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The Wicked Girls
The Wicked Girls
The Wicked Girls
Audiobook14 hours

The Wicked Girls

Written by Alex Marwood

Narrated by Anna Bentinck

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

On a fateful summer morning in 1986, two eleven-year-old girls meet for the first time. By the end of the day, they will both be charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of sickening attacks on young female tourists in a seaside vacation town when her investigation leads her to interview carnival cleaner Amber Gordon. For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day so many years ago. Now with new, vastly different lives-and unknowing families to protect-will they really be able to keep their wicked secret hidden?

Gripping and fast-paced, with an ending that will stay with you long after you've read it, The Wicked Girls will appeal to fans of the Academy Award-nominated film Heavenly Creatures and the novels of Rosamund Lupton and Chevy Stevens.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 6, 2013
ISBN9781452685977
The Wicked Girls
Author

Alex Marwood

Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of a former journalist who has worked extensively in the British press. She is the author of the word-of-mouth sensation The Wicked Girls, which won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original; The Killer Next Door, which won a Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel; The Darkest Secret; and The Poison Garden. Her novels have been short-listed for numerous crime writing awards and been optioned for the screen. She lives in south London.

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Reviews for The Wicked Girls

Rating: 3.763157894736842 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I hated this book. Predictable and with characters you don't care for, pointless plot, pointless side plots, pointless book!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've probably spent more time heart searching about whether to abandon or continue this book than reading it which probably isn't a good sign. Like other reviewers the premise is good... but is it bad I wanted more of what youth custody was like than was given ? I so wanted to get to the end but its hard reading....like it keeps stalling. Its very hard to keep track of who was who and who is now. There are some inspired descriptions.I was in a hospital late at night and I found myself watching the night cleaners, remembering Amber and her team. But it just dragged and I couldn't get a firm foothold in the story at all. So sadly abandoned it is.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Apparently, 25 years ago, two 11 year old girls committed a crime, possibly causing the death of a younger child. The first 3/4 of this book alludes to something of that nature. After being released from their respective juvenile facilities, each girl does her best to blend into every day life by creating for themselves the dullest existence ever and then complaining about their choices. One day, they meet again by chance and nothing much happens. During all of this, a serial killer, or maybe more than one serial killer are killing women. Possibly by telling them the story of these two women and causing them to stab themselves. I didn't make it to the end. I don't really care how it ends.

    The characters seemed all the same, I stayed confused throughout most of the book about who was who. None of the characters were likable or even remotely interesting making it impossible to make even the slightest connection. I thought that the story lacked any kind of cohesive plot and the story itself was simply boring.

