49 pages • 1-hour read
Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes sexual content.
Front Street Mansion
The mansion on Front Street where Riley Thorn lives symbolizes home and community: “The crumbling stone mansion” belongs to Blossom’s friend Lily, who “inherited the house” and opened its “guest bedrooms to complete strangers” (6). Riley moved there after she and Griffin Gentry divorced. She had different expectations for her adult life, and didn’t expect to be living in an attic room alone in her mid-thirties, but the Front Street mansion offers her a place of her own. Her space “on the third floor” includes “room for a bed, a small living area, and a microscopic kitchenette” (6). Full of “hard angles and weird slants” (6), Riley’s Front Street living space is as idiosyncratic as her character and her band of misfit friends. Over time, she comes to feel comfortable in this place. She gets to know her neighbors, who ultimately become her closest confidantes and even help her and Nick in the murder investigation. By the end of the novel, Nick has moved into the Front Street mansion, too. He takes over the room across the hall from Riley—where her late neighbor, Dickie Frick, once lived. Together, they integrate their burgeoning romantic life into the Front Street community.
Nature Girls Bar
The bar that Dickie Frick owns and operates with his silent partner, Mayor Nolan Flemming, is a squalid establishment that becomes a primary setting in the novel. At Nature Girls, Riley and Nick must use unconventional approaches to find clues during the unprecedented murder investigation. Their experiences in this space thematically symbolize The Importance of Learning to Problem-Solve and Think Creatively. When Riley and Nick realize that Dickie’s murder may be tied to his illegal activity at Nature Girls, Riley decides to go undercover as a bar server. Nick resists this plan because he fears that Riley is endangering herself. However, her work at Nature Girls quickly proves that taking risks can create powerful, effective results. During her time at the bar, Riley learns about Dickie’s gambling schemes, his silent partner, and the extortion that he and his associates perpetrated. Being in this space compels Riley, Gabe, and Nick to think creatively to uncover the evidence that enables them to solve the case.
Happy Acres
Riley’s family owns a commune they call Happy Acres. She, Nick, and their friends hide out at Happy Acres during the murder investigation. They retreat there because they fear that they’re in harm’s way. Duncan Gulliver, Nolan Flemming, and a band of dirty cops are after them; the couple knows that if they don’t take cover somewhere safe, they’ll be in even more trouble than they already are. Coming to the commune is a last-minute decision, but it ultimately helps Riley understand the significance of her and Nick’s relationship. The setting represents her and Nick’s fate. When they enter the bedroom they’re meant to share, she instantly recognizes the space from a vision she had of her and Nick having sex; in turn, she realizes that she and Nick will be intimate and that her visions are accurate. The Happy Acres commune, therefore, conveys how unexpected events and decisions can lead the individual to her destiny. Riley often tries to keep her clairvoyant visions from playing out, but at Happy Acres, she realizes that she can’t control fate and embraces her gift. In addition, the name of the place signifies the relationship between fate and happiness: When Riley embraces her destiny, she finds contentment.
Griffin Gentry
The novel doesn’t fully develop Griffin Gentry as a character; instead, he’s a symbol of inauthenticity. In an attempt to defy her true nature and prove her normalcy to the world, Riley got involved with and married Griffin. She convinced herself that she was happy with him, but soon discovered that he was cheating on her. Griffin represents the fraudulent life Riley was trying to live. Because she didn’t stay true to herself, she settled for a person who wasn’t true to her either. Even the description of Griffin’s appearance illustrates his inauthenticity: His hair was so dyed and shellacked that it looked like it could be made from yellow plastic. His “skin was a dusky orange, and he was wearing a thick layer of foundation” so that no part of him looked as if it could be “found in nature” (107). His physical appearance underscores his insincerity. He can’t be trusted, and he hides behind a superficial facade. Riley struggled to accept herself when she was with him, and she became more inauthentic as a result of Griffin’s counterfeit nature.
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