55 pages • 1-hour read
Hidden Nature
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Part 1, Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence.
Part 1: “Death”
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
The Coopers and their guests drink a toast to family, and Sloan reflects on all she has to be grateful for. Nash and Theo enjoy a Thanksgiving pizza and reflect on how they’ve gotten away from their controlling parents. Their parents have accused Nash of ruining his brother’s life, since they feel Theo should be pursuing his job at the law firm in New York City. In their house in the West Virginia hills, Clara and Sam enjoy a Thanksgiving feast laced with blood from their victims. Clara views what they are doing as a gift, giving their victims peace.
When her cousin’s son falls while chasing the dog, Sloan picks him up to soothe him and injures herself. Drea rushes Sloan to the ER while Sloan rebukes herself for her action. Drea reminds Sloan, “You’re wired to help someone who needs help” (77). Dr. Marlowe finds that Sloan has torn a pectoral muscle and prescribes treatment. She reassures Sloan that this is just a temporary setback to her recovery.
On the drive home, the sisters discuss their romantic lives and admit that no one recently has really captivated them. Their mother Elsie cares for Sloan upon their arrival, reminding Sloan this is a just a bump, though Sloan says she feels weak and breakable. Elsie reminds Sloan that her will isn’t weak or easily broken.
That night, Sloan has another nightmare about the mini-mart where she is tracking someone. She knows she’s in danger but “she kept moving forward. To stop was failure, to turn back cowardice” (82). She dreams of being attacked by an animal. Shaken awake, she crochets to calm herself.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Her mother brings breakfast and shows Sloan a new crochet stitch. Sloan speaks with Dr. Vincenti. He confirms this is a setback to her healing but is confident Sloan will recover. Sloan resigns herself to Day One all over again. She goes outside to enjoy the snow and feels calmer.
The Littlefield brothers drive into Heron’s Rest, a friendly, picturesque town. Nash looks forward to refurbishing his house. He moved to town because he felt he could make a living there doing what he wanted. He feels he’s entering a new phase of life. Theo goes to distribute flyers advertising their business, and when he enters the All the Rest town office, he meets Drea. He’s taken with her immediately. Nash meets potential clients and arranges jobs for them. Theo reports that he met the girl of his dreams and wants to get a Christmas tree. As they return home, Nash sees the woman walking slowly along the lake and wonders about her. He admires how “she just kept taking one more step” (97).
Sloan speaks with her captain and is disappointed to learn she’ll be on desk duty after her medical leave is over. She tells herself to stop whining and decides to cut her hair.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
Elsie jumps in to fix Sloan’s hair and shapes it into a short, attractive cut that covers the scar on her forehead. Elsie acknowledges that Sloan feels hurt at the thought of being off work for so long. She knows Sloan wants to feel needed. Sloan is surprised by her impulsive action, as she typically thinks things through and weighs pros and cons. Elsie reminds her that getting shot made Sloan feel weak and vulnerable, but this is part of her experience now. Drea adds makeup, and Sloan admits, “it feels good to make a big change” (104).
Sloan’s father Dean visits the old Parker place and discusses the renovations Nash wants to make. When he sees Sloan’s new haircut, Dean says, “There you are. Nobody holds Sloan Cooper down” (106). Dean reports that he likes the Fix-It brothers and plans to employ them. Sloan takes a walk and is soothed by the natural beauty, realizing how much she’s drawn to this area. She’s eager to get back to work, her routine, and her plans.
Clara, who works as a nurse, cooks for Sam, who works at a nursing home, and reflects on how she’s enjoying having a lover after her husband died. Her husband was injured and brought back by medical staff, and his suffering led Clara to decide it was wrong to go against God’s will. She thinks taking in the blood of the “resurrected” is a kind of communion. Clara has selected their next target: Arthur Rigsby, a dentist who was brought back after a car accident. They decide to scout out his town and do some Christmas shopping.
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary
Nash starts his first job and is pleased with the work. Nash meets Drea, who agrees to go out to dinner with Theo. Sloan is curious, if not suspicious of the Littlefields, and considers doing a background check. Drea admires how the brothers have separated from their parents and are building their own lives.
Sloan is cleared to drive and sees her recovery as “a long road of tiny steps” (116). She admits to her mother that she misses feeling useful, which is something her job gives her. As she drives, Sloan admires the bright, sparkling scenery and celebrates making progress on her recovery.
Travis Hamm, family friend and also in the NRP, visits. He reports no new leads on Janet Anderson. Travis offers Sloan the opportunity to work in his unit and to be promoted to sergeant. He says to Sloan, “You’re good police. Smart, capable, and damn well dedicated” (121). Being the analytical type, Sloan makes lists of pros and cons and asks lots of questions. Then she makes dinner, feeling optimistic about her recovery.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary
Sloan keeps quiet about her job opportunity while she mulls it over. She speaks with Joel, who encourages her to pursue the promotion. He reminds her, “something good’s come out of that bad” (126) of her getting shot.
