Chapter 22 Analysis: Reese’s IED, Memory, and a Hidden Grave

Spoiler Notice: This analysis reveals major plot points from Chapter 22 of It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica. Read on only if you’ve finished the chapter or don’t mind knowing what happens.

Full Summary

Reese wakes and is immediately consumed by guilt and shame over her violent outburst the night before, when she knelt on Wyatt’s chest and held a shard of glass over him. She describes her intermittent explosive disorder, explaining how rage surges without warning, like a physical fire taking over her body, transforming her into someone else. She recounts the ugly incident with Skylar at school, where her reaction to perceived betrayal ended their friendship and went viral on TikTok, cementing her status as a freak. She admits to feeling that everyone would be better off if she were dead.

Trying to escape these thoughts, Reese leaves the cottage quietly at dawn. The world feels different because of the kiss she shared with Daniel. Following the path from the previous night to the cemetery, she gets lost in the disorienting daylight woods. When she arrives, the cemetery is less creepy and more melancholic. She notices a grave for Jessica Clarke with fresh pink wildflowers.

A noise reveals the resort woman who checked them in, who is also placing the same pink wildflowers. The woman confronts Reese, telling her the cemetery is private property. Reese apologizes and pretends to leave, but instead hides in the woods. After the woman departs, Reese returns to investigate the spot where the flowers were left. There is no marker, just a concave patch of earth where the grass hasn’t grown back fully. The flowers are the only evidence that someone is buried there.

Key Events

• Reese recalls her IED history: She explains the zero-to-sixty nature of her rage and the deep shame that follows, specifically citing the incident where she almost stabbed Wyatt.
• Viral school incident recounted: Reese describes kicking a garbage can in a rage over Skylar’s plans with another friend, an act filmed and posted to TikTok that ended their friendship and led to her being mocked as "Robbie Gould."
• Morning exploration for the cemetery: Energized by her kiss with Daniel, Reese sets out at dawn to find the cemetery in daylight but becomes disoriented by the identical, dense trees.
• Confrontation with the resort woman: The same woman from the lodge is caught laying pink wildflowers on an unmarked grave and orders Reese to leave the private property.
• Discovery of the unmarked grave: After hiding and waiting for the woman to leave, Reese examines the grave site, noting the sunken, dead-grass patch where flowers mark a burial with no headstone or marker.

Character Development

Reese: This chapter deepens Reese’s internal conflict dramatically. Her point-of-view reveals someone profoundly self-aware of her mental illness yet seemingly powerless to prevent its destructive cycles. The contrast between her violent impulses and her genuine guilt creates a tragic character who feels monstrous. Her admission that she wouldn’t actually run over students in the parking lot shows a line she believes she won’t cross, yet the incident with Wyatt proves she can lose control completely. Her suicidal ideation is stated plainly. The kiss with Daniel provides a fragile, positive counterpoint, a reason she smiles unintentionally, showing a desperate hope for normal teenage connection.

The Resort Woman: Previously a forgettable service worker handing over keys, she is now recast in a suspicious light. Her presence in the private cemetery, tending to a hidden grave with the same flowers left on Jessica Clarke’s marker, links her directly to the central mystery and suggests she has deep, possibly proprietary or criminal knowledge of the land and its secrets.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Shame as a Prison: The chapter cycles from rage to release to crushing shame. The viral video of her school outburst made private shame public, literalizing the feeling that “everyone knew I was a freak.” This public condemnation locked her out of Skylar’s forgiveness and reinforced her self-loathing, a prison she carries into the present.

The Double-Edged Path: The physical path to the cemetery narrows and becomes disorienting, mirroring Reese’s mental state. What was navigable at night with Daniel becomes impossible to find during the day, symbolizing how clarity and connection can vanish, leaving her lost in a repetitive, threatening woods where “all the trees look the exact same.”

Unmarked Grave as Evidence: The concave earth and carefully placed flowers without a headstone represent a secret literally buried. The grave is a physical manifestation of the novel’s title—"It’s Not Her"—and suggests a deliberate act of concealment. The flowers act as an “X marks the spot,” making the hidden visible in the same way a missing person investigation unearths buried truths.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 22 serves as a crucial pivot, transforming Reese from a reactive, troubled teenager into an active, if reckless, investigator. Her solo journey to the cemetery bridges the personal and the mysterious: she is fleeing her own monstrous behavior to find evidence of someone else’s. The discovery of the unmarked grave gives the reader a tangible, suspicious piece of evidence directly linking the resort property to a potential crime. The resort woman’s role shifts from background character to a figure of authority guarding a secret, raising immediate questions about what—or who—is buried in that patch of sunken earth and why it must be kept hidden.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Question: How does Reese’s description of her intermittent explosive disorder frame the reader’s understanding of her assault on Wyatt? Answer: Reese describes her disorder as an involuntary, total transformation where she feels physically on fire and loses control, comparing herself to the Hulk. This frames the assault not as a calculated act of evil but as a symptom of an explosive episode that she is immediately horrified by. The metaphor emphasizes a Jekyll-and-Hyde split, forcing the reader to reconcile her genuine, violent threat with her profound, guilt-ridden suffering.

2. Question: What is the significance of the flowers on the unmarked grave, and how do they connect to the resort woman? Answer: The pink wildflowers are the sole marker for a burial that someone tried to hide, as evidenced by the concave earth and absent headstone. The resort woman is seen leaving these very flowers, which directly implicates her in the maintenance and, by extension, the knowledge of the secret grave. The same flowers appear on Jessica Clarke’s grave, creating a link between the two burials and the woman tending them, suggesting a personal relationship to both or a ritualistic behavior.

3. Question: Why does the daytime forest disorient Reese, even though she previously walked the path at night? Answer: At night, the darkness simplified the world to only what her flashlight illuminated, perhaps guided by Daniel. During the day, the overwhelming number of identical, densely packed trees creates a visual overload with no obvious landmarks. The path narrows until it barely exists, and the woods feel alive and moving. This symbolizes how clarity can sometimes emerge in simplicity (or partnership), while the full light of day can bring a chaos of detail that obscures truth and direction.