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Have you read The Guilt Trip and need a run-down of the plot? Want to talk about spoilers? Need The Guilt Trip ending explained? Check out my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones.
Are you a Laura Lippman fan? What were your thoughts about Dream Girl, a book that (to me) seemed like a real departure for her, but an interesting one. Check out my Spoiler discussion and Plot Summary for Dream Girl.
Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD!
For me, Dream Girl was a LOT: the backstory of a male writer and his failed relationships (the snooziest part for me), a Misery-like drama about that man being held prisoner by his employees, and a #MeToo story about a man and a woman with drastically different memories of a sexual encounter in a hotel room.
List of Characters in Dream Girl
Timeline
Plot Summary for Dream Girl
Who Was the Dream Girl?
Spoiler Discussion for Dream Girl
Gerry Anderson is a white male writer in his early 60s who recently moved from New York to Baltimore when his mother was dying. Gerry’s first book, based on his parents and their ill-fated romance, won him the Hartwell Prize in 1986. He has no living parents, no siblings, no children, no current wife.
Gerry taught writing at Johns Hopkins in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986 a Johns Hopkins colleague named Shannon Little went to their supervisor and accused him of initiating a relationship with her and harassing her afterwards.
He denied the charges, but quit the teaching job. Shortly after that, and he and first wife Lucy divorced.
Gerry’s most successful book was Dream Girl, published in 2001, a Lolita-inspired book about a 72 hour romance between an older man and a much younger woman. In 2012, he teaches creative writing at Goucher College.
The women in Gerry’s life
Lucy – Gerry’s first wife. An extremely talented writer, she met him in an MFA program. She gave him a fancy letter opener as a gift. It’s unclear exactly when they married but their marriage ended with the Shannon Little accusations in 1986.
Gretchen – met her in 1986 in New York waiting in line for the bathroom. She waived all rights to his writing income, which was a mistake because he later published Dream Girl. She left him in 1999. In 2008, she called him, unemployed and bitter, and he revealed the identity of the “dream girl.” In 2015, a woman named Gretchen calls into a radio interview Gerry is doing and asks is he had a female collaborator for Dream Girl.
Sarah – married her in 2011 and were only married a few years. (In 2014 he says he knew he and Sarah would divorce within the year.)
Kim Barton – in 2014 he meets her at a hotel bar in Columbus. They go up to his room and have sex. He feels it was consensual, she says she was raped.
Margot – his most recent girlfriend. They met in 2016.
Victoria is Gerry’s new assistant. She studied at Goucher when Gerry was teaching there and tells him their paths never crossed, but actually she is his former student Tory. Gerry didn’t remember her.
Aileen, Gerry’s new night nurse after his accident, is Victoria’s roommate. It turns out she is actually Leenie, Tory’s friend and now roommate.
Gerry’s friends and family
Thiru Vignarajah has been Gerry’s agent for forty years.
Tara and Luke are Gerry’s friends from Princeton. He and Tara have a falling out after he doesn’t visit Luke in 1990 when Luke is dying.
Thiru, Gerry’s agent, visits Gerry’s Baltimore apartment, which is flashy and modern with a floating staircase. Thiru tells Gerry his publisher is pressuring him for a new manuscript.
Thiru also drops off a stack of mail, in which Gerry notices a letter from someone who lives on the same street as Aubrey, his main character in Dream Girl.
He’s pondering this weird detail when he trips over his rowing machine and falls down the floating staircase.
After his accident, Gerry is confined to bed and recovering at home with the help of Victoria, his assistant and his night nurse, Aileen. Due to his injury he will be completely bedridden for months. He asks both of them about the mysterious letter he received before he fell. Both deny seeing it.
Gerry’s ex-girlfriend Margot shows up, angry that when he sold his NYC apartment he got rid of her things. When Margot leaves, he gets a strange phone call from “Aubrey,” who says that she thinks it’s time the world knows she’s a real person.
Gerry asks Aileen to check the caller ID but she tells him no one called. He’s worried he has dementia like his mother but decides it’s the drugs he’s on after his accident.