    My recommendation - Skip this one.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Wicked Girls is a crime thriller with many stories buried within. The book parallels the story of serial murders occurring at a seaside vacation spot with the story of two young girls convicted of killing a younger child and sent away until they reach adulthood. The girls have different starts, different incarcerations, and different outcomes - one a successful reporter, the other supervising the night shift cleaning crew at her local fun park. Their outcomes aren't what you'd expect from either of them and explicate the differences between theories of criminal justice - are we penalizing or rehabilitating and what becomes of whom and why?There's a great mystery story in here with all the usual you expect from this kind of thriller - the evil killer, the fear of everyone in his possible path, the scrum of journalists looking for the next great twist. It is unfortunate, but maybe not surprising that our two heroines paths cross - forbidden by their parole - and their stories collide with the larger story. There are hard choices, the affect that murder has on families and on us all, the way the press passes judgement before noodling off to the next big thing, the subtle fault lines that appear in relationships between friends and neighbors, and so much fear of so many things that may come to light.This is a book I read compulsively wanting to understand all the stories here, to know what becomes of everyone and how it all happened, to know whodunit. Nicely paced and full of surprises - highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Wicked Girls is an amazing novel that takes us from a recent spree of killings back twenty-five years ago when 2 girls, Jade and Bel, killed someone and went to different juvenile detentions . After they were released they were given new names and were never to see each other again. Now they are Kirsty and Amber, one a journalist, married with children and the other working as a cleaner at an amusement park where there have been recent killings. Amber sees Kirsty first and tries to avoid her, she doesn't want to get in trouble and she doesn't want her past to come back and haunt her. We don't know which one was Bel and which one was Jade until they do meet. Throughout the current story, we are also following the story of Jade and Bel and the day they met, which is also the day they killed someone.This book is both suspenseful and a great look into the main characters. I couldn't read it fast enough. I highly recommend it!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was a surprise I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, I thought it was just light reading but it caught my attention straight off and I liked it right to the end
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alex Marwood (a pseudonym) has her story unfold with Amber cleaning the House of Mirrors at Funnland, an amusement park located in the fictional resort town of Whitmouth on the English Channel and stumbles over a dead teenage girl. At first I couldn't understand her first reaction of wanting to hide the girl until it came clear Amber did not want her photo in the media of being the one who discovered the girl. Kirsty is supporting two kids and an unemployed husband (Jim) as a reporter for a London newspaper and she travels to Whitmouth to cover the murder. The third female murder during that summer. The descriptive scenes of Amber's wretched work environment as a cleaner and her co-workers who are have the visage of run-down workers from the economy portray Whitmouth's poverty. The paper she works for wants Kirsty to report for the Sunday edition on how to make their readers feel better about their lives. Her paper claims "…No town where a killer is on the loose is allowed to be a nice town; it’s an unwritten law." Whitmouth is a town in economic recession and its growth is based on drunken visitors on short holiday spurts. It makes her job a bit challenging. Kirsty and Amber meet all these years later under very believable circumstances.Jim and Kirsty throw a dinner "networking-employment" party for Jim and one of the guests had voiced himself on the serial murders that are going on and crime in general that ended with juvenile offenders being "little monsters" and should be locked up before there's any more victims from them.Kirsty finds his remarks distressing, being labeled as a "wicked girl" from her past by the media when she and her day old new acquaintance were found guilty of abducting and murdering a four year old. The girls were tried and convicted and sent to different juvenile facilities and were ordered never to see each other again. Ever. Kirsty has not told Jim or their kids about her past.Amber has never told her partner Vic. Ever. And this charismatic handsome Vic holds his own secret which is revealed in a twisted way that twists the reader - even Amber.The novel portrays Kirsty and Amber as productive, caring, loving adults and keeps you guessing on who is committing these murders. Well, with that thought, there is Martin.Martin is a stalker who is badgering a woman who had dumped him after a one-night stand and is pissed off at the drunks that come to his town and is convinced that the murdered women "asked for it". Marwood leaves you thinking throughout many chapters, could it be Martin? This woman-hating stalker has redefined louse.As kids, Kirsty and Amber were of different social classes and how Marwood alternated present day chapters with those chapters that were set in the past shifting from Kirsty and Amber the reader might think their adult social class roles would have been the same but....You read that Kirsty and Amber were both abused as kids and did they grow into being adult murderer's? Those two kids that had abducted and killed a four year old? Or was is it a complete innocent misjudgement on whose part - theirs?, societies?, both? Marwood leaves you thinking and pondering who really is the victim? even though you read who the killer is. Alex Marwood has a great novel here that has a twisted climax ending that you do not see coming.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The action of The Wicked Girls starts in the seaside town of Whitmouth where Amber Gordon works as the supervisor of the third shift cleaning crew at Funnland, a beachfront amusement park. Amber is trying to be the kind of supportive supervisor people like, helping them out when she can and turning a blind eye to their minor infractions. Her life is pretty no frills, but her luck; finding a home with a good boyfriend, her two sweet dogs, and steady work; never ceases to surprise her. That is, until the night when she reports to her normal cleaning duties at Innfinityland, the hall of mirrors, and discovers the body of a strangled young girl in its passages. All the sudden, her criminal past, carefully buried and obscured by a new name and a quiet life, comes perilously close to the surface. As the killings continue, and the Seaside Strangler begins to make a name for himself, the press descends upon the lower-end holiday town. With it comes Kirsty Lindsay, mother of two, hack journalist, and the incognito other half of a "criminal" duo. Kirsty and Amber were never meant to see each other again, but the coincidence of the Whitmouth crimes drags them into each other's orbit for the first time since the fateful day when their childhoods came to an abrupt end. As the saga of the Seaside Strangler continues, the back story of the "Wicked Girls" also slowly unspools.I actually quite enjoyed The Wicked Girls, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. For starters, it was set on the English seaside, which for some reason, despite having read the spoilery jacket copy and whatever the publicist sent me when pitching the book to me for review, I failed to realize. As for me, the British slang and atmosphere set this book a little apart for me and made me like it more. Second, I was expecting more of a nailbiter when it came to identifying the Seaside Strangler. However, for anybody who has ever caught an episode of a show like Criminal Minds in their lives, spotting the Strangler was no difficult task, and I think I'd managed it before the book was half over. Rather than giving a lot of attention to the immediate crimes at hand, the book uses them to embrace its more literary side and delve into the psyches of the now adult perpetrators of a childhood crime. As a character study, The Wicked Girls soars. It asks difficult questions about what constitutes a murder, whether a killer can ever outrun the effects of their crime, and how well another person and their motives can ever truly be known. More suspenseful than the Strangler mystery by far is the collection of flashbacks that recalls the details of the first and last day the Wicked Girls spent together and the crime, if you can call it that, that derails their futures. Marwood does a stellar job with her two main characters. They are are never quite positioned as wholly loveable women, but Marwood easily draws your sympathy toward them as she lays out the paths that each took to live a good life in the wake of crime and punishment, whether it was by being a devoted wife and mother or by always offering a helping hand to a friend or a co-worker in need. When it becomes clear that what's past is never truly past, Marwood evokes a sad situation and asks her readers to consider what really makes a person wicked and whether someone with blood on their hands can ever find redemption.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Twenty five years ago two little girls are imprisoned for the murder of a five year old. Now both are out and leading new lives. Kirsty is a journalist and Amber is a cleaner. Both are never to see each other again but circumstances throw them together.I recently watched Alex Marwood on CBS reality Written in Blood, where she spoke about how the case of Jamie Bulger gave her the idea for this book. It explores how children become the killers of children.I quite enjoyed the book. I found it very easy to read and very down to earth. The story follows the two women and their lives and goes back to their one day together and what happens. I think I would have enjoyed the book slightly more if the story had been told by both women.The story was a little predictable at times and didn't have a lot of twists. The story wasn't quite what I expected, as I thought it was going to focus more on the girls and their crime rather than their adult lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    That's it, that's us: not 'the suspects', not 'the children in custody'. We're The Girls Who Killed Chloe. We are the Devil now.
    -Prologue

