Warning: This section discusses murder, violence against women, sexual assault, and child abuse.

Brecia is one of the three protagonists and narrates significant sections of the novel. She is the first woman killed by James and the oldest of his three victims. Brecia has “straight brown hair and wide hazel eyes” (158). Few details are provided about Brecia’s life before her murder. James murders her a year after she ends a brief relationship with him because she finds him to be clingy; this decision shows that Brecia has good boundaries and a sense of what she wants in a relationship. In the year after they part ways, Brecia “redecorate[s] [her] duplex. [She gets] a new job and a raise” (11). Her independent and driven nature is further revealed in how she responds after her death. Brecia is the only one of the three narrators who unhesitatingly pursues James after he kills her: She goes back to his home and remains with him and his family for the remainder of the plot. Brecia vows revenge, swearing that “he ha[s] taken everything [she] had […] [She] d[oes]n’t know how, but [she] plan[s] to return the favor” (15).

Brecia is stubborn and resilient; even though, as a ghost, her power to intervene is quite limited, she never stops trying different tactics in order to keep other women safe from James.