One of Us Is Back

“Are you truly sorry?

Would you ever hurt someone again?

What made you like this?

Those are the questions I need answers to. I can’t bring myself to ask them, but I keep hoping that maybe someone else will.”

Phoebe introduces the theme of The Peril of Keeping Secrets while watching Jake give a speech at a local high school. The questions Phoebe wants to ask relate to her fear that her little brother will turn out just like Jake. Keeping Owen’s secret causes Phoebe to isolate herself from her friends and plays a part in her kidnapping, but it will also allow her to discover that her brother is as innocent as his age, 13, suggests he is.

“The digital billboard at the edge of Clarendon Street has had the same ad for as long as I can remember—a dancing energy drink—so the fact that it’s changed catches my attention while I’m stopped on my motorcycle at a red light.

TIME FOR A NEW GAME, BAYVIEW.”

Nate is the first to notice the hacked billboard that alerts Bayview of a new game, like the games Simon and Jared played in the previous two novels. The fact that the game is announced on a billboard and references Bayview rather than the individual members of the crew means that Chelsea holds resentment against the entire town and feels that they are partially responsible for Jake and Jared’s actions going unpunished.

“It’s a welcome change, after the week I’ve had, to be in charge of a mystery where there’s no bad answer.”

Addy takes charge of the envelope that contains the gender of her sister Ashton’s baby. This envelope symbolizes the future and the hope that comes with a new generation of family. Addy’s comparison of the envelope’s contents and mystery foreshadows the beginning of Chelsea’s practice makes perfect game and the trouble it will bring for the Bayview Crew in the near future.