    She knows enough about self-esteem to know that people without it invite trouble into their lives without even realizing they're doing so.
    -Chapter 24

    Let's face it: society doesn't really care who it blames, as long as it blames someone.
    -Chapter 46
    At the start of the book, it is 1986 and we meet two young girls who have been convicted of murdering another girl. In Chapter One, we fast forward to 2011, where we meet a stalker, a newspaper reporter and a cleaning woman who works in an amusement park. The cleaning woman has just discovered a dead body. The book continues to move back and forth in time and we gradually piece together the story of what happened the day the little girl died.

    This book is deliciously creepy and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The girls are all grown up. Is there a chance for redemption? Or are the mistakes of the past going to follow them forever? And what are they willing to do to keep their secrets?


    Recommended to:
    I highly recommend this book. If you like thrillers, this is a great one. I'm looking forward to reading her next book (not a sequel) called The Killer Next Door.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book! If I were allowed to do so, I'd give the first half of Alex Marwood's crime novel an enthusiastic five stars. Marwood started with a bang, with the story of two pre-adolescent girls who were convicted of a murder and, years later, given new identities after their release, to protect them as their case was a famous one. The novel begins with the adult lives of the two women, although the reader doesn't know which adult was which child as both stories unfold. In the present day, there are a series of murders of young women in the holiday seaside town of Whitmouth. Both women are tangential to the crime; Amber works as a cleaner in the amusement park where one body is found and Kirsty is a freelance reporter, sent to cover the story. As their paths begin to circle, the story tightens. I read the first half of the book sure that I'd found another author as brilliant as [[Tana French]]. Then, as the story unfolded, it became more predictable, so that the third quarter of the book slipped back to a three and a half star read. I was still interested, but the plot started to fall into predictability. And the last quarter of the book was a generous two star read; the writing and the characters lost their nuance and vivacity and became rote, predictable and something that would not surprise anyone. I'm still surprised that a novel that was so good could change so completely, as though the first half had been written by a different person than the second half.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A brilliant and heart-crushing novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    We've read the stories in the papers - children killing children. We're horrified, wondering how it could happen, what is wrong with them, where were their parents and more. Alex Marwood has taken that premise and penned a riveting debut novel. In 1986 England, eleven year old Bel and Jade meet for the first time. At the end of that one day of friendship, a four year old will be dead. And they will be convicted of murder. " I don't understand why they hate me so much. We didn't mean it. We never meant it to happen.' Twenty five years later, each has been released and made a life for themselves. But the paths they've taken are very different from each other. It is another set of murders in a seaside resort town that sets the stage for their paths crossing again. 'Kirsty' is a reporter covering the murders and 'Amber' is a cleaner at the carnival where the latest victim was found. Ohh, what a page turner!! The present day search for the murderer is alternated with chapters from the past that detail bit by bit what led up to that fateful day in 1986. The present day story is no less riveting, full of tension and questions. Each woman has so much to lose if anyone discovers who they really are. What lengths will they go to, to keep their identities hidden? Who is murdering young women? Each woman was well drawn - I felt like they were 'real'. Their home lives and thoughts were compelling. I did find myself drawn to one more than the other. The supporting characters were just as fleshed out and had their own secrets. Especially creepy were the thought processes of Martin - a man who doesn't see his behaviour as stalking. This was an excellent thriller, complete with a 'didn't see that coming' ending. Alex Marwood is a pseudonym for a London journalist - the crimes and the prose have a gritty, authentic feel to them. Marwood is working on a second novel - one I'll be watching for.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dark and disturbing. Follows the life of two child murderers. What was in their background that led two girls who only met that day to become vilified and tried as the murderers of a young girl? The book goes back and forth, telling the story of the girls in back-flashes and the now, when they have changed their names and have new lives.While at times I sympathized with some of the characters, I was never really drawn to them. Mixing a serial killer in the present brings the two young woman back together again,. This was a little too much of a coincidence and I am not sure I liked how this was done. Would someone who was hiding from their old life, become a journalist? It was different though and I applaud the author for that. Maybe just not my kind of story.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    There was so much about this book that I wanted to like, but ultimately, it left me cold.

