64 pages • 2-hour read
You Killed Me First
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Character Analysis
Margot
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of physical and emotional abuse, mental illness, suicidal ideation, self-harm, substance abuse, anti-LGBTQ+ bias, and profanity. The premise of the source text also perpetuates unfair stereotypes by depicting people with mental health conditions as dangerous.
Margot is one of the protagonists and narrators of the story. She lives in a suburban town with her husband, Nicu, and her stepchildren, Frankie and Tommy. Margot used to be part of a famous pop band when she was younger; however, the band broke up after receiving inexplicably negative publicity. In addition, Margot’s reputation was damaged when she began an affair with Nicu after they met on a dance reality show, especially given that Nicu had a girlfriend, Ioana, and children as well. After Ioana’s death (seemingly by suicide) on the day after Margot and Nicu’s wedding, Margot became widely reviled and was forced to retire from public life.
Despite the erosion of her fame, Margot remains deeply enamored of external attention and expends considerable energy in projecting a false persona. When Margot first notices Liv moving in, she is jealous of the other woman’s wealth, beauty, and lavish lifestyle. Her insecurities around Liv only intensify when Liv takes a dislike to her and constantly finds ways to put Margot down, especially in Anna’s presence. Margot finds this dynamic especially disconcerting, as Anna is one of the few people in her life to whom Margot can still feel superior; Margot is often condescending toward Anna, making belittling comments and snide remarks about Anna’s appearance and behavior. However, despite Margot’s apparent disdain for Anna, she continues to associate with Anna in order to exert power and control over her.
In keeping with the high value that Margot places on social hierarchy and attention, she proves herself to be a shallow and self-serving person, especially at the beginning of the book. Despite her negative feelings toward Liv, she continues to seek out Liv’s company because of the wealth and connections that Liv enjoys. For the same reason, even though Margot is affronted by Liv’s perceived interference with Frankie’s exploration of gender identity, she immediately calms down when she discovers that Liv has put Frankie in touch with a celebrity’s child.
Margot’s relationship with Frankie is yet another indication of her self-centeredness and insensitivity, for rather than taking the time and energy to truly understand her stepchild’s perspective, Margot uses Frankie as an opportunity to reclaim attention and rebuild her own public persona by hosting a surprise gender reveal party. Additionally, she is also unable to understand that she has crosses a boundary and violated Frankie’s trust.
Margot’s seemingly frivolous traits are made more contrasted with her darker, hidden past as a gang member. The narrative eventually reveals that she was an accomplice to the murders of Anna and Drew’s parents. Additionally, she was almost responsible for Anna’s and Drew’s deaths herself. Hints of her ongoing tendency toward immorality are demonstrated throughout the book; for example, she and Nicu began their relationship while he was still involved with Ioana, and Margot later cheats on Nicu with Drew for months, even though she believed him to be Anna’s husband; she almost kills Liv, and though feels guilty in the moment, is not ultimately remorseful of the harm she causes Liv.
While Margot is a deeply immoral character, she occasionally shows a more compassionate side, as when she dresses Anna’s wound after Anna harms herself. Margot even begins to progress in her relationships with Tommy and Frankie, and by the time she announces her pregnancy, she has shown herself to be capable of harboring a maternal side.
By contrast, the malicious comments that “Margot” makes at the end of the novel do not originate from the woman herself, but from Anna’s mind. By this point, Anna has murdered Margot in what amounts to a fit of pique, subsequently finding herself harangued by Margot’s imaginary voice. The sentiments that “Margot” expresses in these final moments of the novel therefore say far more about Anna’s state of mind than they do about the late Margot herself.
Anna
Anna is one of the main characters and narrators of the story. She is Margot and Liv’s neighbor, and she is initially presented as living with her husband, Drew. However, the narrative eventually reveals that Drew is actually her brother, Andrew. Likewise, Anna’s real name is “Joanna.” When Anna and Drew were children, their parents were murdered by gang members during a botched break-in; Anna and Drew also almost died that night in a fire set by the aggressors—one of which was Margot. Ever since, Anna has struggled with her mental health. She hears voices in her head; the first voice that she heard was her late mother’s. This voice urged Anna to avenge her parents’ deaths. After every murder that Anna commits, the voice in Anna’s head is replaced by that of her latest victim.
Initially, Anna is presented as naïve and mild-mannered, and Liv even believes her to be excessively controlled by Margot. Midway through the book, however, Anna is revealed to be the killer who hears her victims’ voices, and later, when Margot learns the truth about Anna, Anna also confesses to having masterminded the destruction of Margot’s professional life. In this way, Anna embodies The Tension between Appearances and Reality and the thriller trope of the unlikely villain. By presenting Anna as meek and submissive, Marrs effectively conceals her true role in the plot.
Just like Margot, Anna is largely unwilling to accept accountability for her actions. She does struggle immensely with her mental health, and she is revealed to have once received psychiatric treatment for suicidal ideation. However, Anna uses her trauma and suffering as a justification for her murderous actions, which accelerate as she succumbs to The Slippery Slope of Violence. Her failure to take responsibility for her crimes most frequently manifests in the voices that she hears, for she blames them for her actions and perceives herself as not being entirely in control when she kills someone.
Anna is also intensely motivated by revenge, but over time, the motivations behind her violent actions begin to warp and change. Although Anna does kill Zain, Jenny, and Warren in retribution, Ioana’s death is the result of an angry scuffle, and she kills Drew’s out of a need for self-preservation. Finally, she kills Margot because she believes that Margot is an inadequate mother to her daughter. This last murder is particularly significant to Anna’s character arc, as she deprives a young girl of her mother just as Anna herself was once deprived of hers. Thus, while Anna begins her murderous journey by killing those responsible for her mother’s death, she ironically becomes exactly the kind of person whom she was trying to punish.
Liv
Liv is the third narrator and main character in the novel. She, her husband Brandon, and their two children arrive in the suburban town that Margot and Anna already inhabit. Wealthy, beautiful, and determined to succeed, Liv and Brandon set up a wellness studio in town; simultaneously, Liv strikes up a complicated friendship with Margot and Anna.
The present timeline in the book begins with Liv’s arrival, and the book’s first half focuses on the fraught interactions amongst the three women, highlighting The Fragility of Relationships. Liv’s arrival upsets the power balance between Margot and Anna; as the one with the highest social status, Liv easily sabotages Margot’s social position by supporting the ostensibly meek and compliant Anna. However, Liv does not actually manage to establish a meaningful connection with either of the women, both because of the simmering dislike between Liv and Margot, and because Anna and Margot are each harboring their own, dark secrets. In turn, Liv never opens up to the other two about her own scandalous past. This disconnect eventually causes the dynamics between the trio to break down.
Although Liv plays a significant role in the novel, she is essentially a flat character, experiencing the least development of the trio. In fact, she exists largely as a plot device, functioning as a supporting element to highlight the other two main characters’ arcs. Liv’s arrival in town facilitates the women’s closer association, but once Anna is revealed as the killer, the focus shifts largely to Margot and Anna’s intertwined past, at which point Liv becomes a prop for the plot. When Margot hits Liv with the car, Marrs uses this event to illustrate Margot’s unchanged nature and provide a logical reason for Margot and Anna to band together when Liv later blackmails them. Liv’s fondness for blackmail also showcases her willingness to resort to unethical means. Thus, although her presence is crucial, Liv’s only real purpose in the novel is to facilitate the journeys of the other two main characters.
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