Gerry tries to figure out who could have called him. He thinks of Shannon Little, his teaching colleague in the Johns Hopkins MFA program, the woman he cheated on his first wife with in 1986.
Shannon seemed “determined to seduce him” so he gave in. Later she accuses him of harassment.
After that he divorced Lucy and moved to New York. Fifteen years later, he published Dream Girl and Shannon, who thought she was the inspiration for Aubrey, wrote a self-published rebuttal.
“Aubrey” calls again. The next day, Victoria tells him that someone called @DreamGirlAubrey is tagging him in her tweets about his uncircumsized penis.
Thiru tells Gerry the person is a troll and to ignore them. The tweet gets deleted. Aubrey calls again saying she can’t wait to see him. She wants half of the profits from Dream Girl.
Gerry decides to hire a detective (Tess Monaghan, the character in Lippmann’s detective series). Tess says she doesn’t think she can help and suggests that he buy a recording device to tape the calls.
Margot comes back, asking for money. Gerry refuses and she tells him that she knows secrets about him. They argue and she slaps and scratches him.
He pushes her away. She takes money out of his wallet and leaves.
In the morning he wakes up to see Margot’s body on the floor, stabbed through the eye with the letter opener that Lucy gave him.
Aileen comes upstairs and she and Gerry discuss calling the police and/or a lawyer. Then Aileen says she’ll handle it. He tells Victoria not to come in to work so that Aileen can deal with Margot’s body.
Aileen buys a large freezer and claims it’s to hold a side of beef that Gerry ordered during an Ambien haze. (She seems to have ordered an actual side of beef, then donated that and cut up Margot’s body and disposed of it.)
The police show up looking for Margot. They tell Gerry Margot’s mother told the police that Margot had a secret about Gerry that she was planning to confront him about. Gerry admits that Margot was there, asking for money, and that he and Margot argued and that she attacked him.
Flashback to 2014 when Gerry meets a woman named Kim Barton in a hotel bar. They go up to his room and she admits that she knows who he is. He makes a pass at her and she objects but he keeps going and they have sex twice (this is Gerry’s account of the evening; Kim accuses him of rape.)
Victoria is annoyed that Aileen got a parking space. Gerry says they can share it. Victoria has also brought a certified letter saying that Gerry’s father’s will was contested but that the challenge was denied. He calls his father’s lawyer who explains that Gerry’s parents never divorced. Gerry’s father remarried but that second marriage wasn’t legal.
That night he gets another phone call from Margot’s phone. It’s a woman who says they need to talk. Aileen claims she dropped Margot’s purse in the harbor. Gerry thinks Margot has an accomplice who is using her phone.
Gerry wakes up to hear Aileen arguing with someone who calls her Leenie. This jogs his memory to two students he taught at Goucher: Leenie and Tory. Aileen and Victoria. Aileen comes upstairs carrying his book prize statue covered in blood.
The next day, Aileen admits that she and Victoria are friends. Victoria was insulted that Gerry hired her and didn’t remember her from Goucher.
They think he doesn’t care about women and that Aubrey had to be based on a real woman (or that Gerry stole a real woman’s life). So they decided to gaslight him with letters and phone calls. Aileen says Victoria’s death was an accident, just like Gerry accidentally killed Margot.
Leenie wants Gerry to read her writing, a story called Mobius Dick, the Great White Male. She also tells him she’s moving in as she can’t make rent without Victoria’s contribution.
Gerry asks Leenie what really happened to Margot. Aileen says she took come cash and the security pass, left and then came back and found Leenie and Gerry in bed together. Leenie had given him pills to knock him out. Leenie and Margot fought and Leenie defended herself with the letter opener.
He gets another phone call from someone asking if he got her letters. Leenie is working on a book that she wants Gerry to help her get published. He’s playing along, trying to string things along as he’s afraid of her. He will soon be allowed to get out of bed and into a wheelchair.
Leenie arrives one day with a visitor, Kim Karpas. She’s the secret Margot was keeping. She was sending letters to Gerry’s former New York apartment, and Margot was reading them. Kim claims Gerry raped her. She’s Kim Barton, the woman from the hotel in Columbus.
