Los Angeles, Present Day

The entirety of the narrative occurs in the metropolis California city of Los Angeles. Brazier portrays the physically tiered structure of the city to mirror the cultural obsession with status and social hierarchy. The elite live in the hills physically separated from the homeless population that inhabits the highways and lower city streets. The author does not move the narrative out of present day Los Angeles in order to solidify the rigid cultural divisions between social stratum that defines her characters’ identities. The narrative locality in the present day also asks the reader to inspect their own relationship with status and appearances.

The Guesthouse

The guesthouse is where Graham and Margo invite tenants to stay in order to play sadistic games with their lives. The small apartment is located beneath the glass house where Graham and Lyla live. Both Elvira and the real Demi die...