Someone We Know: A Novel

The main protagonist of the novel, as well as its moral center, Olivia lives in the suburban town of Aylesford and works from home as a part-time copy editor. The mother of a 16-year-old boy, Olivia has been married for 20 years to Paul, a pharmaceutical executive who is about 50 years old. One of the few characters in the novel who hates secrets and dishonesty, Olivia first reveals her strong moral sense when she suggests that her son apologize to the people whose houses he broke into, even though they are probably unaware that any break-in occurred. As she says to her husband, the homeowners should be told, for their own safety, that their computers were compromised and that “prank emails” were sent from their accounts. Her husband, however, thinks only of the consequences for their son, and perhaps the public embarrassment to himself. Aside from her belief in doing the right thing and owning up to all misdeeds, she worries about the cynical lesson her husband’s cover-up will teach their impressionable son; and indeed, after the lawyer is hired, Raleigh breaks into yet another house. Without consulting her husband, Olivia delivers anonymous letters to the two houses she knows her son has broken into, giving few details but warning the owners that their computers and email accounts have been tampered with—this is her compromise with her husband’s directive to admit no guilt. As it happens, her watered-down attempt to do the right thing has tragic results that she could not possibly have foreseen.

Perhaps as a result of her husband’s legal shiftiness surrounding Raleigh’s pranks, her bond of trust with Paul is weakened, so that when the detectives arrest him for Amanda’s murder, she harbors grave suspicions that he may be guilty. All the same, her own moral fortitude is not perfect, and suffers some lapses throughout the novel: After her meeting with Carmine Torres, who clearly suspects her of having written the anonymous letter, she panics at the thought that her son might be held accountable for what he did. When the police begin investigating Amanda’s murder, she gives no thought whatsoever to how Raleigh might help their investigation by confessing to his break-in, so his fingerprints can be eliminated. Still, of the eight suburban spouses featured in the novel (Amanda, Becky, Glenda, Larry, Paul, Keith, Robert, and herself), she is the most moral of the bunch: She has not had extramarital affairs, kept dark secrets from her spouse, murdered anyone, or disposed of a body.

Raleigh, Olivia Sharpe’s computer-savvy, 16-year-old son, complicates the novel’s murder mystery by compulsively breaking into his neighbor’s houses while they are away to hack into their computers. He does this to practice his computer skills, and for the sense of power and control it gives him. Voyeuristically, he also delves through his victims’ secret emails: This is how he finds out about Keith Newell’s affair with another woman, who turns out to be Amanda Pierce, leading to the solving of her murder. He apparently feels no guilt for his crimes, since—as he tells himself—he does no harm to his victims, so long as they do not find out; his only real concern is not getting caught. When his parents find out about one of his break-ins and take him to a lawyer, he says that he has only done it twice; the actual number is closer to ten. After promising that he will not do it again, he soon breaks into yet another house and almost gets caught by the owners. This scare, and the police’s subsequent discovery of his fingerprints in the Pierce house, seems to break him of his cycle of break-ins.

Though Raleigh commits no serious crimes, he serves as a window into the dark secrets of the suburbs, whose illusion of privacy can occasionally become deadly. He also reinforces the theme of teenage impulsiveness, since he shares several traits with Adam Newell, the killer of Amanda Pierce. In slightly different circumstances, the novel implies, Raleigh himself might have committed murder, rather than harmless break-ins. As it is, his impulsive acts lead indirectly to the killing of Carmine Torres.

Best friend and neighbor of Olivia Sharpe, Glenda has much in common with her, including a troubled 16-year-old son, a part-time job, and a husband to whom she has been married about 20 years. As the story unfolds, Glenda and her seemingly normal family symbolize what might have happened to the Sharpes, or to any number of suburban families, had things gone a little differently for them. Just as Glenda’s son, Adam, an impulse murderer, represents what Olivia’s son might have become, Glenda suggests a dark shadow of Olivia, who also becomes obsessed with protecting her son from the police. Though not revealed until the end of the novel, Glenda has covered up her son’s murder of Amanda by sinking her body and car in a lake and cleaning up the murder scene. The murder was carried out in the Sharpes’ cabin, which further links the two families, who sometimes vacationed together.

However, Glenda seems significantly more cold-blooded than Olivia. Unlike her friend, she felt no twinge of conscience when her son revealed his crime to her, but flew immediately, and with cold efficiency, into the coverup. Eventually, when Amanda’s blood is discovered in the cabin and Paul Sharpe is arrested for her murder, she continues to visit Olivia and make dinner for her, while seeming perfectly happy to let Olivia’s husband take the blame for her own son’s crime. Later, she murders Carmine Torres on the odd chance that she may have seen her son compromise himself. Through all of this, she projects a serenity and surface charm that seem no different from that of any sweetly smiling hostess of the American suburbs.