I Have Some Questions for You: A Complete Study Companion

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

Quick Facts

Short Summary

Film professor and podcaster Bodie Kane returns to her alma mater, Granby School, to teach a winter mini‑mester. Her student Britt proposes a true‑crime podcast about Thalia Keith, Bodie’s former roommate who was murdered in 1995. Athletic trainer Omar Evans was convicted, but Bodie begins to doubt his guilt. Through examination of old photographs, police transcripts, and a coded planner, Bodie uncovers evidence pointing to music teacher Denny Bloch and Thalia’s boyfriend Robbie Serenho. The podcast leads to a retrial hearing, but Omar’s motion is denied. Bodie confronts the limits of memory, the ethics of amateur investigation, and her own complicity in the original narrative. The novel leaves the killer’s identity unresolved, emphasizing the harm caused by unchecked privilege and institutional silence.

Full Summary

Part One: Return to Granby (Chapters 1–20)
Bodie Kane, now a film professor and co‑host of a podcast about dead Hollywood women, accepts a two‑week teaching gig at Granby in January 2018. She is haunted by Thalia Keith, her roommate who was found dead in the school pool during their senior year. In her film class, student Britt Proctor pitches a podcast reinvestigating Thalia’s murder, arguing that Omar Evans was wrongfully convicted. Bodie reluctantly agrees to mentor her.

Flashbacks reconstruct Thalia’s arrival as a junior transfer. She is immediately popular yet becomes the target of a boys’ bingo card (a sexual‑scoring sheet) and rumors about a teacher. Bodie recalls the “firefly” incident, where a Danish exchange student mistakes glowing insects for UFOs, and she later realizes that she and her friends constructed a false narrative around Thalia and the teacher, just as they did the lights. The chapter underscores how gossip hardens into perceived truth.

Bodie explores the evidence against Omar: his DNA inside Thalia’s borrowed swimsuit, two hairs in her mouth, a confession obtained after fifteen hours of interrogation, and a noose drawn beside her photo in the yearbook. But she begins to question the timeline when the toxicology report shows alcohol in Thalia’s stomach not yet absorbed, suggesting she drank shortly before death—while Omar was on a phone call. Bodie remembers seeing Thalia circling a dumpster in September 1994, a story the police used to build a drug motive.

Meanwhile, Bodie’s ex‑husband Jerome is publicly accused of a predatory past relationship with a younger artist, Jasmine Wilde. Bodie wrestles with her own #MeToo reckonings, wondering if she failed Thalia by not speaking up about the teacher’s grooming.

Part Two: The Podcast Deepens (Chapters 21–50)
Bodie and her students—Britt, Alder, Jamila, Lola, and Alyssa—form a collaborative investigation. Alder researches the timeline of the mattress party photos, revealing that Robbie Serenho, Thalia’s boyfriend, could have arrived late. Bodie deciphers the colored dots and X’s in Thalia’s planner: red for menstruation, blue for her boyfriend, purple for teacher Denny Bloch. She contacts Thalia’s sister Vanessa, who provides police transcripts and the planners.

A YouTuber named Dane Rubra posts videos analyzing the blood evidence. Bodie, desperate to shift suspicion away from Robbie, deliberately lies to Dane, claiming she overheard Bloch threatening Thalia over a “bridge tap” phone system. Dane redirects his channel toward Bloch.

Bodie meets with Omar’s ex‑wife Sonya, who describes his temper, but the class debates racial bias in how her story is received. Legal expert Yahav (Bodie’s former lover) tells them that Omar’s appeal is a long shot.

The podcast goes public as She Is Drowned. Luminol testing in an athletic shed reveals Thalia’s blood, a piece of evidence the original defense missed. Omar is granted a post‑conviction relief hearing.

Part Three: The Retrial Hearing (Chapters 51–84)
In March 2022, Bodie returns to Kern for Omar’s hearing. She cannot testify because she is a potential witness. She meets with defense attorneys to prepare but is ultimately not called. She manipulates Mike Stiles—a former classmate—into revealing that Robbie insisted the photos be developed quickly to prove Thalia was not at the mattress party, and that Robbie had written a notebook of everyone’s whereabouts.

Bodie drives to Vermont to confront Beth Docherty, who admits that Robbie jumped out from behind a tree on the night of the murder, arriving late. Beth also recalls Robbie’s controlling behavior: stealing Thalia’s retainer, destroying her collages, and a mutual slapping incident the group covered up. Beth agrees to testify.

During the hearing, Robbie is deposed but invokes the Fifth Amendment on substantive questions. The state makes closing arguments accusing Bodie of influencing witnesses. The judge takes the case under advisement.

Part Four: Aftermath (Chapters 85–110)
Omar’s motion is denied. Bodie attends Granby’s production of Into the Woods and scatters the ashes of her friend Carlotta (who died of cancer) in the Tigerwhip River. She reflects on hope, spring renewal, and the plants she learned in biology class.

