46 pages • 1 hour read
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Paisley tells Liam that splitting up was a mistake because it’s safer to be together. They call Will’s name and get no answer. Liam asks her if she thinks Will is dead, and she is reluctant to answer. They finish searching and decide to go back when Paisley bumps into an ice cream cart. A panel falls off, revealing Will’s dead body. They call the others, telling them that Will was clearly murdered. When Camilla, Reeve, and Gibson arrive, Camilla retches at the sight. Camilla herds Harper and Paisley back to the hotel. Paisley thinks that she has never seen a body in real life and that it is much more horrifying than online.
Back at the hotel, everyone is accounted for except for Kenna, the cook. Malcolm explains that the rowboats are an emergency escape, but Gibson says that the water is too rough. Reeve argues that the safest choice is to remain there and try to fix the Wi-Fi or emergency radio. Paisley notes to herself that Malcolm is good at bossing people around but has not been any good in this real crisis. Harper interrupts to argue that they should look for Kenna, but she is overruled. Paisley worries that Kenna is already dead.
At the hotel, everyone waits in tense anticipation. The storm arrives, and Gibson and Reeve return from the control room, having been unsuccessful at fixing anything. Reeve and Paisley talk together on the sofa. Paisley notices that he refers to Kenna in the past tense and wonders if he is assuming she is dead or if he is the killer. Reeve asks her what she is thinking about, and to deflect, she asks him for his theories. He says that it would have been easy for a staff member to stay behind and just pretend to leave. Jumping at the suggestion, Paisley asks if there’s a staff list.
They get permission from Malcolm and head to the security room. En route, Paisley notices Camilla having an intense conversation with Malcolm. She looks afraid and seems to be saying the name “Robert.” In the security room, Paisley notices a folder labeled “Convictions” in the computer files. Reeve is resistant to opening it, and Paisley asks him if he is in it. He puts his head in his hands and admits that he has a felony. He tells her that he defended Gibson in a fight and accidentally killed his opponent, who was the son of a rich man. He landed in juvie but has since tried to turn his life around. Paisley tells him that she believes him, and they start looking through the records for a “Robert.” They find a listing for Robert Jenkins—Camilla’s last name.
They decide that Camilla must be protecting a relative—a husband or a son. However, when Reeve clicks on the file to check the person’s picture, he finds that all identifying information has been deleted. They decide to review some CCTV footage from the park themselves, rather than going to Malcolm and Camilla, as they worry that she might be involved. After reviewing the footage, they see someone near the ice cream cart but can’t make out any features. They find nothing else useful and can’t identify the person.
Heading back upstairs, the lights go off suddenly. Everyone panics, and Reeve calls out for someone to use their phone as a light. Ava’s is out of battery, and Camilla is looking for hers in the dark. She tells them that Liam, Malcolm, and Gibson went to try to repair the radio. Reeve says that he is going to the breaker box. They hear a loud noise in the darkness, and Paisley calls Reeve’s name, but there is no answer.
The room is still pitch black, and they hear a strange gurgling. Ava screams that it’s coming from James. The lights suddenly come on, revealing Ava hiding on the floor and James slumped over in his seat, a knife through his chest. After the initial shock, they decide to go together to the control room and find the others, hoping to evade the killer. Paisley descends the stairs, terrified and wondering why she is going first.
No one is in the control room, and the internet wires are still broken. Camilla tells them that there is an exit out to the park near the room. Hysterically, Ava wails that the men are all in on it together, and Paisley harshly tells her to get herself together. She asks Camilla to think of a safe place where they could barricade themselves and guard the doors. Camilla tells them there is a first-aid hut nearby in the park.
Terrified, the group makes their way through the park in a downpour, looking for killers around every corner. In the first-aid hut, Camilla locks the door and passes out towels since everyone is freezing and soaking wet. She tries the radio, telling whoever might be listening that they are safe and in hiding. Paisley worries that no one is answering because everyone else is dead.
After a slow burn beginning that teased the horrors to come, this section reveals the first murder victim: Will. His death moves the plot into high gear, and the rest of the narrative is rapidly paced, with many twists and turns in each chapter. For Paisley, Will’s death is also a loss of innocence. Despite her parents’ fears about her true crime career, she has always seen her work as an intellectual challenge rather than a source of real danger. Will’s disappearance makes Paisley realize the gravity of the crimes she covers. She says, “I cover this stuff all the time but it’s always things that have happened to others. No one I know, no one I’ve met. It’s easier to detach” (105). On a narrative level, his death breaks the wall that separates her as a detective-like character from the crime. Because this is a thriller, readers know that Paisley will eventually be in danger herself. This crucial moment shifts the novel away from a more traditional mystery into one where Paisley will be fighting for survival.
This shift also connects to the theme of The Attractions and Harms of True Crime Media. Up until this point, Paisley and the novel have been dismissive that there might be anything negative about an interest in true crime. Paisley maintains that she is just interested in human behavior. However, when confronted with Will’s body, she thinks, “I’ve seen so many dead bodies since I started my crime channel. But I’ve always been separated by a screen” (108). This separation allows her to intellectualize crime as a hobby, but the gravity of Will’s death reminds her that the bodies she viewed onscreen were also the bodies of real people with loved ones and friends who were affected. This moment serves as a reminder that true crime is more than entertainment and affects real people’s lives.
Preston uses several red herrings in this section to keep readers guessing about the identity of the killers. One of them is Liam’s intense emotional reaction to finding Will. Paisley meets his “haunted eyes” and thinks, “Crap, he’s really freaking out” (107). However, Liam is the one who has killed Will, and his reaction is entirely fake—just a ploy to get Paisley to trust him. In contrast, suspicion falls on the innocent Reeve because of his criminal record and his disappearance during the blackout. Harper urges Paisley to look at him with suspicion, though she herself is one of the two killers. Paisley struggles to navigate these twists and turns while keeping her head. She thinks, “I always thought I would be calmer in situations like this, but I never really thought I would have to deal with one” (139). Watching her try to stay calm and solve the puzzle when her life is in danger raises the stakes for readers. It also humanizes Paisley.
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