Kim is also the daughter of Gerry’s half-sister, the daughter of Gerry’s father’s second wife, who was cut out of Gerry’s father’s will. The woman who claims Gerry raped her was his niece.
Gerry realizes Kim is his only hope for escape from Leenie. He writes Kim a note, warning her that Leenie has killed two women and that she’s next. He tells her to push his bed at Leenie and he helps her. Leenie is pushesd down the stairs by the bed and is killed. Gerry gets flung out of the bed and also dies.
Gerry’s agent is discussing a book with Kim. It’s supposedly written by Gerry in the voice of his insane nurse. After Gerry and Leenie were killed, Kim snuck out of the building through the parking garage. Then she returned to the front door, saying she was Gerry’s niece and asking to be let in.
The building staff let Kim in and discovered the body. Kim found and shredded the letters that she’d sent to Gerry, the ones Margot read and Leenie found. She also found Leenie’s manuscript.
The police assume that Gerry tried to kill Leenie and died in the process. That he had become paranoid and delusional after his accident, and taking a lot of medications.
Kim finishes Leenie’s manuscript. She adds the scene of her own rape. She asks Gerry’s agent to call the book The Floating Staircase. As his niece, she is presumably Gerry’s heir? Is this mentioned because I don’t remember that.
Nobody believes that Gerry wrote Dream Girl without some kind of help. Shannon, the woman he cheats on Lucy with, thinks she’s the inspiration. On the radio show in 2015, someone who says her name is Gretchen, accuses Gerry of having a secret female collaborator.
At the end of the book there is a flashback that might explain the inspiration for Dream Girl. In 1999, Gerry goes into a bar and sees a couple on a date.
The woman is twenty-something and the man is Gerry’s age, forty. He watches them together and feels inspired, thinking about the anticipation in a first date.
He reflects that the woman “might sleep with [her date] but she would never be his, she would never belong to anyone. She was quicksilver, a treasure that would flow through a man’s fingers.” He goes home to write (presumably to write Dream Girl.)
Here are my questions but I want to know yours in comments!
What did you think of this overall? The Goodreads ratings are not great, but that could be because this isn’t a typical Laura Lippmann mystery
I assumed that @DreamGirlAubrey, the tweeter, was Kim, as she would have known that Gerry was uncircumcised. Was that information that Kim revealed in the letters to Gerry that the two intercepted? Or did Leenie and Tory take a peek? (Sorry! I’m curious)
Gerry is SUCH an unlikeable character. He’s a serial cheater, he’s been accused of sexual harrassmant, he fictionalized the story of a woman he pressured into sex, he didn’t visit his dying friend. Did the flashbacks to his childhood make him more sympathetic to you (I found them boring so I skimmed them)?
Gerry’s agent tells Kim that he thinks The Floating Staircase, told in the voice of Gerry’s insane nurse, would appeal to women? Do you think so? I feel like the main weakness of Dream Girl is that Gerry is completely loathsome and that it’s really hard to care about him or any of the characters.
The “Dream Girl” was such a silent presence for most of the book and everyone in the book thought she was a real person from Gerry’s life. But (as Stefan points out in comments) it seems like the real Dream Girl was just a random girl that Gerry saw in a bar back in 1999.
This reminded me a LOT of The Plot, a book I just read. Both are books about unlikeable middle-aged white male writers who are targeted and punished by mysterious women who write them harassing messages, etc. You can find my review of The Plot here and my Spoiler Review and Discussion here.
Thanks for reading my Spoiler discussion and Plot Summary for Dream Girl. Talk to me in comments!! What did you think of this and did you have questions?
Have you read The Maidens by Alex Michaelides and have questions about the ending? Need a plot summary for The Maidens? Want to discuss the suspects? You are in the right place, because this is my Spoiler Discussion for The Maidens.
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
And PLOT TWIST Mariana appears (briefly) in Alex Michalides’ 2024 book, The Fury. Check out my review of The Fury with protected spoilers!
