A Killing Cold

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, child abuse, and physical abuse.

Theo serves as the novel’s protagonist and unreliable narrator, embodying the theme of The Reclamation of Identity Through Memory in her fragmented journey toward understanding her true past. Born to Mallory Cahill, who named her Rowan, Theo represents a character whose very identity has been systematically erased and reconstructed multiple times—first by trauma, then by the adoptive parents who abused her and gave her the name Theodora Scott, and finally by her own survival instincts. Marshall presents her as a dynamic, round character whose fundamental trait is her compulsive need to recover the identity and history that have been stolen from her, driving her to steal keepsakes and invade private spaces not out of greed but from a desperate hunger for connection and understanding. This trait becomes both her greatest strength and most dangerous vulnerability as she navigates the wealthy Dalton family’s web of secrets.

The dragonfly tattoo on Theo’s wrist functions as a physical manifestation of her buried memories, unconsciously guiding her back to Idlewood and the truth of her origins. Her multiple names—Dora, Teddy, Rowan, Theo—represent different stages of identity suppression and reclamation, each imposed by external forces seeking to control her