Chapter 24: Twenty-Three – Grant and Helen's Night of Reckoning

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter is a dual‑perspective flashback. Grant remembers the night of the accident in fragments: a party, a reconnection with his ex‑girlfriend Desiree, a brief sexual encounter, and then the drive to see Lauren DiSantos. He recalls the speedometer hitting 65 MPH, a person in the road, and the aftermath—a stranger stopping him from approaching the victim. Helen remembers staying home while her parents went to the morgue. She frantically cleaned Michelle’s room, flushed drug‑related evidence, and discovered Michelle’s internet search history: “what is the likelihood of survival if hit by a car at 55 mph for a 95lb female.” She copied Michelle’s hard drive, searching for a suicide note. The chapter ends with Grant, after Michelle’s funeral, sitting in a pizza shop with old teammates, realizing that no one treats him any differently even though he killed someone.

Key Events

Grant attends Brianna Peltzer’s party, dances with and kisses ex‑girlfriend Desiree.
He drives Desiree home, has sex with her, then leaves to visit Lauren DiSantos.
On Route 22, Grant hits a pedestrian (Michelle) at approximately 65 MPH.
A stranger (the “not‑father”) stops Grant from seeing the victim and asks if he has been drinking. Grant says no; a Breathalyzer later confirms he hadn’t.
Helen, alone at home, obsessively cleans Michelle’s room, finds small bags of powder, and flushes them down the toilet.
She remembers their last argument—Michelle threw a curling iron at her after Helen refused to lend a necklace.
Helen opens Michelle’s laptop, deletes a folder of erotic fan fiction, and then finds the search history that indicates Michelle researched the chances of surviving a high‑speed car strike.
She copies Michelle’s entire digital legacy onto a hard drive, still hoping the death might be a mistake.
After the funeral, Grant goes to a pizza shop and runs into Kevin Palermo and other football teammates. They invite him to sit, and Grant pretends that nothing has happened.
Grant realizes he can “get away with killing someone” and still be treated normally.

Character Development

Grant Shepard: His memory is unreliable and fragmented—he recalls sensory details (the sweat on a beer glass, the glass buttons on a coat) but can’t remember the exact song or the color of the car. This suggests deep psychological trauma and self‑protective denial. His willingness to sit with friends right after the funeral shows the disconnect between his guilt and his public persona.
Helen Zhang: Her behavior is driven by denial and a frantic need for control. She cleans, flushes evidence, and searches for a note, as if she can undo the death or preserve her sister’s reputation. The memory of her last words to Michelle (wishing she didn’t have a sister) haunts her. Her anger at Michelle’s search history (“I’ll never forgive you”) reveals a mix of love, betrayal, and survivor’s guilt.
Michelle Zhang (posthumously): Though absent, her personality emerges through Helen’s memories: she was annoying, dramatic, loved fan fiction, and had a troubled final year. The search history indicates she may have intentionally stepped into the path of a car.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Memory as a montage: Grant explicitly describes his memory as a film montage, emphasizing how trauma distorts and edits real events. Helen compares her memory to a locked room. The chapter uses these contrasting metaphors to show how both characters cope differently.
The “not‑father” figure: The man who comforts Grant at the scene looks nothing like Grant’s real father, symbolizing the search for absolution from an authority figure who can declare him innocent.
Cleaning as denial: Helen’s compulsive need to clean Michelle’s room mirrors her desire to scrub away the evidence of her sister’s pain and their last fight. Flushing the drugs is an attempt to control a story that is already out of control.
The ordinary after tragedy: Grant’s pizza‑shop conversation about Tommy Hariri’s football captaincy shows how the world keeps moving, indifferent to his guilt. He discovers a “terrible new power” of being treated normally despite having killed someone.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 24 is the emotional core of the novel. It finally reveals, in detail, the night that binds Grant and Helen together. Both narrators provide incomplete, self‑serving accounts: Grant focuses on sensory details and exonerating himself (“I hadn’t been drinking”), while Helen focuses on her anger and her frantic attempts to cover up Michelle’s secrets. The reader must piece together the truth—that Michelle was likely suicidal and that Grant was an unwitting instrument of her death. The chapter also establishes the profound asymmetry in their guilt and the weight of unresolved last words.

Study Questions

How does the structure of the chapter—alternating between Grant’s and Helen’s memories—affect the reader’s understanding of the accident?
Answer: The dual perspectives emphasize that neither character has a complete or objective memory. Grant’s fragmented montage contrasts with Helen’s obsessive‑detail recall. Together, they hint at Michelle’s agency (her search history) while leaving room for doubt, forcing the reader to grapple with the same ambiguity the characters feel.
What does Helen’s decision to flush Michelle’s drugs and delete her browser history reveal about her state of mind?
Answer: Helen is in shock and denial. She wants to protect her family from shame and to preserve the possibility that Michelle’s death was a random accident. The action reflects her desire to regain control over a tragedy she could not prevent and her impulse to punish Michelle for leaving her with unresolved guilt.
Why does Grant feel like he can “get away with killing someone”? What does this reveal about his character development?
Answer: At the pizza shop, his teammates treat him with the same casual friendliness as always. Their normalcy highlights the gulf between Grant’s internal guilt and the external appearance of innocence. He realizes that society will not hold him accountable unless he confesses, and this knowledge both relieves and horrifies him, setting up his later obsession with truth and redemption.