Unmissing critiques the obsessive pursuit of a perfect life, illustrating that it is not sustainable, especially if it’s accomplished by criminal means. The novel presents the Colettos’ picture-perfect life as a carefully constructed illusion designed to conceal the horrific crimes that enabled it.

The Colettos’ luxurious seaside home serves as the primary symbol of their deceptive facade, its beautiful exterior masking the couple’s financial precarity and criminal behavior. Merritt’s obsessive need to control her family’s image, from designing the outfits in her family’s photos to placing pearls on the edges of their restaurant’s soup bowls, reveals her anxiety about maintaining an image of wealth and contentment. She admits her world is “much more enjoyable when I can control it” (26), a statement that underscores her role as the architect of her family’s stellar reputation.

The inevitable collapse of this facade is mirrored by the failure of the Colettos’ restaurant empire. Their financial instability and crumbling business finally reflect their unraveling inner lives. Just as their restaurants fail to compete, their carefully maintained image cannot withstand the pressure of their secrets. Lydia’s return is the catalyst that cracks the already fragile facade, her existence a testament to the crimes they have buried. Her reappearance forces their secrets into the open, hastening a downfall that Luca had already planned with his life insurance policies on Merritt and Elsie.

The narrative signals that Luca is pulling out of his role as Merritt’s puppet when Lydia is in the office and notices that his clothes are rumpled. Instead of looking like a polished businessman, Luca reminds Lydia of the way he was when they first met, before Merritt transformed him. On the day of Everett’s birth, Merritt notes that Luca is not excited like he was when Elsie was born. There could be multiple reasons for his behavior, but one may be that he no longer wants to play the doting father. A final clue comes at the end of the novel, when Merritt notices that Luca is no longer staying in shape. She wonders, “When did he stop taking care of himself? When he realized he no longer needed to impress me because I’d soon be dead?” (231). Whereas Merritt truly wanted to be a perfect family, Luca sustained that image only as long as it was convenient. When he decided to move on, he stopped trying to impress.