She's Not Sorry

Mary Kubica’s 2024 novel She’s Not Sorry is a psychological thriller that traces the story of the protagonist and first-person narrator, Meghan Michaels. She’s Not Sorry is Kubica’s ninth suspense and mystery novel and explores complex psychological and emotional dynamics within the context of the contemporary thriller genre. The same is true of Kubica’s past novels, which have been Indie Next picks and Goodreads Choice Awards nominees. In particular, the novel explores Stalled Recovery From Trauma, The Impact of Past Actions on Present Circumstances, and Secrets and Their Destructive Consequences.

This guide refers to the 2024 Park Row Books hardcover edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of childhood trauma, abuse, suicide, and mental health conditions.

Plot Summary

Forty-year-old Meghan Kubica lives in Chicago, Illinois, with her 16-year-old daughter, Sienna Long. They moved into their apartment beneath the Red Line tracks shortly after Meghan and her ex-husband, Ben Long, divorced. Meghan works as a nurse at a hospital and prioritizes her career. When she has time off, she attends a divorce support group and tries to relax at home.

One night, Meghan runs into her former high school classmate, Nat Cohen, outside her divorce group. She and Nat later reconnect on Facebook and make plans to meet up. Over coffee, Nat confides in Meghan about her tumultuous marriage. She’s been with her abusive husband, Declan Roche, for years. Nat feels incapable of leaving Declan because he’s violent and controlling. Meghan remembers a former patient, Anne, who was in a similar situation. She regrets not helping Anne more and devotes herself to Nat’s care, promising to be her friend. She starts running into Nat around the city and eventually invites Nat to stay at her place until she finds her own apartment.

One day, Meghan receives a call from Sienna’s phone. However, she doesn’t hear Sienna on the other end of the line. Instead, a man’s voice tells Meghan that he has Sienna and will kill her if Meghan doesn’t wire $10,000 into his account within five minutes. Meghan completes the transfer, tracks Sienna’s phone, drives to her school (where the call originated), and calls the police. However, Sienna is safe at school, and the police inform Meghan that she’s been the victim of a virtual kidnapping scam. Meghan realizes that Nat must be behind the scam, as she’s disappeared from Meghan’s apartment, taken Meghan’s rings, and deleted her Facebook accounts. Meghan goes to Nat’s and Declan’s alleged places of work for answers and discovers that Nat isn’t who she said she was.

One day, Meghan runs into Nat again. She chases her through the city and onto a pedestrian bridge. Meghan threatens to out Nat to the police if she doesn’t explain who she is and why she’s used Meghan. Nat retaliates. When they were friends, Meghan told Nat her biggest secret: Ben isn’t Sienna’s father and that she had never previously confessed the truth of her daughter’s paternity. Nat threatens to tell Meghan’s family the truth if she doesn’t leave her alone. Furious and terrified, Meghan shoves Nat over the edge of the bridge.

Authorities find Nat’s body and bring her to the ICU where Meghan works. Her real name is Caitlin Beckett, and she survived the fall over the ledge. Meghan is assigned to her care and is terrified that Caitlin will wake from her coma and reveal the truth of Meghan’s crime. She decides that the only way to avoid serving time is to kill Caitlin. She gives Caitlin her other patient’s insulin shot, and Caitlin goes into cardiac arrest. Meghan pretends administering the insulin was an accident caused by the nurses being understaffed.

Shortly thereafter, Meghan learns that her friend and coworker Luke Albrecht is behind a string of robberies and attacks occurring in Meghan’s neighborhood. Suddenly terrified that she left Sienna at home alone and vulnerable to Luke, Meghan races back to the apartment. Sienna is missing. She rushes to the edge of the city where Luke often runs and finds him holding Sienna at gunpoint. The police arrive and shoot Luke.

Meghan takes a month’s leave from work after Luke’s death. When she comes back, no one is talking about Caitlin’s wrongful death. Instead, they welcome Meghan and express their condolences for what she experienced with Luke. Meghan feels happy that she escaped. However, when she, Ben, and Sienna spend the evening together, she starts to wonder if Ben—who had been dating “Nat”—in fact knows all the secrets she’s been keeping.