The Other Mrs.

Sadie’s husband is described as an extremely attractive 40-year-old who could pass for 25. According to Sadie, he gives off “an intellectual, hipster vibe” (35). He wears his hair in a man bun, ahead of the trend, and this highlights his “chiseled face” and “bright hazel eyes” (35). Will is outgoing and well liked in their new community, especially by female students and neighbors. The narrative’s focus on his attractiveness to women is due to Sadie’s insecurity and jealousy; Will did have an affair in Chicago. Will enjoys being with his children, especially his younger son, Tate, and is more patient with the teenagers in the house. Sadie describes Will as the “voice of reason” in their marriage.

That is the Will presented to us by Sadie, who is an unreliable narrator, in part because she is not very self-aware and in part because Will hides his true self from his wife. The reader learns about another side of Will from Camille. Her Will is sexually irresistible and someone for whom she commits multiple murders. Will turns out to be the novel’s antagonist and a murderer in his own right. He murdered his fiancée, Erin, 20 years earlier when she told him she was leaving him for another man. He manipulated Camille into murdering his graduate student, Carrie Laemmer, who had accused him of sexual harassment, and Morgan Baines. He gaslights Sadie throughout their marriage, even replacing her medication with placebos so he can more easily manipulate her. When she continues asking questions and trying to solve Morgan’s murder, he first plans to murder her with poison and then tries to strangle her, revealing the monster beneath his urbane exterior.

Camille has long, straight hair, bangs, and arctic-blue eyes. She meets Will first when he saves her from being hit by a car, which is the first time she can remember someone caring for her. Her gratitude toward Will soon warps into a dangerous type of possessiveness, and she uses her sexuality to keep him hooked. Camille is seen to be a manipulative person, a mirror for Will, who is the master of manipulative behavior. While she manipulates him through seduction, he turns that back on her to activate her jealousy and protectiveness. Thus he is able to convince her, using her own weaknesses, to kill both Carrie and Morgan.

Although Camille disparages Sadie over her looks, her weight, and her lack of sex appeal, Will falls in love with Sadie and marries her. Camille is Sadie’s foil, which is ironic because they are two personas occupying the same physical being; in insulting Sadie’s body, Camille is also insulting her own. Camille has a serious violent streak that shows itself in her coarse language, sexual aggression, threatening messages, and, most seriously, her proclivity to kill to protect what is hers.

Camille seems to have more control over when she appears and more awareness of Sadie’s condition—in order for her to appear, Sadie must leave. She can manifest when Sadie is feeling under threat, for example, when being questioned by the police, or when she wants to use seduction to better control Will. It is not clear, however, if Camille is responsible for some of the more reckless behavior that Sadie recounts, such as snooping into patient files or breaking into Courtney’s home.

Mouse is a six-year-old girl and Sadie’s other alter. Unlike the other narrators in the novel, Mouse narrates her sections in the third person. This creates more distance between the reader and this character, as a third-person narrative is less immediate in time and space than a first-person narrative. Likely, Mouse’s abuse at the hands of her stepmother, Fake Mom, led to the initial splitting of Sadie’s personality into three separate personalities.

Mouse is a kind, intelligent, and empathetic little girl who enjoys the life she and her father have built together after her biological mother’s death. She and her father eat cookies, go camping, and play games together, including the statue game that Sadie cannot remember teaching to her youngest son, Tate. Mouse’s world begins to fall apart when her dad marries Fake Mom. When she is left alone with her increasingly abusive stepmother, she attempts to become small and nocturnal, like the nickname given to her by her father. Unlike princesses in fairy tales, however, she does not defeat her evil stepmother, and rather than a triumphant “happily ever after,” she is doomed to remain the tortured child of her twisted “once upon a time.” She is locked in a dog crate and forced to witness the slow and painful death of her beloved guinea pig, Bert. It is not until the end of the story, when she and Camille are on the path to reintegration with Sadie, that Mouse has the possibility of a “happily ever after” ending.

Daughter of the deceased Alice, 16-year-old Imogen is now in her uncle Will and aunt Sadie’s custody. She has a goth appearance and attitude, including black clothing, heavy eyeliner, and T-shirts featuring messages like “I want to die.” Closer inspection by Sadie is kinder than this initial description; she realizes that Imogen is a beautiful young woman with flawless skin and piercing blue eyes. Imogen’s attitude and behavior are initially believed to be caused by her mother’s suicide, but it turns out that Imogen helped her mother die, at her mother’s behest. She even documented the event by taking photos. This is a serious psychological and emotional burden to place on one’s child and accounts for Imogen’s aggressive and antisocial behavior, in which she verbally abuses Sadie, ditches school, and threatens to attempt suicide.

