Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses death by suicide and drug addiction.

Multiple characters in the novel are dealing with the effects of having been abandoned by their caretakers as children, and this drives their behavior in unfortunate ways in the years that follow. When Caden sees his mother die, he experiences night terrors for some time afterward. He also carries a sense of guilt for Libby’s disappearance. His animosity toward Hazel is incomprehensible until he belatedly confesses that he felt responsible for driving Hazel’s mother away. He thought that telling her about Audrey’s earlier death had frightened her into fleeing. Thus, Hazel is a reminder of his failure, and he hates her for returning to town to remind him of it.

Nico is also hurt by what he perceives as his father’s abandonment through suicide. He erroneously believes that the murder room photos are evidence of his father’s crimes. Consequently, Nico conceals a key piece of information from Hazel regarding Libby’s submerged car to protect his father’s reputation. The doubt that Nico feels toward his father translates into self-doubt that makes him believe Hazel could never love the son of a murderer. Skyler appears to have been abandoned as well after Jamie disappears, and Hazel projects her own past misery on her little niece.