    This book draws most of its inspiration from the infamous 1954's Parker-Hulme case, which is pretty obvious from anyone vaguely familiar with the case and its aftermath (the blurb on Amazon even mentions Heavenly Creatures).

    Unfortunately, outside of that the book isn't very much in the way of interesting. The story moves at a glacial pace. The characters aren't anything special and it's hard to dredge up much sympathy for them -- though, hilariously, I will say some parts of the book read as though they were written by Anne Perry herself, complete with all the whiny, self-indulgent, pity-party hand-wringings about how they aren't "those girls" anymore and life is just so unfair.

    (Considering that Marwood is from the UK, where Perry now resides, it could be that this was an intentional jab at her.)

    But on the whole, this book is just very uninspired, unfeeling, poorly paced, and not surprising or shocking in the least. The recent day killings just don't really even need to be in this story, but there they are, tossed in and solved rather anti-climatically. As if Marwood wanted a clever way to bring the two women back together, but didn't really care enough to make it an interesting and engaging mystery.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    for now I'm going to give this book 3 stars because in my opinion the book was all over the place. I got lost somewhere in the book im going to have to listen to it again but for right now like I said 3 stars is what I'm given
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    good book. will read this author again. lots of emotions.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took a while for me to settle with this book which had a lot of flitting back to the past and then going forward to the present day. A good story which left me thinking about similar situations in real life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wicked Girls is a departure from the usual books I read in some ways, and right on target in others. First off, it takes place in England and the author (plus all the characters' dialogue) incorporates an incredible amount of "British English" slang, so I was looking up some of those out of curiosity, but obviously I was able to understand everything going on anyway. It actually made the read somewhat more fun because I was a step out of my comfort zone-- but being mysterious-- it pulled me back in. I would classify it as a psychological thriller, but not a suspenseful one. It was an edgy character study perhaps that unwinds at a leisurely pace.

    The story follows the plight of two eleven year old girls who meet up and become friends for just one day, but what a day that was! The girls were found guilty of murdering a four year old girl and were sent to juvenile detention until adulthood. Fast forward twenty-five years and the deed done in their childhood is still hanging around their necks like an albatross. One girl went to a dismal environment where she was at the mercy of roaming gangs and unsympathetic staff. Now she hovers above the poverty line, working as a cleaner at a seaside amusement park whose town has seen better days. The other went to a more progressive place and was able to get decent schooling and a good career afterwards. They were given new identities but did not go back to their families (and judging from what we learn of those families, they wouldn't want to). Throughout the story we learn little by little what happened that fateful day, and how the adult women are still affected by it. I don't want to give up too much of the plot here, but suddenly dead bodies of women are being found in the town that one of them lives in, and the circumstances pull the two back in touch again.

    This novel was neither suspenseful nor thrilling, but because of the dark nature of the story and the multiple murders, it might be something that fans of mystery, suspense, & thrillers would enjoy. You do have an element of the unknown as the author slowly drops more and more clues about the girls' background, and there is a surprise ending, which I thought could have been even better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This third person narrator follows four present, related stories and one past story. I was initially concerned that it might not suit my current reading needs for an easily followed narrative. I need not have worried.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I enjoyed this book. I thought this was very well written. The story is kind of believable. Its the story of 2 girls who murdered a 4 year old child 25 years ago. They accidentally meet up through horrible circumstances. The 2 women are leading different lives. One lives near the seaside her common law husband is charged with murdering young women. The other is a reporter sent down to report on these crimes that's when they meet. Wont say much about the rest of this story. But well worth a read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed reading this story. The author shows how the press has the power to influence our thoughts. I empathized with the wicked girls who both had unstable backgrounds. It was a sad book with a sad ending. Worth reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Would make a good beach read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I listened to this book on Audible. Recommended.

