“My career is teaching people to put together the most delicious treats, but I’m not allowed to touch them aside from that one bite on screen. I have to look good for the camera.”

These words emphasize the duality within April’s character. This is an example of irony. She has created a career out of baking—yet doesn’t even allow herself to eat the things that she bakes.

“My heart is doing jumping jacks in my chest, but Elliot still doesn’t seem overly concerned. How does he do that? Is he really not worried or is he just so much better at faking it. He is a lawyer, after all. He’s good at faking it.”

These thoughts from April emphasize the trouble that she is having in her relationship, even if she is not willing to admit it to herself. The quote uses personification to attribute human-like qualities to her heart—the ability to do jumping jacks—to emphasize her stress. She acknowledges that Elliot is not concerned by the fact that their son is missing, emphasizing how little he cares about his child. However, instead of addressing the fact, she simply dismisses it.

“I told him about Stranger Danger, of course. Never talk to strangers. Never go off with strangers. But I know Bobby. If a stranger offered him candy, he’d skip off with them in a heartbeat despite all the warnings. He’s helpless to resist candy.”

Just as April struggles to acknowledge the failings of her husband, she also does not engage with the issues with which her son struggles. These words foreshadow that Bobby is more at fault for the events that happen to him than April would have the reader believe, as she briefly acknowledges how reckless her son is and the fact that he does not listen to her.

“It’s about half the size of our kitchen. Maybe even less. But that makes sense, since Maria’s house is about half the size of ours or maybe even less. But the kitchen suits her. It’s small, no-frills, and everything seems very well organized.”

April’s thoughts about Maria’s kitchen emphasize how judgmental and materialistic her character is. She critiques several aspects of Maria’s house, noting how much worse they are than her own. The fact that Maria’s small house “makes sense” emphasizes April’s low opinion of her and her judgmental nature.

“The secret, in case you were wondering, is using ice-cold milk right out of the refrigerator to make the perfect foam. (And also, purchasing a five-hundred-dollar cappuccino machine).”

These words emphasize both the hollowness of April’s YouTube show and the irony behind what she does. She would like her viewers to believe that she has simple “secrets” that will improve their baking, building her career around her tips. In reality, she acknowledges that expensive equipment is just as important—even if she doesn’t share that with her viewers.

“[Sean] isn’t being facetious. I can tell he would keep a close eye on the boys. And probably protect them better than I ever could. I have a feeling if his son went missing, he wouldn’t shrug it off and say he ‘probably went to the neighbors.’”

April’s comparisons of Sean to Elliot convey how Sean serves as a foil to the other men in the novel. While Elliot largely neglects Bobby, April immediately notices how much more caring and concerned Sean is with his son. Additionally, these words emphasize the unhappiness that April feels in her marriage, even if she is not yet ready to fully admit it.

“One after another negative comment, filling the screen. I’ve received plenty of negative comments before, but never quite such a barrage of them. I thought the soufflé episode was really good. It came out looking just like a professional chef would make it. A lump forms in my throat as I scroll down, waiting for the hateful comments to end.”

April continually engages with the negative comments and hate on her YouTube videos. Although she quickly deletes them each time, she first reads them all and allows them to impact her mentality and self. These comments represent the stress and importance that April places on the public perception of herself.

“My face grows hot as Maria recounts the story of how Bobby left the backyard and I had a panic attack looking for him. I know Maria doesn’t mean anything by it, but the story doesn’t make me look good. I don’t want everybody to think I’m an irresponsible mother.”

Moments like this in April’s narration build suspicion around Maria’s character. At this point, the reader does not know who Maria truly is or how she feels about April. When she seems to innocently tell a story about April, the reader sees the impact that it has on April, as her “face grows hot” with embarrassment because it fails to uphold April’s carefully curated public appearance. This further develops the theme of Public Appearance Versus Private Persona.

