How does Merritt subvert women’s traditional roles in the thriller genre? How does her role as a hidden antagonist critique society’s assumptions about women and motherhood?

Examine how the novel uses the language and imagery of confinement to define its central characters. Beyond Lydia’s physical imprisonment, how are Merritt and Luca trapped by their own deceptions, ambitions, and financial precarity?

While the narrative reveals Merritt as the originator of the insurance and kidnapping scheme, Luca remains the perpetrator of Lydia’s nine-year torture. Analyze Luca’s character, using textual evidence to argue for the extent of his own agency and culpability in the novel’s central crimes.

How does Unmissing use characters’ money, class, and luxury to critique aspirational lifestyles? What role does the West Coast’s gentrification play in the Colettos’ rise and downfall?

Analyze Lydia’s quest for retribution as a contemporary, gendered revision of the classic revenge narrative. How do the specific social challenges she faces as a woman shape her methods of revenge and distinguish her from traditional male avenging protagonists?

Beyond the cabin, mansion, and farmhouse, how do the primary settings in Unmissing contribute to the novel’s thematic development? What do the environments reveal about the values of the people who inhabit them? Use examples from the text in your response.

What relationship does Delphine have with characters other than Lydia in the novel? Is her narrative role constant, or does she act differently in different settings? Use examples from the text in your response.

How does Kent use psychological thriller conventions in Unmissing to deconstruct traditional roles of victim and perpetrator?