Mariana Andros, a therapist, is mourning her husband Sebastian, who died about a year ago. After a group therapy session one day, she confronts a participant, Henry, who is disrupting the group and behaving strangely.
Mariana’s niece Zoe calls. The body of a woman has been found in the Paradise Woods near Cambridge University, where Zoe is a student. Mariana offers to come. On the train to Cambridge, a young man named Fred awkwardly flirts with her. On the train, Mariana reflects on all the tragedies she (and Zoe) have faced. Mariana’s mom died when she was young, her sister and brother in law (Zoe’s parents) died in a car accident, Mariana’s father died of a heart attack, and Sebastian drowned fourteen months ago during a vacation they took to Naxos, a Greek island.
At Cambridge, Mariana goes to her former college, St Christopher’s, to look for Zoe. She runs into Julian, a former classmate and fellow psychotherapist. Mariana learns the the victim is Tara, her niece Zoe’s best friend.
Mariana finds Zoe, who blames herself. Tara told Zoe that she was sleeping with a professor, Edward Fosca. Tara threatened to tell the college, and Fosca threatened her. Mariana urges Zoe to go to the police with her suspicions, but they say Fosca has an alibi and Tara has a boyfriend with a criminal record.
Zoe and Tara run into Fosca who claims that Tara was failing classes and told Edward if he didn’t cover for her she’d accuse him of sexual harassment. He denies being involved with her.
Mariana asks around about Fosca. He’s new, and an American. Mariana meets with her former tutor, Clarissa. She hears gossip from Morris, the college porter, about Fosca’s entourage of women and the group’s wild parties.
Mariana talks to Elsie, Tara’s “bedder” or assigned housekeeper. Elsie dislikes Fosca’s group of women and says they bullied Tara. Elsie seems suspicious of Zoe. Elsie agrees to let Mariana see Tara’s room, where Mariana finds a postcard of a Titian painting with a quote from Euripides about the sacrifice of a maiden, a nobleman’s daughter, to Persephone.
Mariana meets Fred, the man from the train, for a drink. He doesn’t think Conrad killed Tara and offers to help her solve the murder. But when he mentions visiting Naxos, Mariana is alarmed and leaves. Someone follows her home and she hides in an alley. She runs into Morris who lets her into the college.
Zoe calls Mariana and tells her another victim has been found. Fred and Mariana go to the site and see Julian, who offers to let her see the body. It is Veronica, slashed and holding a pine cone. Julian tells her that Conrad was in custody and has been eliminated as a suspect. Mariana finds Serena’s postcard from the killer, with a quote from Iphigenia by Euripedes.
Mariana has dinner with Fosca. He serves her rare lamb (more on that!) Fosca tells her that he has an alibi for the night of the murder. He thinks the murders are ritualistic and the killer is a showman. He leaves to make coffee and she finds a copy of Iphigenia with Serena’s postcard passage underlined. She is convinced he is the murderer and is taunting her.
Mariana asks Fred to meet her. She tells him about Fosca’s alibi and he suggests the killer could have an accomplice. Fred tells her to be careful. She receives a threatening, anonymous call and assumes it’s her patient Henry.
As she leaves for London the next day, she sees Fosca giving an envelope to Morris. She follows Morris and finds herself in an abandoned cemetery. Morris arrives and Mariana watches him and Serena have sex.
Mariana goes to London to see Ruth, her supervising therapist. She wonders if Serena and Morris are blackmailing Fosca. She feels like someone is following her.
Mariana meets with Ruth, who suggests she treat the Maidens as a group. She also asks Mariana if Fosca reminds of her father. Hmmm… daddy issues, Mariana? This bothers Mariana, who denies it. She suggests that Mariana speak to Theo Faber, a psychopathologist who was another one of her students. (And the main character of The Silent Patient.)