“Elliot’s receptionist, Brianna, always stands guard outside his office. I keep in good shape, but Brianna is, without a shadow of a doubt, absolutely gorgeous. Her legs are long and shapely, and her blond hair is shinier and thicker than mine. And her skin is like porcelain. I may be a YouTube star but she could be a movie star. It’s painfully clear which one of us is the wife and which is the hot secretary.”

April’s thoughts about Brianna emphasize just how deeply April’s husband’s infidelity affects her. She compares Brianna to herself, emphasizing the way that her attractiveness—and her husband’s attraction to her—impacts April’s self-image. April juxtaposes Brianna’s features with hers and deems herself lesser. She employs further comparison by describing herself as “a YouTube star” and “wife,” while Brianna has “movie star” and “hot secretary” looks. This moment creates sympathy for April and develops the theme of The Psychological Impact of Betrayal. Even if April won’t acknowledge the fact herself, the reader sees how Elliot’s actions affect her.

“Julie bursts out laughing. It is sort of funny if you know Keith. First of all, he spends most of his waking hours at work in the city. And even if he didn’t, he looks like ten minutes of soccer practice would give him a heart attack. ‘No,’ she says dryly. ‘We hired a professional soccer teacher to work with Leo.’ […] That’s how things are in this town. I might have tried to hire a coach for Bobby, but I was hoping Elliot would pick up the slack.”

When Maria suggests that Keith may have taught Leo to play soccer, Julie laughs in response and then points out that she paid someone to do it. April’s thought that “that’s how things are in this town” emphasizes the role that the suburban setting plays in developing the characters. For all the mothers except Maria—who is new—the idea that their husbands would actually play soccer is laughable. This emphasizes the lack of family connection and father-child relationships that exist within the affluent suburban neighborhood.

“Our current sitter is postmenopausal. Not that I don’t trust Elliot, but he’s already got Brianna at work. Why tempt fate? Especially after…No, I promised myself I wouldn’t think about that anymore. It’s the distant past.”

These thoughts from April foreshadow the revelation that Elliot has cheated on her in the past. Although April catches herself “Especially after…No” and refuses to think about the pains of the past any longer, it nevertheless frames her babysitter hiring decisions; this shows The Psychological Impact of Betrayal.

“Yet somehow somebody has a photograph of Mark and me taken during that one kiss, snapped through my living room window. One thing. I do one thing wrong in my entire life, and now I’m being threatened with it.”

Considering the entirety of the novel, these thoughts from April are ironic. She insists to the reader that she did “one thing wrong” ever. This is ironic because, in reality, she did not just have “one kiss” with Mark, and there are many other things she has done in her life that people have considered “wrong.”

“Before I know it, the turnovers are gone. The apple and sugar and flour feel heavy in my stomach—I never indulge myself like that. I can’t believe I allowed myself that moment of weakness. Tomorrow I’ll have to make up for it.”

At several points in the novel, April eats many of her baked goods in response to the stress that she is undergoing. These moments serve to emphasize the impact that Julie’s harassment has on her—even if she won’t acknowledge it—as it contributes to her eating habits. Additionally, it shows just how hard she tries to control her public image; she normally refuses to eat her baked goods and then acts like her decision to eat them is a “weakness” that she must “make up for,” examples of disordered eating.

“And then I hear glass shattering downstairs.”

One way that McFadden builds suspense in the novel is through the use of the structure of her chapters. She often ends one chapter on a cliffhanger like this, building suspense for the reader and encouraging them to continue to see what happens next in the narrative.

“Tears well up in my eyes. I remember how my mother used to walk me to the bus stop every single morning for school. My little hand would get swallowed up by her bigger hand, and I would feel so safe and secure. I just need her to be safe like that. But she doesn’t understand.”

Moments like this highlight that April is an unreliable narrator. She seems devastated by her mother’s “outburst,” as she tells the reader that she wants to protect her mother in return for what her mother did for her as a child. However, her words that she “need[s]” her mother to be “safe” also take on a more ominous connotation in hindsight, as she is the one who would be a danger to her mother if she weren’t constantly sedated. In reality, her mother does not have dementia and is being emotionally and physically abused at April’s urging in the care facility.

