My Spoiler Discussion for She’s Not Sorry contains a plot summary and the ending explained of She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica. Let’s discuss this psychological suspense story with a twist!
Spoiler Discussion for She’s Not Sorry
She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica. Published April 2, 2024 by Park Row. I read this book in April 2024.
This Spoiler Discussion for She’s Not Sorry will contain a Full Plot Summary, the Ending of She’s Not Sorry Explained, and a Discussion!
Plot Summary for She’s Not Sorry
Prologue:
The story starts off dramatically as ICU nurse Meghan Michaels gets a frantic call from Sienna, her teenage daughter. A man comes on the line saying he has kidnapped Sienna.
The Opening of She’s Not Sorry
- Meghan reflects on an seriously injured patient in the ICU, a woman who jumped off a bridge. Her name is Caitlin Beckett, and the hospital is trying to locate her family.
- Meghan leaves work and heads to her divorce support group, where she runs into a woman she knew in high school: Natalie Cohen. Meghan notices a bruise on Natalie‘s face .
Meghan gets a new patient
- The next day, Meghan is assigned Caitlin as her patient. Caitlin’s parents, Tom and Amelia Beckett, arrive at the hospital. They tell Megan that they Caitlin lived California and was pursuing acting.
- Meghan sees a strange man lurking around Caitlyn‘s room.
- Caitlin’s father tells Megan about a weird voicemail message he got from his daughter. She was in a room with white noise in the background and she said, “I’m in in trouble and need your help.” He overhears her tell someone the call is a wrong number.
- Meghan and Luke discuss that there’s been another armed robbery in their Chicago neighborhood and and how much more dangerous the city is becoming .
Meghan Reconnects With an Old Friend
- Meghan looks up Natalie on Facebook and sees a photo of her with a man who looks very familiar. They make a date to catch up.
- Luke tells Meghan he thinks there’s something off about Caitlin‘s parents.
- Sienna needs baby pictures for a school project so Meghan goes to get some from the basement storage room. Somebody traps Meghan in the basement.
- Meghan gets a call about an abnormality on her mammogram.
- Meghan and Nat meet for coffee. Natalie describes her husband as a lawyer who sometimes loses his temper. She gets spooked by someone outside the café and says she has to leave to look in on a sick friend.
Caitlyn’s Fall Was Not an Accident
- Luke tells Meghan that the police think Caitlin might’ve been pushed. A witness saw Kaitlyn arguing on the bridge with someone else.
- Meghan tells Caitlin’s parents about the strange man outside Caitlin‘s room. They inform the police.
- Meghan opens a red envelope with her name on it that she found with her mail. Inside is a note that says “bitch”.
- Meghan messages Natalie on Facebook to ask about her “sick friend.” Since Natalie sounds upset, Meghan meets her on a street corner. Natalie has a new bruise on her face and a swollen lip. She said she asked her husband Declan to go to a therapy with her and he got upset and hit her.
- Meghan and Natalie discover that Declan is tracking Natalie’s phone.
- On the way back home, Meghan feels like someone is following her. It’s Luke, who lives nearby and apologizes for scaring her. He’s worried for his pregnant wife, who is home alone on bed rest.
Meghan Visits the Site of Caitlyn’s Fall
- Meghan decides to go to the bridge. Jackson, Caitlin’s brother, also shows up and they trade stories about growing up in Chicago. Meghan catches him in a lie and becomes suspicious.
- Meghan is almost home when she sees an older man yelling at Natalie. She’s caring a duffel bag and says she has nowhere to stay. Meghan says that since Sienna is with Ben, Natalie can spend the night.
- Natalie says Declan controls all the money, that he is cheating on her, and that he sends her threatening texts.
- At work, the police ask for Meghan’s help. They’ve been going through Caitlin‘s phone and they want to see if any of her contacts are the guy lurking around her hospital room. From a photo, she identifies the man.
- The Becketts tell Meghan the man she identified is Milo Finch, an ex-con from California. Mrs. Beckett wonders if he might be the one attacking women in Chicago.