Theo doesn’t like Julian. Theo also says that Mariana needs to figure out the killer’s motive. That the postmortem violence is staged and that the killer is calm and in control. Theo is looking for a job and Mariana suggests he apply for an open job at the Grove, a London psychiatric hospital. They briefly discuss Alicia Berenson, an artist sent to the Grove after the murder of her husband (more The Silent Patient references – when you’re done with this post, be sure to check out my post about The World of The Silent Patient and The Maidens)
Mariana returns from London to find her room ransacked. Mariana asks Fosca if she can hold a group session with the Maidens. At the session the group mocks her for not inviting Zoe, as she is also a Maiden. Mariana is shocked at this revelation but decides to confront Zoe later.
Mariana runs into Fred. He proposes and she asks him to leave her alone. Fred leaves and Henry appears bloody and holding a knife. Morris comes and overpowers Henry.
The next morning Elsie comes to Mariana’s door. Serena was found murdered. Also there’s a postcard outside Mariana’s door with a quote from Electra in Greek. Mariana sees Fosca standing in the courtyard and goes over and shows him the postcard. He translates the Greek as “the gods have willed your death.” Mariana goes crazy and starts attacking Fosca. DCI Sanger shows up with Julian. Mariana explains that she thinks Fosca is the killer. The girls are under his spell. He was clearly involved with Tara and killed the others to cover. DCI Sanger says Fosca was given an alibi by Morris. The police seem to suspect Morris. Julian says that Mariana seems paranoid and unwell. DCI Sanger orders her to leave Cambridge or face charges for obstruction of justice.
The police take Morris away. Mariana meets with Clarissa and Zoe. Zoe denies being a Maiden. She says she went to the folly for the initiation and was given a drink spiked with GHB. Fosca touched her throat with a knife and then hid it, but she got away. Zoe announces she has now received a postcard (with an image of Iphigenia) from the killer. Mariana is alarmed and wants to take Zoe to London.
Mariana is in Zoe’s room and finds a typewritten note hidden in her stuffed zebra. It’s a love letter to Zoe from someone who says he wants them to be together. Mariana is positive it’s from Fosca. Zoe shows up and tells Mariana she is ready to go find the knife she saw Fosca hide. They head to the Folly by boat, ending up at a building with a swan emblem. Zoe pulls out the knife and tells Mariana they are going for a walk. Mariana shows Zoe the letter she found in her room. Zoe says Fosca didn’t write the letter.
According to Zoe, Mariana’s husband Sebastian is the one who wrote the letter to Zoe.
Zoe says she and Sebastian fell in love and consummated their relationship when Zoe was fifteen.
Sebastian killed Mariana’s father when he discovered that Sebastian was involved with Zoe.
Sebastian told Zoe that Mariana was in the way of them being together and had to die. Also, with Mariana out of the way, Sebastian and Zoe could have her money. But Sebastian said they needed a distraction from Mariana’s murder, something to throw the suspicion from them. Zoe told him about the Maidens and he planned the Maidens’ murders as cover. But then Sebastian drowned and Zoe decided to carry out the murder plan without him. Zoe threw suspicion on Fosca by getting Mariana to suspect him.
Zoe says she’s now going to kill Mariana and frame Fosca.
Fred shows up. Zoe rises up with the knife and Fred stabs him. Zoe is about to stab Fred again but Mariana hits her with a rock. Zoe falls on the knife, screaming hysterically . Mariana calls the police (finally).
DCI Sanger shows up and tells her that Fosca got fired for sleeping with all the Maidens. Morris was blackmailing him. Zoe and Fred get taken to the hospital.
Mariana is left completely shocked by the truth about Sebastian. Zoe has a complete mental breakdown and gets put into the Grove. Theo is her therapist. Mariana refuses to speak to Zoe. Mariana visits Fred and thanks him for saving her life. Months later she receives a letter from Theo, asking her to come to the Grove. Mariana tears up the letter. She finally agrees to go the Grove and see Zoe.
Mariana Andros – a 36 year old therapist who lost her husband 14 months ago. She’s been the guardian of her college-aged niece, Zoe, since Zoe’s parents died when Zoe was 10-12 years old. Mariana’s mother died when she was a baby and her father died of a heart attack five or six years ago. Lives in Primrose Hill, London.
Sebastian – Mariana’s late husband.
Zoe – 20 year-old student at Cambridge University and niece of Mariana.
