Sensationalized Crime

The novel questions the way in which violent crime, particularly against young women, is sensationalized throughout our culture—including within the novel itself. The book is hyper-aware of itself and self-conscious in its very construction, and so it must reckon with the fact that it benefits from the exploitation of violent crime just as much as any of the characters in the novel who are depicted as having indirectly benefited from crime in a way that feels uncomfortable when examined at length.

The novel, like so many in the mystery genre, is centered around the sensationalized murder of a young woman, and yet it is presented to (and taken by) the audience as pure entertainment. The novel is opposed to murder and treats the death of Brooke with sympathy and care. But it is also aware that it creates its successful and entertaining plot because...