The novel ends with a catalogue of forensic evidence from a missing woman, echoing Thalia’s story, and a final chapter where Bodie remembers her first day at Granby—carving her initials into a window frame, affirming “I was here.”

The killer’s identity remains ambiguous. Chapters 30 and 66 present conflicting versions: one where Robbie kills Thalia in a jealous rage, another where a married teacher (Denny Bloch) stages her drowning. The novel refuses to resolve the mystery, instead indicting the systems of privilege and silence that allowed the real perpetrator to escape.

Main Characters

• Bodie Kane – Film professor and podcaster; narrator. Returns to Granby to re-examine Thalia’s murder and her own past.
• Thalia Keith – Murdered student in 1995; the central mystery of the novel.
• Omar Evans – Wrongfully convicted athletic trainer; serves decades in prison before a retrial hearing.
• Robbie Serenho – Thalia’s boyfriend; a scholarship student whose behavior and alibi become suspect.
• Fran Hoffbart – Bodie’s close friend and Granby alumna; helps navigate the investigation.
• Denny Bloch – Music teacher who groomed Thalia; suspected of involvement in her death.
• Britt Proctor – Student podcaster who leads the reinvestigation.
• Jerome Wager – Bodie’s ex-husband; accused of a predatory relationship.

For deeper dives, visit the character pages.

Themes

• Memory and Uncertainty – The novel questions the reliability of memory, showing how stories about the fireflies, Thalia’s behavior, and timelines are reconstructed.
• Class and Privilege – Economic divides at Granby influence who is believed and who is scapegoated; Robbie’s scholarship status and Omar’s outsider position are central.
• Complicity and Guilt – Bodie, Fran, Beth, and others grapple with their failure to speak up or their contributions to false narratives.
• True‑Crime Ethics – The story critiques amateur investigation, podcast exploitation of victims, and the consumption of tragedy.
• Objectification and Trauma – Thalia is reduced to a sexual object; the bingo card, grooming, and harassment reflect systemic abuse.

Symbols

• The Flask – The onstage prop used by Thalia during Camelot; evidence that she drank shortly before death, challenging the timeline.
• The Planner Dots – Thalia’s coded menstrual and meet‑up records; a hidden record of her life that police dismissed.
• The Athletic Shed – Where luminol reveals Thalia’s blood; forensic evidence that points away from Omar and toward another suspect.
• Fireflies – Misidentified lights that become a metaphor for how false assumptions solidify into accepted truth.

Explore more on the symbols page.

Ending Overview

The novel does not definitively name the killer. Chapters 30 and 66 present two versions: one where Robbie Serenho murders Thalia in a jealous rage, and another where Denny Bloch, her teacher lover, stages her drowning. The retrial hearing fails to overturn Omar’s conviction. Bodie scatters Carlotta’s ashes and reflects on hope despite the injustice. The final chapters emphasize that the truth remains elusive, and the damage done by institutional cover‑ups and collective silence endures.

For a full analysis, see the ending explained page.

Chapter-by-Chapter Guide

Common Questions

1. Who killed Thalia Keith?
   The novel never gives a definitive answer. Chapter 66 presents a married teacher as the killer; Chapter 30 presents Robbie Serenho. The book deliberately leaves the mystery unresolved.

2. Is Omar Evans innocent?
   Yes, the evidence—coerced confession, flawed DNA analysis, contaminated crime scene, and new timeline—strongly indicates he was wrongfully convicted.

3. What do the planner dots mean?
   Red dots track Thalia’s menstrual cycle, blue X’s are for Robbie, and purple X’s mark meetings with Denny Bloch.

4. What is the significance of the flask?
   The flask shows Thalia drank alcohol backstage just before her death, meaning she died soon after the play ended—while Omar was on the phone, giving him an alibi.

5. Why does Bodie lie to Dane Rubra?
   She fabricates a story about overhearing Bloch threaten Thalia to steer the amateur investigator away from Robbie Serenho, whom she suspects.

6. Does the podcast help Omar?
   It leads to a retrial hearing, but his motion is denied. The public attention does not secure his release.

7. What is the “firefly” metaphor?
   The Danish student misidentifies fireflies as UFOs, and everyone accepts his story. Bodie realizes she and her friends did the same with Thalia and the teacher—building a false narrative that became “truth.”

8. What happens to Jerome Wager?
   He faces public shaming after Jasmine Wilde’s performance art piece. His hearing for professional consequences is still pending at the novel’s end.

For more questions and answers, see the Q&A page.

Explore Further

• Chapter 1 Summary through Chapter 110 Summary
• Character Analysis: Bodie Kane
• Themes: Memory and Uncertainty
• Symbols: The Flask
• Ending Explained
• Quiz
• Essay Prompts