Readers Guide to Kill Your Darlings

2018

Thom and Wendy are having a joint fiftieth birthday party as they were born on the same day. After the party, Wendy mentions to Thom that they are both murderers. 

2013

• Wendy is questioned about the death of Alexander Deighton, the former head of the English department at the college where Thom is also an English professor. The police ask Wendy if she knows where Thom was on the morning that Deighton drowned, and she says he was in bed with her.
• Thom freaks out because someone searched on his computer for both Alex Deighton and Alexandra Fritsch. Wendy says it must have been their son, Jason. 
• Thom reads the article, which is about the unsolved stabbing death of a college student in Lubbock, Texas, 20 years ago.
• Thom tells Wendy that Alex Deighton is dead, drowned in the local quarry. 
• Wendy is at the quarry looking for Deighton, who says he swims there every morning. She goes there repeatedly to flirt with Deighton. One day, she lets him kiss her in the water, then Wendy pushes Deighton under until he drowns.

2012

• At a local pub, Wendy and Thom meet Stan. She’s immediately suspicious.
• Wendy asks Stan if he’s a PI.
• He says yes, he’s investigating the death of Bryce Barrington.
• Stan asks Wendy if she and Thom went to middle school together, which she admits.
• Stan also asks Wendy about a woman named Alexandra Fritsch, who died the same night Bryce did. 
• Wendy warns Thom to beware of Stan. She searches Alexandra’s name and finds out that she died the same night Bryce drowned. 
• Wendy goes to Stan’s motel room and tells him that she was out of town the night Bryce died and that she thinks Alexandra was a sex worker he was seeing. She asks how much money it will take to make this all go away.
• As Wendy leaves the motel, Alex Deighton pops up and tells her she must be no good.

2011

Wendy is having lunch with her friend Judy. They see Thom with a much younger woman. She warns Thom to keep the past in the past.

2009

Thom and Wendy’s son Jason goes missing while walking home from a friend’s house. Thom and Wendy panic, but Jason fell off a rock and into a crevice. He’s injured but okay. 

Thom breaks up with Catalina, the woman he is having an affair with.

2005

Thom and Wendy are moving in to their new house.

Thom searches the internet for a story on Wendy’s ex-husband, Bryce Barrington. He also reads an article on the death of Alexandra Fritsch, and reflects that he didn’t know her name until now.

2003

Wendy’s book of poetry wins a prize, something that seems to alarm her. 

2000

Wendy gives birth to Jason. 

1998

Wendy and Thom go to a Christmas church service and talk about God and religion. Thom is having an affair with a woman named Ariel. 

1995

Thom and Wendy get married in Las Vegas. 

1993

• Thom and Wendy meet at a literary festival in New York. Thom’s friend Becky suggests they all get a drink. 
• Thom tells Becky that Wendy was his middle school girlfriend. Wendy confides that she was married but her husband just died. 
• Wendy and Thom drive to New Haven, where Thom lives.
• They discuss Bryce’s death. Thom asks her “how was it on your end?”
• Wendy says it was fine and that Bryce’s death was ruled an accident.
• Thom describes meeting Bryce at the pool behind his home and pushing him in. 

1992

Wendy is at Bryce’s funeral, where Bryce’s family comments about how much money Wendy just inherited.

• Thom has just stabbed a woman. 
• Before that, Thom shoved Bryce into the pool, then pushed him under. A woman showed up looking for Bryce. He follows her car and when she parks and gets out, knocks her to the sidewalk. 
• Wendy directs Thom to the pool where Bryce will be smoking a cigar, as usual. 

• Wendy is at a literary festival and “runs into” Thom. Six months earlier, in Cambridge, they had discussed murdering Bryce.
• Wendy promises they will live happily ever after. 
• Their plan is to give Wendy an alibi in New York. Thom will travel to Austin, then drive to Lubbock. 

1991

• Wendy meets Thom in Cambridge and they discuss murdering Bryce. They rationalize that he drives drunk and by killing him they’re saving a potential victim. 
• Bryce can’t swim, so Thom and Wendy decide to kill Bryce so Wendy can get his $10 million. They are fated to do this!

• Thom and Wendy meet at a writers conference. They sleep together. 

• Wendy says she married Bryce because she was tired of being poor. But her husband is terrible.  She and Thom plan to met in Cambridge. 

• Wendy gets a call from a former high school classmate inviting her to a writers conference. She tells Wendy that Thom will be there, the boy she lost her virginity to.

1984

• Wendy’s mom picks her up at the airport. Wendy had been living with her aunt while she had a baby, a girl. (Did you think this was Thom’s baby? She was, right?) Also Abby in the comments below points out that the baby was Annabelle and that Thom’s assistant is also introduced as Annabelle, who goes by Emily, her middle name. She’s the right age to be their secret daughter, so this seems likely.
• Thom remembers Wendy. 
• Wendy remembers finding out her father died.

Kill Your Darlings: The Ending Explained

Or it the beginning of the book? Or is it both?

1982

• Wendy and Thom are on a school trip to Washington DC.
• They agree to find the Exorcist steps, the place the priest dies in the movie. 
• Their teacher mentions to Thom that someone fell down the steps and broke their back. Now there’s a security camera.
• Thom wonders if he should mention this to Wendy and decides against it.

My questions (and yours):

Did Wendy ever tell Thom about the baby?

Abby makes some great points below. Do you agree that Emily is probably Annabelle, Thom and Wendy’s baby? Both Abby and I thought this was a bit of a loose end, but having her pop up like that is clever.

Who is Holly?

I gave my copy back to the library, but to my memory, Alexandra was the witness to Bryce’s death. Was Holly the name that she used for sex work? That is my theory.

Why would Wendy assume there is NOT a camera near the Exorcist steps?

Back during the field trip in the 1980s, a CCTV camera seemed like more of a novelty. But in a busy city street in the 2020s, they are everywhere. It’s still a fun touch, though, and I guess an indication that Wendy will eventually face justice. Maybe there can be a sequel with Wendy and Emily!