    Jade and Belle are 11 year olds from different worlds. When they meet, they immediately hit it off. But things go wrong when they end up killing 4-year-old Chloe. Flash forward to the present — both girls have been given new identities to protect them from the angry mobs that want them killed. Amber Gordon works at a water park in a tourist town, and Kirsty Lindsay is a well-known freelance journalist. Their worlds collide when a serial killer strikes in Amber’s town and Kirsty is sent to report on it.

    “The Wicked Girls” is a fast-paced thriller that tells not only the present-day story of Amber and Kirsty, but also flashes back to see what really happened that fateful day with poor, innocent Chloe. Sometimes, circumstances aren’t what they seem — but sometimes, everything isn’t what it seems. A twisted look at murder, justice, and journalism.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The idea of Ted Bundy's daughter killing people was a plausible idea for a book. But add to it an FBI agent who inherits a ring that stops time and it really goes off on a tangent. I have read other books by Catherine Coulter but I felt she lost herself in this one and even though the ending was good the book itself left much to be desired.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    All The Twists & Turns of a Thriller at the Funfair.Wow what a debut crime psychological thriller we have here, Alex Marwood using all her experience of being a journalist comes through who has reported on stories where the truth is stranger than fiction. Somehow Marwood has managed to put that feeling where you do not know what to believe from the beginning as you are met with two feral kids that have just been sentenced to life for murder and the braying crowd outside wanting instant ‘justice’. Annabel and Jade were sentenced to life as children cut from their families they are given new identities and released back in to society on a life licence which means any breach of their parole conditions they go straight back to prison. After 25 years Kirsty Lindsay has rebuilt her new life married with children and working as a freelance journalist is reporting on a series of murders in the sea side town of Whitmore in Kent. She comes across Amber Gordon a cleaner at the funfair on the pier at Whitmore. It is the first time both have met each other since they were stood in the dock when their sentence was being handed down and both are now scared.As the book throws us many curve balls as to who we think may be the killer or killers we literally have to see who it is, and as for the why........ One thing is made very clear to protect themselves and their families they need to work together to protect their dark secret. They are well aware how feral people can become when they hear there is a child killer in their midst and how self-righteous they become and judgemental even when sentences have been served.You can feel the psychological terror that is taking place for Kirsty and Amber will they be able to keep their secret and will these murders unmask them both. It is the fear of that while holding together their lives as the world falls to pieces around them. Is it possible to hold everything together or do you revert to the type of person the feral society expects you to be egged on by the tabloid press or can you move on. This book is a brilliant debut thriller with so many twists and turns you really cannot predict how the story will end for both the central characters. In some ways you feel for both Kirsty and Amber as the underlying knowledge society will never really allow them to move on to change their lives if their secret comes out. You can feel their fear and the towns fear as people are being killed.This really is an exciting and exhilarating read that tests the bounds of what you believe and what you want to believe. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and see what sort of person you are, can people really change?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    [The Wicked Girls] by [[Alex Marwood]]This was a fun thriller/mystery that focuses on the lives of two women who were convicted of the murder of a child when they themselves were children. As adults, they've been paroled and are living under different identities when a string of murders brings them together. The book slowly reveals what happened in the past and how it affected the futures of these women. I thought this was really well done. The author manages to keep the focus on the women even though the current day serial killer could have easily stolen the show. I'd happily read more of Marwood's books.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very dark, but absolutely fascinating.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While this was a good novel that was pretty well written, thought out and mostly well put together, it made me sad. I was sad for the characters both as children and as adults. I felt a very different kind of sadness for their mates, and in one case their children. I felt an incredibly different kind of sadness for the stalker character, and what happened to him in this novel. And the serial killer, I felt nothing at all for....
    The audiobook was narrated by Anna Bentinck. She was pretty good, but some of her characterizations were rather silly and distracting.
    All in all, this novel gets three stars. Some people liked it, some hated it, and some - like me, just feel rather middle of the line. Maybe ‘meh’ sums it up well. But I’m still quite sad about how the whole novel ended..... those poor people.

    3 stars, and recommended to lovers of this genre, whatever it’s classification is.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alex Marwood's The Wicked Girls is less about serial murder in seaside England and more an astute rendering of a poor community in a depressed economy, the rehabilitation options of youthful offenders, and how perceptions and biases in the population and media can considerably alter the course of a life. Gripping from start to finish, the story makes readers consider how much you ever know anyone.