Chapter 30: A Drunken Twitter Storm
⚠️ 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
Still hungover from the night before, Bodie Kane runs a bath and scrolls Twitter while wearing a sheet mask. She discovers a wave of posts accusing her ex-husband, artist Jerome Wager, of inappropriate behavior—buying a drink unasked at Art Basel, making a comment about a friend’s postpartum body. As she reads, Bodie grows increasingly irritated by the disparity between the online outrage over Jerome’s minor transgressions and the complete lack of similar fury directed at far more serious offenders—such as the person who killed Thalia Keith. Reflecting on her own past as a survivor of sexual assault, she decides to post a six-tweet thread that questions the #MeToo movement’s stance on age, power, and agency. She stops before reading the replies and goes to bed, shaken and angry.
Key Events
- Bodie takes a bath and scrolls Twitter while hungover.
- She reads several tweets: one accuses Jerome of buying a drink and implying an exchange; another recounts him complimenting a new mother’s figure in a way that felt sexualized.
- Bodie reflects on the human instinct to place oneself at the center of a disaster, comparing the crowd’s insertion into Jerome’s story to how people inserted themselves into Thalia’s.
- She remembers her own spiral after Thalia’s death and a college therapy session where she finally mentioned the murder.
- She reads a wider range of tweets: some call for Jerome to be canceled, others defend him, and a few attack his art.
- Bodie feels a stark contrast between the easy online fury over Jerome and the years of silence around perpetrators like “Dorian.”
- Despite knowing she should not, she composes and posts a thread arguing that Jasmine Wilde’s piece is art, not a call to action; that a 21-year-old woman has agency; and that the movement infantilizes women.
- She stops herself from reading the replies and goes to bed.
Character Development
This chapter deepens Bodie’s internal conflict. She reveals that she has never fully processed Thalia Keith’s murder—even though she claimed otherwise in earlier chapters. Her defense of Jerome, framed as a survivor of “ACTUAL sexual assault,” shows how she struggles to reconcile her own trauma with the nuances of the #MeToo movement. The episode also underscores her tendency to act impulsively when intoxicated, a pattern that has already complicated her current investigation.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Online outrage versus real justice: Bodie explicitly compares the Twitter mob’s focus on Jerome’s conduct to the lack of outrage over the killer of Thalia Keith. The chapter questions whether social media is an effective tool for accountability or a distraction from deeper crimes.
- Victimhood versus agency: Her thread critiques the idea that a 21-year-old woman is a helpless victim, arguing instead for sexual agency. This debate mirrors the larger question in the novel about how society defines and responds to victimhood.
- Art as accusation: The catalyst is Jasmine Wilde’s art piece, which the tweets treat as a legal indictment. Bodie insists it should be seen as “art, not a call for a Twitter mob,” blurring the line between creative expression and public shaming.
- Baths and cleansing: Bodie’s bath is a setting for the chapter. The water may symbolize an attempt to wash away the hangover and the anxiety, but instead she becomes more agitated. The sheet mask (a beauty ritual) contrasts with her ugly online battle.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 30 shifts the novel’s focus from the past investigation of Thalia’s death to a present-day online controversy. It forces Bodie to articulate her own philosophy on power, age, and consent—views that will likely complicate her work on the podcast. The chapter also reveals that Bodie has not fully grieved Thalia’s murder, suggesting that her current project is as much about her own healing as it is about justice. Additionally, her public defense of Jerome may have consequences for the podcast and her relationships with others involved in the case.
Study Questions and Answers
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Why does Bodie defend Jerome Wager on Twitter? Bodie believes the outrage is disproportionate. She sees Jerome’s actions as minor compared to the real crime—the murder of Thalia Keith—and she resents that the same online crowd has not directed its energy toward the actual killer. Her post also reflects her personal frustration with what she views as an infantilizing strain of feminism.
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How does Bodie’s own experience with sexual assault influence her thread? She explicitly labels herself a “survivor of ACTUAL sexual assault” to lend authority to her argument. By contrasting her experience with the accusations against Jerome, she implies that his behavior does not qualify as abuse. This shows she draws a sharp line between criminal assault and harmful but non-criminal conduct, a distinction that may evolve as the story progresses.
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What does Bodie’s reflection on Thalia’s death add to the chapter? For the first time, she admits the murder affected her more deeply than she has ever acknowledged. This confession—made in a college therapy session—connects her current emotional spiral to unresolved grief. It suggests that her defensive reaction to the Jerome controversy is partly a displaced reaction to the older, unresolved injustice of Thalia’s death.