Henry – Mariana’s troubled therapy patient.
Fred – 29 year-old theoretical physics student at Cambridge. (See more about Fred in suspect clues.)
Clarissa – Mariana’s former tutor at Cambridge
Mr. Morris – the porter at St. Christopher’s College, Cambridge.
Edward Fosca – a charismatic
Inspector Sangha – investigating Tara’s murder.
Julian Ashcroft – a forensic psychologist who studied in London with Mariana.
Ruth – Mariana’s training therapist
Theo Faber – studied psychology with Mariana, now a forensic psychologist
Tara – Zoe’s friend and the first murder victim
Conrad – Tara’s boyfriend, who is initially arrested for her murder.
Veronica – an American student and aspiring actress. Second murder victim.
Elsie – Zoe and Tara’s “bedder” or assigned housekeeper
Serena – the third murder victim
The Maidens – a group of female students who meet with Fosca. Natasha, Carla, Diya, Serena, Veronica, Lillian
When I was going over the clues in The Maidens one more time, I found an interesting one: the timeline.
36 Years Ago – Mariana was born and her mother died.
17 Years Ago – Mariana met Sebastian at Cambridge when they were both 19. At some point they married.
7-8 years ago – Zoe’s parents died and Mariana and Sebastian took Zoe in. (Mariana says Zoe was away at boarding school when her parents died and that after her parents died, Zoe “finished her adolescence,” so I’m guessing she was 12-13 when this happened.)
5 years ago – Mariana’s father died of a heart attack (or murder) AND according to Zoe, she and Sebastian consummated their relationship when she was fifteen.
14 months ago – Sebastian drowned.
October 7 – the date of the killer’s chapters. Mariana says that Zoe calls her “that night in October.” If Sebastian did write the chapters and died 14 months ago, he would have had to have written them two years ago.
The journal/letter that makes up the killer’s chapters is dated October 7 and seems to be published in sections. I talk more about this in the timeline section above. The events in question also take place in October.
The killer is male – he says his parents wished for a girl
The killer says “there is more than one of me.” Does this refer to an accomplice, or a case of dissociative identity disorder? Perhaps the latter, as the killer also describes being “split in two” and wanting “to be whole.”
The killer kept a brown leather journal when he was twelve, the year he “lost” his mother.
The killer lives on a farm with lambs that are slaughtered.
His father is abusive to him and his mother. The killer says his father “punished” him – possibly sexual abuse.
His father killed his beloved dog.
When he’s twelve, his mother says she is leaving and will send for him. She asks him to keep her secret. He is furious, and dreams of cutting off her head.
The night his mother left, he wrote in his journal. Today he noticed two pages were missing. They were destroyed because they were dangerous. So he possibly killed his mother, or told his father she was leaving, and his father killed her.
He declares his love for Zoe and says he had a premonition they would be together and that she was his destiny.
The letter is signed “X.”
Mariana Andros. Lately I’ve read a fair number of Big Twist thrillers in which an unreliable main character/narrator is the killer. Mariana has a) ties to Cambridge and b) seems little unhinged. But her bio doesn’t seem to match the killer’s. And she’s a woman.
Zoe. I was suspicious of her as she seemed like the last person I was supposed to suspect. Also, Elsie seems to suggest Zoe is sketchy. But Zoe’s bio/timeline didn’t match the details in the killer’s POV chapters, as she was orphaned as a young child. Plus, Zoe just seems to me to be too petulant and inept to carry out multiple murders without getting caught
Edward Fosca. I mean, Mariana TOTALLY thinks he did it, but he also seemed like an obvious red herring. He does tell Mariana that his father “brutalized” his mother. And serves Mariana rare lamb for dinner.
Henry. (Mariana’s troubled patient.) His father abused him, he self-harms with sharp objects, and he had a knife. But I decided he was also a red herring.
Theo. Mariana’s former classmate. As the main character in The Silent Patient, probably not! But maybe…
Conrad. He also seemed like a red herring and eventually was eliminated.
Morris, the porter. No real clues connecting him to the crimes.