Nash and Theo meet CJ, who will work with them on some of their projects. She’s an opinionated and efficient woman. She suggests they hire her nephew, Robo, who is a hard worker.
Sam and Clara visit Cumberland and find that Arthur Rigsby leaves his dentistry office early on Wednesdays to meet a lover at a motel.
Sloan is drawn to moving back to Heron’s Rest and being near her family. She appreciates the way her parents work together as a unit. Sloan tells them Travis offered her a leadership position, and she wants it. She also wants to find her own place to live, and her father describes a cottage nearby. Her parents offer to help her buy the house.
After his next assignation, when his mistress emerges with new earrings, Clara and Sam grab Arthur Rigsby. Sam punches him as he wrestles him into the van and enjoys the violence.
Part 1, Chapters 6-10 Analysis
These chapters complete Part 1 of the novel, establishing character journeys, launching the plot, and framing the story questions. At this point, these questions are what Sloan’s recovery will mean to her; how the Littlefields will become involved in the life of the Coopers, particularly Nash and Sloan, who are both point-of-view characters; and how Sloan will stop Clara and Sam, the story’s antagonists. Thematically labeled “Death,” this first part is actually the beginning of a new life for Sloan, encompassing Sloan’s injury and recovery and concluding with the new employment opportunity that will lead to significant life changes. As she determined previously, Sloan is making the most of the second chance she’s been given.
The theme of Finding Strength in Family Bonds, particularly their role in healing, leads off this section with the celebration of Thanksgiving as shown through the three different family units. First and happiest are the Coopers, whose large, joyful gathering reflects the tight bonds of support and happy relationships among them. In parallel and contrast, the celebration between the Littlefield brothers, Nash and Theo, is small but optimistic. They are both happy to be free of the demanding and restrictive relationship with their parents, whose need for control is the opposite of the warm support Drea and Sloan receive from their parents, Dean and Elsie. Family, these two units illustrate, need not be large, but either way is defined by mutual support, care, acceptance, and nurture.
A further contrast emerges with Sam and Clara, who are loving and committed to one another, enjoying a new relationship and bonding through sex and their shared mission. Their meal, however, has a macabre element as it is laced with blood from the people they’ve killed. While the two are depicted as united and mutually admiring, the narrative shows that Clara is the one who believes in what she sees as a holy cause. She justifies her actions with religious purpose and defines her intake of the blood of her victims as a kind of communion, a holy sacrament. In contrast, there are hints that Sam is involved in her crusade for other reasons, illustrated when he enjoys hitting Arthur Rigsby. While Clara claims to feel nurturing and loving toward her victims—a perverted reflection of Elsie’s motherly care toward her daughters—Sam seems to delight in violence. This undercurrent of violence and horror works in tension with Clara’s serene belief that she is on a holy mission to right wrongs.
Sloan’s own impulse to nurture and protect leads her to a further injury when she picks up the small child at the Thanksgiving celebration. This additional injury emphasizes her vulnerable state and provides an additional obstacle and setback, testing Sloan’s resolve but further showing her grit. She rises to the new challenge, reminding herself to begin again. Sloan finds it hard to forgive herself for the mistake, but she believes that giving up would be cowardice and defeat. Her fears about her fragility express themselves in the nightmares she experiences, which are all vivid variations on walking into the mini-mart and being attacked and hurt. In some ways, the worst part of the experience for Sloan was that she simply didn’t have time to react as her training had taught her.
Sloan wishes to feel useful as well as strong, qualities that her work in law enforcement affords her, which in turn illuminates The Joys of a Calling that her career offers her. The new job opportunity offered by her family friend, Travis Hamm, offers Sloan the chance to return home to her roots and advance in her chosen career. As Joel observes, this opportunity gives a positive outcome to the difficult and painful process of recovery, promising that good can come from bad. A symbol of this renewal is Sloan’s haircut, which begins as an act of frustration but becomes another step in a new direction, much like learning to crochet.
Nash too experiences the joys of a calling and The Rewards of Rebuilding and Renewal as he begins his construction business. Though his first plans are to demolish parts of his house, as with Sloan’s injury and recovery, the demolition will be part of the rebuild. Nash cements his family bonds with Theo as his brother becomes his partner in the business and finds his own freedom from their parents’ burdensome expectations. Nash, like Sloan, finds solace and anchor in the setting of Heron’s Rest. Confirming the new opportunities all around, Theo and Drea’s blooming romance points the way toward the new growth that the next part of the novel will introduce.
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