Imogen has secrets of her own, which Sadie discovers while snooping in her bedroom. There is a picture of a man with his face scratched out and a note saying that he can no longer lead a double life and has to end the relationship. This turns out to be both a red herring and foreshadowing. The identity of the man and his relationship with Imogen is never revealed, making this a red herring that Sadie and the reader consider for some time to be relevant. The idea of leading a double life, however, is an example of foreshadowing, for several of the characters (Sadie, Camille, Will) lead double lives. Imogen as deus ex machina saves Sadie’s life by hitting Will in the head with a fireplace poker, reinforcing the book’s theme of Female Resiliency in the 21st-Century Thriller.

Otto is Sadie and Will’s 14-year-old son and is described as an introverted, artistic, and troubled teenager. He was brutally bullied in his former school and was driven to the point of bringing a knife to school. Knives are a motif that suggest domestic violence, as the boning knife from the kitchen set is used to kill the neighbor, Morgan.

Sadie remarks early in the story that she and Otto are alike­—introverted and vulnerable—and very unlike Will. It turns out the root of many of Otto’s problems is his mother, or Camille. Camille, dressed in black and smoking cigarettes, convinced Otto to take revenge on the kids at school, even placing the knife in his book bag herself. When Sadie denies this because she has no knowledge of Camille’s actions, he is enraged to the point of terrifying his mother into seeking a weapon. Sadie’s suspicion of Otto’s involvement in Morgan’s murder and the violent drawings she attributes to him are red herrings in the text.

The youngest of the Foust family, 10-year-old Tate is most similar to his father. His sunny outlook makes him a clear contrast to both his mother and his older brother. He, like Will, has already made friends in their new home in Maine. He is presented as a typical and carefree child, the only one in the family whom Sadie is certain loves her. He spends much of his time with his father but also enjoys playing with his mother, especially the statue game. This becomes a point of contention, as Sadie insists she cannot remember the game and that Tate must be making it up by himself. She also insists that a doll on the floor belongs to him and denies that it is hers, even when he insists that it is. Like Otto, Tate is confused and wounded by his mother’s denial of shared activities. At one point in the story, he has an outburst and calls her a liar.

Officer Berg is in charge of the murder investigation of Morgan Baines. His role in the story, in addition to investigating the murder, is to impart information to Sadie and the reader. For example, Berg keeps Sadie updated on developments and discoveries such as the threatening notes, the missing phone, and the details of the murder itself. He also provides background information about other characters (such as Alice being sociable or Jeffrey being away at the time of the murder) that counter Sadie’s own perceptions or beliefs. At times this shows Sadie’s unreliability as a narrator, and at other times, it provides clues for solving the murder. He also relays information that seems to be meant more for the reader than for Sadie, such as when he speaks about domestic crimes and women. Berg functions as a kind of red herring who distracts Sadie and the reader from solving the mystery. When Sadie sees him twice placing an envelope full of cash into the Nilssons’ mailbox, she is convinced that he is a dirty cop bribing her neighbors to testify against her.

Berg’s conduct as a police officer has been the subject of critique among readers and reviewers. His sharing information with Sadie about the investigation is unethical and compromises the investigation, especially since she is a suspect. Likewise, his behavior when questioning Sadie at the police station is illogical and unethical. He knows she has DID and suspects that she is either a danger to others (if she is the killer) or in danger herself, yet he allows her to go home unescorted. He also does not make an appearance to wrap up the murder or explain how Sadie is exonerated of the crimes that she/Camille committed, leaving a loose thread at the end of the book.

Morgan is the neighbor whose murder is the plot’s inciting action. A vivacious and beautiful woman, she is rumored to have a close friendship with Sadie’s husband, Will. This sparks Sadie’s insecure jealousy and Camille’s murderous rage. Despite her death, Morgan’s presence looms in the novel, as she has a discernable influence on the characters’ actions.

As Sadie discovers when she sees Morgan’s family photo, Morgan was the younger sister of Will’s long-dead fiancée, Erin. While Will tells Sadie that Erin died in a tragic accident, he killed her when she tried to end their relationship. Morgan realized that her sister’s death was murder and, in turn, is murdered by Camille, who is manipulated by Will to commit the crime. Solving Morgan’s murder to prove her innocence is Sadie’s main motivating factor throughout the story.

Jeffrey is Morgan’s husband and the father of the unnamed six-year-old who discovered his wife’s body. He is a red herring throughout much of the novel. Sadie is convinced that he is responsible for his wife’s death, even though he was traveling overseas when she was murdered. Sadie’s suspicion is based on him simply being Morgan’s husband and is further ignited when she overhears him speaking with his ex-wife, Courtney, at Morgan’s memorial service.