Survive the Night: A Novel

As Josh drives, he asks Charlie how much she knows. She tells him she knows everything. When he asks her why she went with him, she tells him she had to. She wanted to keep Marge and Officer Tom safe, and she believes that she needs to stop Josh herself. He tells her that other people would not have done what she did and that he likes their conversations. She then confronts him about his lies. Josh admits his real name is Jake Collins. The only truths he told her were the story about his mother, his father’s stroke, and his enjoyment of their conversations. He then reveals that his father blamed him for his mother’s abandonment and that he blames himself for it too. Charlie relates to this guilt. She confesses that a few days ago, she attempted suicide by overdosing on the white sleeping pills the psychiatrist prescribed her. The guilt she felt over Maddy’s death was too much. Charlie feared that if she stayed at Olyphant, she would make another attempt to die by suicide.

Charlie feels connected to Josh through Maddy and stays with him, in part, because she wants to understand why Josh would have wanted to kill her.