“I wave to try to catch Maria’s eye when I get close enough. She doesn’t smile or wave back, but we make eye contact. She looks right at me. Then she lowers her head and says something else to Julie. Julie glances my way, then laughs again. Are they laughing at me?”

April’s shock that she is being excluded from Julie and Maria’s friendship highlights just how deeply affected she is by others’ perceptions of her. She has built her life around trying to be popular, creating a public version of herself that people will like. Despite all the other things that happen to April, one of the things that affects her the most is belonging to her community. This further develops the theme of Public Appearance Versus Private Persona.

“I stare down at the photo, gripped with the urge to delete it to keep anyone from knowing my humiliating secret. But that won’t help. Whoever sent me the photo still has it. This text message is my only proof I’m being harassed. I need to save it.”

Despite being accused of stealing money from the PTA and being arrested in Maria’s store, April continues to focus on how others perceive her. She has deleted all the messages, giving no thought to how they are evidence of her harassment. Even now, she considers deleting this one, horrified by the thought of anyone finding out that she kissed Mark—while seemingly not caring that she is currently in custody for shoplifting.

“Suddenly, my chest feels tight. I sink onto the sofa, burying my face in my hands. I’m still furious at Elliot for what he did, but I still don’t want him to leave me. I don’t want to give up my life here. I don’t want to break up my family. I’ll do anything to keep that from happening.”

As April considers what to do about Elliot and Brianna, her words have an ominous tone. She emphasizes the importance of her popularity and status in the community—and then acknowledges that she will do “anything” to stop it from being destroyed. Currently, the focus of her ire is Brianna, creating suspense about what lengths she will go to stop her.

“I keep thinking about Carrie’s humiliation when her husband left her for the hot, young babysitter. I don’t want to be the woman whose husband left her for his hot, young secretary. I just can’t.”

These thoughts from April emphasize The Psychological Impact of Betrayal. While they are hollow because April is worried about her public image rather than her self-confidence or her marriage, they also elicit sympathy for April. They convey the anger and humiliation that Elliot’s betrayal causes. Although not a justification for April’s violent actions, it lends insight into why she killed Courtney and is contemplating how to handle Briana.

“But of course, that’s insane. I know from my years in the courthouse that anyone can end up being a murderer, but I know April very well now. The idea that she might have tried to harm someone is out of the question.”

Ironically, even Julie does not initially believe that April is capable of murder. These thoughts emphasize just how good April is at creating a positive image of herself, developing the theme of Public Appearance Versus Private Persona.

“The God’s honest truth is I never liked Keith the way I liked Riley. But Keith was who I was expected to marry. You don’t move out to Long Island and become president of the PTA if you’re married to Riley Hanrahan. That would be a very different kind of life. At the time, picking a man like Keith seemed like the right thing to do.”

This acknowledgment from Julie emphasizes the internal conflict that she is undergoing. She married Keith but has since regretted it, as she did so out of obligation and adherence to societal expectations rather than love. These words also foreshadow Julie’s decision at the end of the text to leave Keith, never having felt like they truly belonged together.

“I didn’t even realize until I’m driving home how good it feels to be investigating a murder. Ever since I gave up my job at the DA’s office, it was like I had been in some sort of fog. Always trying to find more and more activities to substitute for the job I missed so badly. The one I was born to do.”

These words mark the beginning of a change in Julie’s character. She has become completely fed up with her suburban life and is beginning to acknowledge that she wants to have a career again. Additionally, they emphasize The Dangers of Revenge. She views what she is doing as “investigating a murder,” failing to understand the ramifications of what she is doing to April.

“My heart is breaking for my son. I wish I had never moved into this neighborhood. I wish I had never met April Masterson. Maybe she’s going to get away with killing Courtney Burns. But she’s not going to get away with terrorizing my son.”

These words create a contrast between the type of person that April is and the type that Julie is. In Julie’s mind, she considers the impact that April has on Leo right alongside the murder that April committed. She is a loving mother who cares about the safety of her son.