The Family Game

“Their ancestral home a literal castle in the sky dragged to ground and anchored into the American landscape and its psyche. A testament to sheer bloody-mindedness and cold hard cash.”

This characterization of The Hydes is an important introduction to the sinister quality of the Holbeck family home. Characterized through imagery of bloody-mindedness and wealth, Steadman highlights the Hydes as the physical manifestation of abuse of power and wealth. What’s more, this quote notes that the kind of wealth and bloody-mindedness that enabled the creation of The Hydes and its subsequent evil is part of the American capitalistic mindset.

“I am just a British novelist with no real credentials—except one bestseller to her name—no real history, no Ivy League anything, no Oxbridge. I can’t imagine I’m what they had in mind for their firstborn son. I don’t even have a family, let alone a notable one.”

This quote highlights Harriet as an outsider character. The outsider is crucial to the structure of a thriller novel because outsiders bring in new perspectives that enable them to see the dangers, evils, or problems that prompt the thriller and are unseen by insiders. This quote characterizes Harriet through her outsider-ness as not having a family, not having wealth, and not having the same upbringing as Edward.

“I feel my expression freeze in place as I take him in for the first time, a strange sensation fizzling through me. It’s undeniable—his questionable past and ethics aside—and as much as I would never admit this to another living soul, there is something overpoweringly attractive about him. I hate myself for thinking it, but there it is. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”

This characterization of Robert is important in building up his mystique. His energy gives off power, a power that is easy for him to abuse. What’s more, Harriet’s deep attraction to Robert is notable because it reveals that Robert is a person who can easily use his charms and looks to take advantage of others.