- Mr. Beckett takes Meghan aside and reminds her not to tell anyone about the voicemail Caitlin left him.
- Meghan goes downstairs to do laundry. When she returns to the apartment, Natalie quickly hangs up a phone call. She says it was a wrong number but Megan thinks she’s lying.
Meghan decides to confide her darkest secret to Natalie
- In the tense days before her wedding to Ben, Meghan slept with a stranger, who is Sienna’s father.
- A woman comes to the hospital, looking for Caitlin. She says Caitlin hated both her parents, and that Caitlin was seeing someone.
- Mr. Beckett creepily offers to walk Meghan home. He says Jackson lied about his whereabouts because he’s having an affair. He also says Caitlin’s mom was investigated for abusing children.
Natalie Disappears
- When Meghan gets home from work, Natalie is missing.
- The next morning, Sienna leaves for school. Then Meghan gets the call from the Prologue, from a man saying he’s kidnapped Sienna. He tells Meghan to wire him $10,000. She does and then discovers Sienna is at school. She was scammed.
- Meghan runs into Milo Finch. He says Caitlin used to waitress for him. After he fired her for stealing money, she broke into his house and uploaded child porn on his computer, then called the police. He now cannot see his own son. He says if there’s any justice in the world, Caitlin will die.
- Meghan tries to check on Natalie, but she deleted her Facebook page. Meghan calls the school where Natalie said she worked but they’ve never heard of her. She goes to Declan‘s law office but they haven’t heard of him either.
- Meghan decides to message a high school friend named Emily Miller. Emily says Natalie Cohen and her entire family died years ago in a car crash.
- The police find the man Meghan wired the ransom money to, but he’s a drug addict who says a woman paid him to use his account. After realizing Natalie stole her wedding band and engagement ring, Meghan decides Natalie also scammed her using a voice changer app.
Natalie Reappears
- Meghan’s follow-up mammogram is fine, but as she steps out of the doctors office, Meghan sees fake Natalie. Meghan chases fake Natalie through the streets of Chicago to a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks.
- Meghan catches up to fake Natalie, who admits it all. But Meghan can’t figure out why she is Natalie‘s target. She asks Natalie if she’s working with someone. Meghan notices that Natalie is wearing her stolen wedding ring and demands it back.
- A furious Meghan is able to back Natalie against the bridge railing and she’s trapped.
- Natalie throws Meghan’s wedding ring on the ground. She says that Meghan is the “common denominator” and to back off or she will tell everyone that Ben isn’t Sienna’s real father.
- Meghan is furious and pushes Natalie, who falls off the bridge to the train tracks below.
Okay, get ready for the first twist in She’s Not Sorry…
- Back at work, Meghan visits Caitlin‘s hospital room. Meghan realizes that Tom Beckett is a lawyer at the exact same firm that Natalie claimed Declan worked at.
- WHOA …. it’s a time shift twist. Caitlin is the woman Meghan knew as Natalie. Meghan was the one responsible for Caitlin‘s accident.
- Caitlin wakes up. Meghan reflects that she could go to jail for years if Kaitlyn remembers what she did. Meghan wonders if she can make a “mistake” that will kill Kaitlyn.
Meghan assesses the evidence:
- The witness who saw them on the bridge was too far away to identify her
- Due to Caitlin’s injuries, she might not be a credible witness
- But Meghan’s mammogram appointment put her close to the bridge that day.
- And if Caitlin remembers that Ben isn’t Sienna’s father, that is evidence that they knew each other.
- All of a sudden, Caitlin looks at Megan and says “you.”
- Meghan decides to kill Caitlin with an “accidental” insulin overdose. She slips another patient’s insulin pen in her pocket, then gives Caitlin the insulin injection, move the call button out of reach, and leaves the room.
- Caitlin goes into cardiac arrest, but Megan waits to call the code blue. She missed to another nurse that she gave Caitlin insulin by mistake.
Caitlin dies
- On her way home from work, Meghan stops at the liquor store. When she gets to her apartment Ben is there. Sienna had texted him and said that Meghan was “acting weird.” Meghan tells Ben she lost a patient and he offers to stay.
