Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses sexual assault and abusive relationships.

Maire Hennessy is one of the narrators in the novel. In One Lucky Winner, she is given the archetypal title “The Best Friend,” though this is not the role that Maire adopts to get sympathy from viewers. Instead, she consistently frames herself through her motherhood; she is a single parent to two young daughters, one of whom has cystic fibrosis. Though Maire thinks about her daughters often and uses Dani’s medical needs to propel herself through the increasingly dangerous competition, Maire is also motivated by competitiveness and her desire to protect her secrets: Maire worries that her daughters will see her differently if they learn that she caused a man’s death in a prank gone wrong.

Despite Maire’s sympathetic reason for being on the game show—getting money for Dani’s treatment—she is not wholly a good person, despite her insistence on being one. As the game show grows increasingly dangerous, Maire’s priorities are transformed; though she initially frames herself as someone who is willing to do anything to get the money for Dani’s care, she learns that there are some lines that she will not, in fact, cross. One of these is cold-blooded murder: She rescues Ned from drowning even though his death would increase her likelihood of winning the game.