Clown in a Cornfield

“What was Victoria waiting for? This was her moment. Victoria could make a statement here. Make the years ahead of her bearable. Be popular. Janet was in awe, impressed. Janet had pulled herself up the social ladder gradually, but Victoria was fixing to do it all in one night, in one stunt.”

In this passage from the opening chapter, Janet recognizes the stakes of the stunt that Victoria Hill is about to perform. These stakes define the social dynamics of Kettle Springs’ teen milieu, which judges its members based on their ability to perform impressive feats. Since Cole is at the height of his popularity in this chapter, this stunt attempt could be read as Victoria’s expression of the admiration she has for Cole’s recklessness. This will drive Cole’s character arc later on in the novel as he tries to reconcile the meaning of his actions as a teenager.

“Main Street seemed to be not just the main road, but the only way out of Kettle Springs, giving the impression that the Missouri town was more a glorified cul-de-sac. Passing through downtown, Quinn noticed a fifties-style diner and a bookstore that was probably all secondhand paperback romances and mysteries where the detectives owned cats. Or the detectives were cats. Not her scene.”

Key to the development of this novel’s themes is the definition of its setting. Cesare uses landmarks like the antiquated diner and the thrift bookshop to describe the smallness of Kettle Springs, evoking ideas of small-town Midwest America. It also exposes Quinn’s opinion of the town as a lifelong urbanite, driving her characterization as someone who feels Kettle Springs isn’t “her scene.”

“In Kettle Springs she could keep her head down, avoid the drama. No one here knew Quinn as the girl whose mother slumped low in the bleachers during last year’s regionals, then puked down her chin.

Nobody in Kettle Springs knew how Samantha Maybrook had died.

Quinn could start over.”

In this passage, Cesare establishes the reason Quinn is willing to accept the move to Kettle Springs. By emphasizing that Kettle Springs is a place where Quinn can maintain discretion, Cesare insinuates the kind of treatment that caused her to flee Philadelphia in the first place.