Walt is the secondary protagonist of the novel, as he is a focal point of the narrative, though he is less critical to the plot than Avery. As a romantic interest for Avery, part of Walt’s role in the novel is to help Avery to overcome her trauma, which is also how Walt overcomes his own. When the novel begins, Walt is still living with the lasting effects of his traumatic experience, and he is developing an alcohol addiction. Walt’s primary trauma is the betrayal he suffered when he discovered that Meghan Cobb, his former girlfriend, was married to his now deceased partner, Jason. Walt’s colleagues assumed that Walt was knowingly sleeping with his partner’s wife, and so he was offered the early retirement that allowed him to flee to Jamaica.

In the initial 2001 investigation into Cameron Young’s murder, Walt is characterized as serious and intelligent, following the clues where they lead him. However, his willingness to follow direction leads to him being manipulated by Maggie Greenwald, which ultimately directs Walt toward Victoria Ford despite the fabricated evidence. In the present, Walt regrets his initial investigation and wishes to right the wrongs of his past, showing that he is oriented toward justice.

When Walt decides not to record Avery, he is acting out of a desire to avoid causing the harm done to him in the past. Walt’s relationship with Avery is a means by which Walt can overcome the trauma of Meghan’s betrayal, and, by the end of the novel, he and Avery have reconciled and he is considering moving back to the United States, representing the healing of those old wounds.

Victoria Ford is, in some ways, the antagonist of the novel. In 2001, Victoria was an aspiring writer working in finance, and she was conducting an extramarital affair with Cameron Young. In the aftermath of a pregnancy resulting from the affair, and an abortion that Cameron insisted on, Victoria was upset to find out that Cameron’s wife, Tessa, was pregnant. Cameron told Victoria that he was going to leave Tessa, but the pregnancy confirmed that Cameron was not going to leave his wife to be with Victoria. As revenge, Victoria killed Cameron, planting her own blood and urine at the scene to confuse investigators. Because of Maggie Greenwald’s unethical behavior, Victoria was actually tried for the crime, and she faked her own death by leaving a tooth in the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks, escaping to Greece with the help of Natalie Ratcliff’s husband’s cruise line.

The reason why Victoria could be seen as an antagonist is that she obfuscates the investigations into her life and death. By faking evidence and her own death, Victoria misleads Avery’s present-day investigation, causing Avery to think Victoria is innocent and leading to Avery’s special on Victoria framing the murder as unsolved. Under Natalie Ratcliff’s name, Victoria has published 16 Peg Perugo novels, in the last of which she essentially confesses to the crime of killing Cameron—likely done so to taunt Avery. Though Victoria is characterized as an innocent woman for most of the novel, the end of the novel reveals that she is much more sinister than previously thought, causing the prior investigation to seem more like an elaborate deception than an earnest collection of facts.