Julian. Mariana’s former classmate, also a psychotherapist who is consulting on the murder. But we aren’t told anything about him.
Fred. He seemed to pop up all the time and that definitely made me suspicious. There were a LOT of clues that pointed to Fred:
I had a long discussion with someone who argued that The Maidens had WAY too many unresolved loose ends and red herrings. I can’t disagree, so here we go with some of my questions:
Zoe says so. But we only have her word for it. Is she credible? I’m not so sure.
Mariana says her father hated Sebastian and didn’t want her to marry him. Did her father think that Sebastian was in love with Zoe? If so, why didn’t he say something?
Mariana also says that after Sebastian’s death, she found out that he had some major debts that he’d hidden from her. So he needed money, was hiding that from Mariana, and killing her would have been a way to resolve both problem.
Mariana really seemed convinced that she and Sebastian were happy. She says Sebastian wanted them to have a baby during the time he was allegedly sleeping with Zoe.
Could Sebastian really have carried on an affair with Zoe for FOUR YEARS without anyone knowing? Sneaked to Cambridge repeatedly to be with her?
Could the Greek police really have mistaken Mariana’s father’s death by strangulation as a heart attack?
Up until the part he declares his love for Zoe, the killer chapters fit Fred much better. Do we KNOW that the pages in the zebra are really part of the killer chapters and not just from some random secret admirer that Zoe had?
Mariana immediately thought the “letter” to Zoe was written by Fosca. But she was obsessed with Fosca, who (maybe) was the one who reminded her of her father.
He does fit the profile of the killer chapters the best. Maybe the killer chapters (up to the ones in the zebra) were written by Fred and he tried to give them to Mariana to confess his mother’s murder to her.
Wacky, but bear with me. Fred is 29 and is presumably doing an advanced degree at Cambridge. What if he:
While a student at Cambridge, saw Mariana and Sebastian visiting Zoe, and also saw Zoe and Sebastian cheating on Mariana
Killed Sebastian in Naxos.
Followed Mariana to Cambridge to protect her from Zoe/propose to her? And his confession is in the letter her tried to give Mariana? THE ONE SHE DID NOT READ!
Again, we only have Zoe’s word for it, and after she says it she has a complete breakdown. Could it all have been in her head?
Did Zoe and Sebastian sleep together more than that one time? Mariana says she and Sebastian used to visit Zoe “often” n at Cambridge (though if Zoe has been at Cambridge only two years and Sebastian died 14 months ago in August, I’m not sure that’s even possible.) Was he sneaking to Zoe’s boarding school to sleep with her? Was he going to Cambridge to meet her? Did Elsie know about this and that’s why she seems to dislike Zoe?
Zoe DOES seem fixated on Sebastian. Mariana talks about how close they were. After the first murder, Zoe says “I wish Sebastian were here. He’d know what to do.” Mariana wants to go back to London but Zoe tells her “Sebastian would want her to stay.”
Elsie clearly does not like Zoe at all. She suggests that Zoe is arrogant and rude.
So Theo and two other characters from The Silent Patient pop up in The Maidens.
Are you wondering if Mariana and Zoe are in the Silent Patient? I am here to reveal all!
My World of the Silent Patient and the Maidens Post has all the answers: I list the crossover characters and places in The Silent Patient and The Maidens, plus I made a joint timeline showing you how the books fit together. It’s spoiler free!
Movie and TV Adaptations of The Silent Patient and The Maidens. What do we know? Will either of them make it to the screen?
What are your thoughts about The Maidens? Our discussions are lively and friendly and all opinions are welcome. Be sure to leave a comment and (IMPORTANT) if you want to be notified of my (and other readers’ responses to your comments, subscribe to comment replies. You can subscribe to all future comments on this post OR just replies to your own comment.. You can unsubscribe anytime!
Thanks so much for stopping by my Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for The Maidens – if you love discussing thrillers, check out all my discussion posts here on my Armchair Book Club!