- Ben asks about her dating life and says he broke up with his girlfriend. Meghan asked his girlfriend’s name and he says …Caitlin.
- Meghan gets a text from Sienna saying she didn’t text Ben. Meghan frets that Caitlin told Ben her secret.
- Meghan is called into a meeting with human resources and she gets put on leave while Caitlin’s death is investigated.
- When Meghan gets home from work, Nico is there. He and Sienna are in the middle of writing another message …in a red envelope.
- Meghan tells Nico to leave. Sienna says that Caitlin told her that Ben is not her real dad. Sienna is the one who locked her mother in the basement. She’s furious at Megan.
- Luke calls and asks Meghan to meet him for a drink. Meghan tells Sienna that she will be right back.
Twist Number Two in She’s Not Sorry
- After their drink, Penelope calls Meghan looking for Luke. She said the police found Luke’s DNA under the fingernails of one of the robbery and assault victims. Penelope says she found pictures of Meghan and her daughter among Luke’s belongings.
- Meghan tries to reach Sienna, then calls 911. Her apartment is empty.
- Luke texts Meghan an address and she goes there. She beg her to let Sienna go. He asked her if she called the police and she says no. But somehow the police arrive and shoot Luke.
- Sienna suggests they don’t tell Ben that he isn’t her father.
Epilogue
Meghan goes back to work. Ben returns Meghan‘s missing engagement ring. He can’t figure out why it’s in was in his condo. Megan wonders if Ben knows what she did.
She’s Not Sorry: Ending Explained
The author tricked us through a constant manipulation of the timeline in She’s Not Sorry. Some of the chapters (the ones where Caitlin was in the hospital) were in the present, while others (where Meghan was with Natalie) were in the past.
Caitlin was the one who scammed Meghan.
Sienna was the author of the threatening notes (because Caitlin told her Meghan’s secret) and was also the one who sent Meghan to get her baby pictures and then locked her in the basement.
Luke was the creepy serial robber/ assaulter.
Spoiler Discussion for She’s Not Sorry
I was actually very impressed by the way all the loose ends were tied up. Yes, there were some odd things, but not that many.
Why didn’t the police find Ben’s phone number in Caitlin’s phone? Since the police said they were going through all the phone numbers she called, you’d think they’d notice that their victim was calling Meghan’s ex-husband.
Does Ben not keep up with the news? You’d think he might notice that his ex-girlfriend was in a terrible accident. Once it was a murder investigation, I think it would have been in the local paper.
How did Caitlin find Natalie Cohen to impersonate? Very dedicated and creepy!
Do you think Penelope figuring out where Luke took Sienna was a bit of a stretch?
When Caitlin told Sienna Meghan’s secret (that Ben is not Sienna’s biological father), why didn’t Sienna question why Caitlin (aka Nat aka Ben’s girlfriend) was in their apartment? Meghan told her that an old friend from school was staying with them, yet it was her dad’s girlfriend instead. Isn’t that suspicious? and why would she know any secrets about Meghan? Her dad’s girlfriend and ex-wife are friends and no one says anything??
Hi – this confused me a lot too but when I went back and looked, Sienna knew Caitlin, her father’s girlfriend, but she never met “Natalie” at her mom’s apartment. So she always assumed they were two different people.
Hi! I keep thinking about it and Sienna said Caitlin told her about it at the apartment. If I were Sienna, I would ask: why was Cautlin at the apartment? And why/how would she know my moms secret? And why would my mom even tell my dads girlfriend this?
thanks so much for responding I’ve been itching to talk to someone about this!
How did Ben get the wedding ring? I thought Meghan picked it up at the bridge?
Hmmm first I was stumped and I don’t have the book with me.
But I’m pretty sure Meghan says that Natalie stole both her wedding band and engagement ring. On the bridge, I think Natalie/Caitlin only throws the wedding ring on the ground.
So my guess (and I’m not 100% sure) is that the wedding ring got thrown and the engagement ring was still back in Ben’s apartment, where he found it. My notes say he mentioned finding the engagement ring. When I have the book I can double-check.