The Thrashers

In the prologue, Emily Mills narrates from beyond death, explaining that she died on prom night in Sacramento by swallowing her mother's Vicodin in a bathtub while wearing a pink dress. Police ruled it a suicide, but one phrase kept surfacing in teen interviews: "the Thrashers."

The story is narrated by Jodi Dillon, a senior whose four closest friends form a clique dubbed "the Thrashers" after Zack Thrasher, the group's charismatic center. Jodi has been in love with Zack since childhood. The other members are Paige Montgomery, a cheerleader and student council VP; Lucy Reed, fiercely loyal and intimidating; and Julian Hollister, Zack's wealthy, sharp-tongued other best friend, who openly antagonizes Jodi. The nickname reflects a cruel pattern: outsiders who get close are eventually discarded, or "Thrashed." When Emily's death is mentioned at a summer party, Jodi flees in distress, and she soon receives a cryptic text from an unknown number.

Police bring all five Thrashers in for questioning. Detective Chelsea Harding presses Jodi about Emily, but Zack's father, Greg Thrasher, a criminal defense lawyer, shuts down the interviews. Julian instructs everyone to put nothing in writing. Jodi's home life is difficult: her father, Hank, is an absent, heavy-drinking truck driver, and her mother, Josephine, died when Jodi was a baby in what Jodi has always been told was an accidental bathtub drowning. At a grocery store, Emily's mother, Maureen Mills, reveals that Emily's journal describes Jodi talking Emily out of a suicide attempt in April, something Jodi cannot remember.

Emily's memorial vigil becomes a turning point when a slideshow includes a fabricated photo of Emily and Jodi together, edited from a picture where Emily was not present. That night, Zack is arrested on charges of harassment and statutory rape. Greg advises the group to split up publicly and make new friends.

Senior year begins with Jodi eating lunch alone. She stays in drama class on the suggestion of Oliver Burns, her next-door neighbor and former childhood friend, and begins painting backdrops. She is shaken when she sees Hannah Mills, Emily's younger sister and a new freshman, on the school bus, looking almost identical to Emily. When summoned by the school counselor, Jodi spots a box of Emily's guidance files and, with Oliver creating a distraction, searches it. She discovers session notes revealing Emily called Jodi her best friend and claimed she was going to prom with the Thrashers. The counselor noted Emily as "obsessive." Jodi steals the final page.

Julian, Paige, and Lucy all receive arraignment papers for criminal harassment, with Lucy facing an additional assault charge. At a drive-in movie, the screen collapses onto Julian's truck. Jodi drags Julian from the wreckage, likely saving his life, but takes a glass shard to her thigh. A streetlamp flickers and dies as she is loaded into an ambulance, echoing Emily's claimed ability to control lights.

One night, Hank throws a beer bottle at Jodi's head. She calls Zack, who is passed out drunk; Julian answers instead, drives to her house, and charms Hank into letting Jodi leave. In the truck, Julian reveals his own father has hit him. The shared vulnerability marks a shift in their relationship.

Jodi visits the Mills home and finds a loose tile in the bathroom where Emily died, concealing Emily's cell phone and a leather-bound journal ending in April 2024 with no May entries. The police evidence journal continues through May. Jodi realizes the police's version may be a fabrication. At a session with psychic medium Nan Herrington, Nan detects Emily's energy and a second female presence with an "H" name coming from Jodi. She warns that Emily is focused entirely on Jodi and that every energy in the room wants to protect her.

At a birthday party, Paige is electrocuted by a faulty stereo and stops breathing. Julian performs CPR and saves her. When Paige wakes, she describes a near-death vision in which Emily said, "I'll protect you" (23), the same phrase Jodi has heard in flashbacks. On New Year's Eve, Oliver reveals he witnessed the group playing Ride or Die, a reckless game involving riding on a car's hood, with Emily in April. Feeling betrayed, Jodi drinks for the first time and becomes dangerously intoxicated. Julian drives two hours to find her.

Jodi confronts her friends. Julian claims he was driving during Ride or Die, but Jodi is skeptical. Lucy reveals her assault charge stems from a journal entry claiming she threw a glass Coke bottle at Emily. Jodi recognizes the detail: her own father threw a bottle at her, and she told Emily about it. Emily repurposed Jodi's story in the fabricated journal.

At a séance in February, Kiera, a girl Zack has been seeing, appears to channel Emily, telling Jodi, "I'll protect you from everyone" (243) and delivering a message Jodi realizes comes from her mother: "She wants you to go to Rosa's" (243). That night, Hank accidentally starts a house fire, and Jodi moves in with her aunt Rosa permanently. At her deposition, Harding reveals a truth Jodi has never been told: her mother died by suicide, overdosing in a locked bathroom with baby Jodi in the tub. Shortly after, Kiera's car plunges off a bridge when she claims she saw Emily in the road. Jodi, unable to swim, is trapped underwater until Julian dives in and pulls her out.

Julian then gives Jodi a flash drive and confesses. After Zack slept with Emily around spring break, Emily became obsessive. Julian confronted her, then compiled every private text, video, and chat the group had made mocking Emily into a Google Drive and sent it on prom day with the message "Jodi doesn't care if you live or die" (322). Jodi finds her own cruel jokes among the most devastating content.

During prom, Julian and Jodi share their first kiss while painting backdrops for the school's production of West Side Story. Zack walks in, and the confrontation forces him to admit he slept with Emily. Jodi walks home barefoot. She then goes to Greg with critical evidence: the bottle incident in the police's journal happened to her, not Emily, proving the journal is fabricated. She also meets Harding and hands over Julian's flash drive, sealing his fate. Harding asks, "How does it feel? Thrashing someone?" (323).

By June, the fake journal is exposed and charges are dropped against Paige, Lucy, and Zack, the last due to a date error in the fabrication that contradicts Zack's verified alibi. Julian, however, pled guilty to criminal harassment before the exposure; his text and Google Drive constituted independent evidence, earning him six months in juvenile detention.

Hannah Mills confesses to Jodi that she forged the fake journal and sent the anonymous texts from burner phones. She reveals the most disturbing truth: she was in the bathroom while Emily died. Emily staged her death as a performance for Jodi, telling Hannah not to scream until the limo arrived because "Jodi has to see" (330). Hannah kept Emily awake with cold water, but the limo came late. Jodi's grandmother later reveals that Josephine's birth name was Herminia, confirming the "H" energy Nan detected as Jodi's mother reaching out from beyond.

At Emily's grave, Paige confesses she threw the bottle at Emily, motivated by insecurity about being "nothing" within the group. Jodi declines Zack's suggestion of a romantic relationship, telling him she has put him first her entire life without reciprocation. One month later, she visits Julian in detention and presses him on who was really driving during Ride or Die. Julian insists it was him, but Jodi implies she believes it was Zack, "the only person you'd take the fall for." Julian reveals Emily has been haunting him all year, sitting on his roommate's bed and staring.

In the epilogue, Emily narrates from Julian's cell, confirming her supernatural presence is real. She whispers ideas to him about visiting Jodi at CalArts and declares, "We're just getting started" (341), as the light above him flickers and dies.