Did you read The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz and need a plot (ha!) summary or want to discuss the book with someone who has read it? Here’s my Spoiler Discussion for The Plot
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Like Mother Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight
The Wilds by Sarah Pearse
Bad Tourists by Cato Carver
The Haters by Robyn Harding
The Unwedding by Ally Condie
The Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
Tell Me Who You Are by Louisa Luna
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
One by One by Freida McFadden – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Kill for Me, Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh
Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf
Murder Road by Simone St. James
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline
The Teacher by Freida McFadden – FULL SPOILER DISCUSSION
The Split by Kit Frick
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
No One Can Know by Alice Kate Marshall
End of Story by A.J. Finn
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
UPDATE: The New Verity Epilogue – what’s in it? omg it’s quite a read!
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
I Will Find You by Harlan Coben
Spoiler Discussion for Verity by Colleen Hoover – ALL the details, ALL the debates and the lowdown on that bonus chapter that came out.
Spoiler Discussion for None of This is True by Lisa Jewell – so much discussion on this one!
Spoiler Discussion for Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Spoiler Discussion for All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
Spoiler Discussion for Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Spoiler Discussion for Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Spoiler Discussion For The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Spoiler Discussion for The Match by Harlan Coben – together we have cracked the DNA code!
Spoiler Discussion for The Silent Patient – the TikTok famous book!
Also don’t miss:
Spoiler Discussion for The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Spoiler Discussion for The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave – plus a comparison to the Apple TV series!
Spoiler Discussion for Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Spoiler Discussion for The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse – Who is following Elin, anyway?
Spoiler Discussion for The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Spoiler Discussion for The Last Flight by Julie Clark – Debate the meaning of the pink sweater!
Spoiler Discussion for The Paper Palace – are you #TeamJonas or #TeamPeter?
Spoiler Discussion for Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney – What. Is. Happening?
Spoiler Discussion for A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Spoiler Discussion for The Maid by Nita Prose
Spoiler Discussion for The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine
Spoiler Discussion for The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Spoiler Discussion for The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Spoiler Discussion for Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
Spoiler Discussion for The Collective by Allison Gaylin
Spoiler Discussion for The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Spoiler Discussion for White Ivy by Susie Yang – this is one of my favorite discussions – join us!
Spoiler Discussion for The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. Did this second book by the author of The Silent Patient deliver? And who was that red-haired woman, anyway??? Also don’t forget to check out my new post on Crossover Characters and Places in The Maidens and The Silent Patient
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse – find the Armchair Book Club discussion here – contains plot spoilers! Join us to talk about all things plot and WHAT was with that strange ending?
Join our lively discussion! Did the killer and their motive even make sense? What was with Elin, anyway? And who was the person in that creepy last chapter. Come give your opinion!
What is really going on in a sinister Paris apartment where everyone seems to be related by sex, by blood, or by secrets? Check out my plot summary and spoiler discussion for The Paris Apartment!
The Guest List by Lucy Foley – find the Armchair Book Club discussion here! We discuss things like why Will didn’t realize the two women he slept with were sisters, what happened to those missing bodies, and who was the amorous couple sneaking around?
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave What did you think of the ending?
Did you guess the ending of A Flicker in the Dark?
The Last Flight by Julie Clark – do you think [redacted] died… OR NOT?!?!?!
This women’s fiction with suspense looks at how well we really know our loved ones. What did you think of the ending? Come join our discussion!
The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones – uh…. I have a few questions, ma’am.
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins – find the Armchair Book Club discussion here! Did they or didn’t they make it out alive?
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner – what WAS this book anyway?!
The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz – find the Armchair Book Club Discussion here!
Rock Paper Scissors – A husband, a wife, and some deadly secrets!
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell – A missing couple and a boarding school at the edge of some spooky woods…
The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine – If you love the crazy twists of an 80s soap opera, grab this one immediately!
Dream Girl by Laura Lippman – this book is a real departure for her – what did you think?
Have you read The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave? Are you looking for spoilers or a plot summary of The Last Thing He Told Me? Want to discuss the ending of The Last Thing He Told Me? Have questions about the streaming series on Apple TV? Check out my Spoiler Discussion for The Last Thing He Told Me.
