Don't Let Him In

Nick violently forces Jesse to give him as much cash as she can get her hands on—£20,000—and then disappears. He texts Martha to say he is heading home and is overjoyed when she tells him she will be waiting in their bedroom for him.

Jesse goes to the police and reports Nick’s theft and assault. She does not know Nick’s real name or current alias, but she does show the police officer Ring doorbell footage of Nick.

Martha greets Nick enthusiastically, and they have sex, but he can immediately sense that she is acting. She tells him that now that he has some money from selling his mother’s house, she wants to go to Bangate and have another look at the property there. He decides that she was only nervous about asking for the money, and everything between them is fine. Just to be on the safe side, though, he loads his pockets with money and papers before they go, in case he has to escape.

As they travel to Bangate, Martha wonders how she—a smart, capable woman who always made good decisions—could have let Nick into her life. She wonders how she put up with his erratic, secretive behavior and why, deep down, she still wants him to love her. When they are almost to the beach, he stops the car and gets out to urinate in the bushes. She is concerned because he has never done such a thing, but soon he is back, and they are again headed for the meeting Martha has secretly planned with Ash and Nina.

Nick thinks about how his dreams are finally about to come true. He will start a business with Martha and become as successful as Paddy ever was. He is glad to be done with the Swanns, though he has sent a letter to Ash with one last surprise in it.

In an old pavilion on the beach, a group waits for Nick and Martha. Among them are Ash, Nina, Emma, Laura and her daughter Lola, and Sam and his brother Joel. Some of the people Ash has just met through a Facebook page she set up called “DON’T LET HIM IN.” Some are victims of Nick’s stalking and harassment. Some are life-coaching clients he scammed. Some are women he dated and stole from.

One of the women is Jesse, who has informed the group about Nick’s secret life as an escort. Ash also knows that the police are looking into Joe’s claims about the “Silver Man” more seriously now, and both Tara’s and Amanda’s disappearances are being reinvestigated. Ash and Nina smile at each other as they hear Martha’s car pull into the parking lot.

When Nick sees the group waiting for him, he is furious at both Martha and himself. He defiantly claims that he has nothing to feel guilty about—he has just been giving people what they want while he tries to survive in this world. When one of the women challenges this, he explodes with anger, claiming that their trauma is nothing compared to what he himself has suffered. Nina cuts him short, using his real name—Simon Smith—and he deflates as she recounts his real story as a spoiled child of privilege who terrorized his parents and nearly bankrupted them.

Feeling that Emma is responsible for the chain of events that led to this moment, Nick launches himself at her and punches her in the face. The crowd pulls him away as he tries to fight them off. Finally, Sam pins him down and demands to know where Amanda is. Emma demands to know where Tara is. Nick feels his whole world collapsing. He uses all his strength to free himself. He runs into the sea and lets the water take him.

Sam and Joel wade into the sea after Nick, but he has disappeared. An ambulance arrives with the police, and sea rescue searches the water. Still, they find no trace of Nick.

Jane reads an article about Nick’s fate and feels disappointed that he will not face justice in the courts. She is proud of Ash, however, and relieved that the threat of Nick Radcliffe has been removed from their lives.

After Nick’s apparent death, Nina regrets the lack of closure for Tara and Amanda’s families, but she assures Ash that the two of them will be fine. Nina plans to sell the house and get a partner to help her run the restaurants. Ash is finally ready to move on with her life, as well. This is in part because of a letter she has received from Nick, suggesting that she have an honest conversation with Nina about her family. Ash knows now that neither of her parents is perfect, and she is not the only flawed member of the family. A close examination of the letter from Nick reveals that it is on the same paper and written in the same hand as the letters she once thought were from Ritchie.

A new first-person narrator describes waiting for someone in a beachfront cottage in the Algarve. The man she is waiting for finally arrives: It is her husband, Simon Smith. She—Amanda—is the only person with whom “Nick” ever shared his real name. It was, she says, a reward for her loyalty in the wake of Tara’s murder. She has been living in this cottage for four years, waiting for Simon to join her as he promised. She read the news about the crimes he is now suspected of and learned about all the other women, but she considers herself to be his only “true wife.” Although she still loves him desperately, Amanda now understands how he lied to and manipulated her for years. As Simon draws closer, she steps aside to allow the police officer waiting in her cottage to meet Simon and place him under arrest.