“The deeper I go, the easier it gets to dig. The first layer of dirt was almost impossible to break through, but then again, I had a partner to help me back then. Now it’s just me.

Well, me and the body. But it won’t be of much help.”

McFadden begins her thriller by describing an unknown person digging a grave. Part 1 begins with alternating female narrators, so it’s unclear which might have been digging the grave. McFadden doesn’t reveal the gravedigger’s (or the accomplice’s) identity until Part 2, and the ambiguity adds tension to the plot. The difficulty of breaking through the top layer of dirt parallels the characters’ initial boundaries with illicit behavior; once they have crossed the line into transgressive behavior, continuing transgressions become easier.

“I am so lucky. I have a beautiful house, a fulfilling career, and a husband who is kind and mild mannered and incredibly handsome. And as Nate pulls the car onto the road and starts driving in the direction of the school, all I can think to myself is that I hope a truck blows through a stop sign, plows into the Honda, and kills us both instantly.”

Eve’s description of her marriage reveals her unhappiness in the relationship despite the way her life appears to others. The problems in their marriage reveal the Corrosive Effect of Secrets, not only because Eve and Nate hide their unhappiness from the people around them but also because their relationship began with the secret that Eve was Nate’s student when he first seduced her. Secrets continue to cause discord between Nate and Eve as the plot develops. Finally, this description foreshadows Eve’s apparent death at the climax of the novel and Nate’s death at the end.

“It doesn’t matter what happened or didn’t happen. It only matters that parents were calling the principal and telling her that they didn’t trust that man around their children. Art—the nicest person who ever was, who didn’t have an evil bone in his body—could no longer be trusted.”

When Eve reflects on the reason Art Tuttle resigned from his position at Caseham High School, she blames the Effects of Rumor and Scandal, which often prioritize appearances over truth.