Listen for the Lie

“‘So, did you do it? Did you kill her?’ […] ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Seriously? That’s the truth?’ […] ‘The truth doesn’t matter.’”

After Lucy is fired from her job, a security guard at her workplace asks her if she killed Savvy. Lucy’s response, that the truth doesn’t matter, is a recurring motif throughout the book. It appears in the very first chapter and highlights how no one believes Lucy’s version of events despite the lack of evidence against her, pointing to the theme of The Misogynistic Dismissal of Survivors.

“I don’t want to think about murder, but I can’t seem to stop it. […] It started not long after Savvy died. Everyone said I was a murderer, and I couldn’t say for sure that I wasn’t, so I started thinking of all the different ways I could have killed her.”

Lucy reflects on how she has had intrusive thoughts about murder ever since Savvy died. The presence of these thoughts points to The Effects of Physical and Psychological Trauma—specifically, the latter, in this case. The thoughts spring from Lucy’s self-doubt about her innocence, which in turn stems from everyone else’s conviction that she is guilty of murder.

“Norma: ‘You know Lucy Chase lives out there too? Horrible woman. Savannah was an absolute peach. Just the sweetest girl you ever met.’ […] This, I should note, was a common theme in my first few days in Plumpton.”

The early episodes of Ben’s podcast feature different people’s perceptions about Savvy and Lucy, and as he notes here, the recurring theory is that Lucy is unlikable while Savvy is the opposite. The reality of the two characters’ personalities, when they are eventually revealed, highlights the theme of The Gap Between Perception and Reality.