“‘Don’t be a tease.’ He frowns, his features contorting in the dim glow of the streetlight above us. ‘All you women are the same. You’re never going to land a husband if you won’t even kiss a guy on a date, you know.’”

Freida McFadden positions Sydney’s date, Kevin, as emblematic of The Misogyny and Safety Risks in the Dating World. The use of the word “contorting” in this passage frames Kevin as monstrous, as does his sense of entitlement that Sydney accept his sexual advances on their first date.

“My eyes are pulled away […] to the pulsation of her carotid artery, below the angle of her jaw. Most peoples’ hearts beat at about sixty to one hundred pulses every minute—I wonder how fast Daisy’s heart beats. If I could watch for a minute, I could calculate her heart rate.”

In the “Before” sections of the novel, McFadden establishes Tom’s obsession with blood and violence, linking it thematically to the physical and emotional violence perpetuated by his father, highlighting Cycles of Violence and Neglect in Families as a central theme. As an adult, he channels this fascination into a career as a medical examiner to indulge his violent tendencies in a socially acceptable context.

“All I want is a decent man who doesn’t have a drinking or a gambling problem, who is fun to talk to, who has a nice smile, and who likes me as much as I like them.”

By using the dating word as a backdrop for a psychological thriller, McFadden frames the challenges of finding basic romantic connection as a kind of exercise in psychological warfare. McFadden defines Sydney as a character through her deep desire for human connection—not an idealized fairy tale, but a relationship grounded in real, honest affection.