Lowen is a 32-year-old thriller and suspense writer living in New York City. She has recently lost her mother to cancer, having served as her primary caregiver during her final year. Struggling financially and facing eviction, she accepts a lucrative offer to complete the unfinished book series of a famous, incapacitated author. She copes with severe self-doubt and childhood trauma related to sleepwalking, preferring to isolate herself from public attention and close relationships.

Jeremy is a devoted father and the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford. He carries the heavy grief of recently losing his twin daughters just months apart, while also coping with his wife's incapacitating injuries from a car accident. Seeking a way to fulfill his wife's publishing contracts, he hires Lowen to finish the series and invites her to their Vermont estate to review Verity's office notes.

Verity is a prolific, highly successful author of the popular *Noble Virtues* series. A severe car accident has left her seemingly immobilized, requiring full-time in-home nursing care. Before her accident, she wrote a deeply disturbing autobiography that Lowen discovers in her office, raising dark questions about Verity's past actions, maternal instincts, and intense obsession with her husband.

Crew is Jeremy and Verity's five-year-old son and the only surviving child of the Crawford family. He lives in the tense environment of the Vermont estate, occasionally interacting with his immobilized mother while adapting to Lowen's temporary presence in the house.

Corey is Lowen's literary agent and former romantic partner. He advocates strongly for her career advancement but harbors grave suspicions regarding the tragedies surrounding the Crawford family, directly warning Lowen to be careful before she relocates to the Vermont estate.

Harper is one of Jeremy and Verity's deceased twin daughters. Diagnosed with autism, she is described as rarely smiling in family photos. Her life and tragic death by drowning weigh heavily on the surviving family members and feature prominently in her mother's private writing.

Chastin is Jeremy and Verity's deceased twin daughter. Her sudden death from an allergic reaction at a sleepover initiated the devastating chain of recent tragedies in the Crawford household.

April is Verity's in-home nurse. She maintains a strict, protective demeanor regarding her incapacitated patient and openly chastises Lowen for speaking about Verity as if she is not present in the room.

Lowen's recently deceased mother suffered from a long illness, with Lowen acting as her primary caregiver during her final year. During Lowen's childhood, her mother reacted poorly to her severe sleepwalking episodes, placing locks on doors and instilling a deep sense of shame and isolation in her daughter.