56 pages • 1-hour read
All In
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains depictions of graphic violence, physical abuse, and death.
The Redefinition of Family Through Shared Trauma and Trust
In All In, the concept of family is explored not as a matter of biological relation but as a bond forged in the crucible of suffering and protective loyalty. The novel contrasts the deep-seated dysfunction of the characters’ biological families with the supportive kinship they find in the Naturals program. This redefinition suggests that true family is a chosen, resilient unit, providing the emotional foundation necessary for the characters to confront both external threats and their own internal demons.
The narrative consistently portrays biological families as sources of pain and rejection, driving the teenagers to seek belonging elsewhere. Sloane’s relationship with her estranged father, Grayson Shaw, is a clear example of this failure. She spends her life as his secret, and his cold dismissal during their encounter at the Majesty casino underscores the emotional void left by their blood connection. Similarly, Michael’s father trades him to the FBI and uses lavish gifts as payment to make up for physical abuse, corrupting the very notion of paternal care. These painful histories are the common ground upon which the Naturals connect. The characters’ reliance on each other stems directly from the fact that their biological families have failed to provide the safety, acceptance, and love they need to heal.
In stark contrast, the Naturals function as a found family, united by their shared experiences with trauma and a fierce, protective instinct for one another. Judd Hawkins, who lost his own daughter, Scarlett, becomes a surrogate father figure, his protective nature a direct response to his past grief. Cassie, despite having a loving grandmother, feels a deeper sense of home with the Naturals, because with them she never has to “pretend to be someone I wasn’t” (6). This chosen family offers a space of unconditional acceptance where their traumatic pasts are a source not of shame but of understanding. Their support is active and intuitive, as when Lia distracts Sloane from the pain of seeing her father or when Dean comforts Cassie after she receives news about her mother. Through these interactions, the novel posits that true kinship is built on a foundation of mutual trust and empathy, creating a bond far stronger than blood.
The Relationship Between Talent and Trauma
All In presents its characters’ exceptional abilities as direct consequences of profound childhood trauma, establishing a reinforcing relationship between talent and pain. The narrative argues that though many characters have developed skills that are a source of strength, they stem from a painful past. By linking each Natural’s unique talent to its traumatic origin, the novel suggests that trauma can lead people to develop skills that help to survive but are painful reminders of the past.
The characters’ skills are primarily coping mechanisms developed to survive their traumatic environments. Michael’s ability to read micro-expressions, for instance, was honed as a means of survival against his volatile father, allowing him to anticipate and deflect violence. Now, Michael weaponizes this skill for control, manipulating situations to his advantage, as when he secures the lavish suite at the Majesty. Similarly, Sloane retreats into the world of numbers and statistics as a defense against overwhelming emotions. When confronted with her estranged family, she compulsively recites digits of pi, using the objective certainty of mathematics as a shield. For both characters, their talents are fortresses built from the wreckage of their pasts, offering a way to manage a world that once felt dangerously unpredictable.
These talents also serve as relentless reminders of psychological wounds. Dean’s profiling ability stems from his immense fear that he could become monstrous like his serial killer father. For Dean, using his talent is an act of facing his deepest terror, turning every case into a confrontation with his own perceived capacity for evil. Cassie’s gift for profiling is similarly tied to pain, as it is inextricably linked to her mother’s unsolved murder. While she uses her skills to seek justice, doing so forces her to perpetually relive the trauma of her loss. The novel thus portrays the Naturals’ powers as deeply ingrained trauma responses that come at a significant psychological cost.
The Inevitable Collapse of Ordered Systems of Violence
All In explores the nature of evil by depicting a spree of killings organized into ritualistic performance. Through the killer’s use of the Fibonacci sequence, the novel contrasts mathematical precision with escalating violence, arguing that even the most ordered systems of evil are ultimately driven by personal obsession and inevitably devolve into chaos.
The narrative initially presents the murders as part of a highly structured, almost intellectual system. Sloane’s discovery that the numbers on the victims’ wrists follow the Fibonacci sequence reveals a formulaic pattern to the crimes. This intellectual underpinning is reinforced by the UNSUB’s connection to a century-old cult of killers who follow a prescribed pattern of murder methods as part of a larger, ritualized tradition of evil. The killer, Beau Donovan, is not acting randomly but is emulating this established system, treating murder as a performance designed to prove his worthiness to the group that abandoned him.
This veneer of cold, mathematical order, however, fractures as Beau’s personal motivations bleed into his ritual. The murders grow increasingly violent and personal, as evidenced in the raw brutality of strangling Camille Holt with her own necklace and cutting Aaron Shaw’s throat with a knife. Victims are no longer chosen at random, but are people from Beau’s life: He intends his foster sister Tory Howard as his last target. This devolution from detached planning to intimate violence shows a loss of control, as Beau’s obsession with Tory and his rage at the cult overtake his rigid adherence to the pattern. His victims are not just numbers in a sequence but stand-ins for the person at the center of his psychological drama. Ultimately, the novel suggests that no system, however ordered, can contain the inherent chaos of personal evil. Beau’s attempt to impose a perfect, mathematical logic onto his crimes collapses under the weight of his own emotions, demonstrating that such profound evil cannot be separated from the chaotic impulses that fuel it.
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