54 pages • 1-hour read
Sophie StavaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of sexual content, emotional abuse, violence, and bullying.
On one Friday morning, Violet invites Sloane over for coffee, and Jay, just out of the shower, answers in khaki pants and no shirt. Sloane feels insecure in her jeans and hoodie, but she finally gives Jay the promised copy of And Then There Were None—she’s had it in her bag for months. Sloane and Jay joke about Sloane being a saint and superhero who saves kids from bee stings.
Jay wonders if Violet has said anything about their marriage. Sloane is confused, so he changes the subject. Sloane doesn’t want Violet to come home, but she does. Violet invites Sloane to her birthday celebration on a boat on Sunday.
Sloane sets an alarm for Sunday morning, but she doesn’t need it: She’s too excited to sleep. She puts on makeup and carefully selects an outfit. On the boat, Violet and Sloane drink sparkling apple cider before Jay explains to her the ins and outs of sailing. Jay learned how to sail at summer camp, but Jay doesn’t come from wealth. Sloane relates to his socioeconomic status. Jay and Sloane flirt, and Sloane admits to herself that she has more than a “crush” on him.
Violet receives her presents: Harper gives Violet a pink robe, Jay gives her a book, and Sloane gives her a necklace that’s similar to her “grandmother’s.” Violet gives Sloane a necklace with the same gold pendant that Violet has. Sloane feels extremely happy.
Violet and Sloane listen to Taylor Swift. Harper takes a nap, and Violet leaves to bring Jay a flash drive that he forgot. Alone, Sloane notices a copy of The Great Gatsby; inside there’s an inscription from Violet to Jay. She wonders if Violet and Jay read parts of the novel out loud to each other in bed. She thinks about Jay’s question about whether Violet has mentioned anything to Sloane about their marriage.
Yielding to “temptation,” Sloane goes upstairs. She lies down on Violet and Jay’s bed and imagines Jay next to her. She looks at Violet’s sexy underwear, and she puts on Violet’s robe. In the closet, she opens a box with Manolo Blahnik pumps and a grey flip phone. She can’t guess the password, but she gets a new text alert. The message is from DS. DS wants to know “which day.” Sloane wonders if DS is Danny and why Violet has a burner phone concealed in a shoe box.
In the bathroom, Sloane notes the generic dark chestnut brown hair dye. She uses Violet’s acne cream and goes through Violet’s makeup bag. Through the window, she sees Violet coming home. Hurriedly, Sloane smooths the pillow and bedsheets. She remembers to take off Violet’s robe. When Violet enters the brownstone, Sloane is on the bottom step. She tells Violet she was checking on Harper. On her way home, Sloane buys dark chestnut brown hair dye.
Sloane once dyed her hair red so it would look like Allison’s hair. She remembers Allison finding her in Allison’s closet. Sloane was in Allison’s clothes and looking at private photos. Sloane also used Allison’s perfume and brush. She liked “pretending” to be Allison. Allison was supposed to be in Boston, and Sloane was only supposed to come over to feed the cat.
Allison screamed at Sloane. Sloane tried to leave; she fell and grabbed a marble jewelry stand to stop her fall. Allison thought Sloane intended to use the marble stand to harm Allison, but Sloane had no intention of hurting her. Sloane felt like she was a member of Allison’s family.
On the first day at school after the incident, the director fired Sloane. Police charged her with stalking and menacing in the third degree. Sloane explained that she didn’t break in; Allison gave her a key. Her overworked court-appointed attorney got Sloane to plead guilty to stalking in the fourth degree—a misdemeanor. Sloane didn’t get jail time, but she had to obey a restraining order.
Back in the present, Sloane’s mother goes to bed, and Sloane dyes her hair brown. She tells herself that the situation is “different” because Violet is “different.” When Sloane wakes up, she realizes she did a shoddy job.
Violet pretends to admire Sloane’s new hair color before they both admit that it’s a “disaster.” With Harper on a playdate, Violet takes Sloane to her hairdresser, Nolan, who gives Sloane a hairstyle that looks like Violet’s. As Violet pays, a Rose & Honey business card falls from her purse. Sloane grows fearful. Violet says she hasn’t been to the spa. Violet invites Sloane back to her house. She wants to give Sloane some of her clothes.
The narrative deepens the parallels between Allison and Violet, invoking Sloane’s continuous struggles with The Allure of Becoming Someone Else. The overt similarities reinforce Sloane’s deep-seated boundary issues and establish a pattern of disturbing behavior. While Sloane is aware that her stalking is obsessive, she still refuses to see how and why her behavior is upsetting for others. She didn’t want to hurt Allison, Sloane explains, insisting, “It was fun, pretending, for a moment, to be her, to feel what it was like to wear her clothes, her shoes, her jewelry. I’d meant nothing by it, really” (267, emphasis added). Sloane’s desire “to be [Alison]” reinforces Sloane’s habit of latching onto wealthier women to emulate. Her inability to understand when she has crossed a line reveals the delusion and naivety that Violet will easily exploit.
The parallels between Allison and Violet stop when Violet doesn’t react negatively to Sloane’s botched hair dye job. Instead of responding with anger and horror to Sloane’s intrusive behavior the way Allison did, Violet instead begins to encourage it, knowing she can bend it to her own ends. She deliberately begins trying to make Sloane look more like her, taking her to her own hair stylist to give Sloane a similar haircut and offering to give Sloane some of her own clothing. While Sloane eagerly misinterprets these gestures as signs of acceptance and intimacy, Violet is gradually trying to reshape Sloane for her own purposes.
The increased interactions with Jay also complicate the situation for Sloane, as her desire to be like Violet extends to feeling an intense attraction toward Jay. In previous chapters, her main intention is to insert herself into the Lockharts’ life and become “sisters” with Violet. The flirtatious encounters with Jay indicate that Sloane also wants a romantic relationship with Jay and to potentially replace Violet. Sloane doesn’t conceal her attraction to Jay from the reader, admitting, “Our eyes connect. Just a crush. But I know it’s not” (232). Jay’s allusion to problems in his marriage gives Sloane reason to believe that they could end up together. Nevertheless, Sloane doesn’t want to take Jay from Violet: “I’m flooded with shame. What’s wrong with me? Violet is my friend. And Jay is hers, not mine” (205). In pulling back from acting on her feelings, Sloane demonstrates the intensity of loyalty and strong identification she has developed with Violet. Foreshadowing the conclusion, Sloane stays loyal to Violet.
The flip phone reappears in this section, and now Sloane connects the phone to the contentious scene she witnessed earlier in the novel. The phone hints at Violet’s secret, symbolizing the hidden side of her idyllic life and her desire for vengeance. Sloane can’t access the phone, so the phone also implies Violet’s competence: She successfully prevents Sloane from uncovering her scheme. At the same time, Violet isn’t infallible, as Sloane sees the notification from DS and correctly surmises the identity. However, the discovery of the phone still generates more questions than answers, and Sloane continues to place her feelings for Violet above any specific suspicions.
The Rose & Honey spa continues to haunt Sloane. When she sees the card fall out of Violet’s purse, she becomes physically upset and panics: “Why was it in Violet’s wallet? Has she been in? The thought gives me heart palpitations, makes me want to throw up. She hadn’t seen me there—had she?” (281). The series of questions highlights her extensive exposure, which could still expose her lies. The spa card also upends the narrative itself: After its appearance, the narration switches to Violet.



Unlock all 54 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.