The Leaving

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of kidnapping, trauma, death, and child death.

The Leaving is built on a foundation of betrayal that begins with the novel’s backstory and continues through its final chapters. Those abducted and several characters close to them are consistently subjected to treachery and disloyalty from people they should be able to trust. Through their experiences, the novel explores how the tension between trust and betrayal impacts relationships.

Lucas experiences betrayal by several people he should be able to trust, causing him to doubt himself and his judgment. Some of these betrayals are perpetrated by those he should be able to trust the most: the other abducted children. Scarlett suggests she may have cheated on Lucas with Adam in the past, while Adam refuses to contribute any helpful memories, hampering Lucas’s attempt to clear his name of a murder charge. These betrayals of trust happen even closer to home when Ryan’s girlfriend Miranda reveals herself to be Lola Immerso, the daughter of the experiment’s architect, who enters his home and his family under false pretenses to observe Lucas. The loss of trust resulting from these betrayals complicates Lucas’s path forward and decision-making acumen, causing Lucas to doubt even himself; as he reflects, his faulty memory and suspicions that he was a “jealous and angry” person make his perspective untrustworthy as well (339), giving him nothing solid to rely on.

Scarlett also experiences betrayals of her trust that lead her to be suspicious even of those who have her best interests at heart. Although she should be able to trust her mother to do what’s best for her, she almost immediately doubts her mother’s intentions. This doubt proves to be well-founded, as Tamara and Steve immediately plan to commodify Scarlett’s experience with a book deal. This betrayal, coupled with the principal’s initial betrayal of the abductees, leads Scarlett to doubt other authority figures in her life. Throughout the investigation, she distrusts Chambers due to his stubborn insistence that the Everglades house is the location of the crime and his dismissal of her feeling that Anchor Beach is a strong clue. She suspects that Chambers simply wants to finally close the case, even if the solution is based on misinformation or lies. Because of the betrayal by her mother, Scarlett begins to fundamentally doubt the intentions of other authority figures as well.

Although Avery isn’t one of the abductees, she also experiences the betrayal of her trust as the result of The Leaving. Like Scarlett, she feels betrayed by those closest to her: her parents. As a teen, Avery now sees that their focus on Max’s disappearance left her at a disadvantage; she grew up caring for her mother, rather than being cared for. Her inability to trust as a result of what she sees as her mother’s betrayal causes her to react to every suspected betrayal. When Lucas is arrested, Avery acts as though he betrayed her, burning the photo of them together as children. Avery’s example illustrates how The Leaving affected even those tangentially connected to the abduction. These betrayals affect Avery’s, Lucas’s, and Scarlett’s abilities to trust those around them and even themselves, leaving them with no firm foundation from which to make decisions.