Chapter 32: Lucy: Five Years Ago – Summary & Analysis
⚠️ 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 (Chronological)
The chapter opens with Savvy still waiting for Lucy to take up her offer to kill Lucy’s husband, Matt. Lucy points out they’d be in over their heads as neither has ever murdered anyone. Savvy’s reply — “Speak for yourself” — causes Lucy’s laughter to die. Savvy admits, soberly, that she killed a man named Troy, an asshole from a bar who put his hands on her. She stabbed him many more times than necessary, she says, and dumped his body in a swamp. Savvy describes seeing her own bloodied hands and, when someone in the bar noticed, lying that her period had started. She believes gators may have eaten the body because it was never found. Lucy asks if it was self‑defense; Savvy says the police would not see it that way. She also explains that she did not leave college because she missed Plumpton — she just hated lectures and overpriced textbooks. Lucy apologizes for what happened to Savvy, who attempts to shrug it off but shows pain in her eyes. The chapter ends with Savvy squeezing Lucy’s hand and whispering that Troy deserved to die — and so does Matt.
Key Events
- Savvy repeats her offer to kill Matt; Lucy notes their lack of experience.
- Savvy reveals she has killed before: she murdered a man named Troy after he assaulted her.
- Savvy recounts how she stabbed him repeatedly, concealed the body in her hatchback, and disposed of it in a swamp.
- She describes the quick thinking that let her pass blood on her hands off as a menstrual accident.
- Savvy clarifies her college departure was not about homesickness but a rejection of the academic system.
- Lucy moves from shock to fascination, consoling Savvy with physical touch.
- Savvy reaffirms that both Troy and Matt deserve death, solidifying a dark pact between the two women.
Character Development
Savvy: This confession shifts Savvy from a fiercely protective friend into someone with a lethal past. She presents her violence as justified, yet her shrugs and avoidance of eye contact betray unresolved trauma. The detail about the period lie shows resourcefulness and a chilling ability to compartmentalize. Her insistence that she feels no remorse sits uneasily alongside the squeeze of Lucy’s hand — a wordless admission of vulnerability.
Lucy: Initially skeptical, Lucy’s reaction evolves from horror to admiration. Her thought process — “I didn’t know whether I was horrified or impressed” then settling on “Impressed” — signals that she is not a passive confidante. Lucy actively seeks the story, asks about the police, and eventually offers sympathy. This scene is where Lucy begins to see murder as a viable solution, even if she doesn’t articulate it yet.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Justified Violence and Female Rage: Savvy frames both killings — Troy’s and the hypothetical murder of Matt — as deserving. The chapter does not moralize; it sits inside the women’s perspective where a predatory man’s death is a logical outcome.
Performance vs. Reality: Savvy performs casualness with shrugs, but her eyes tell “a different story.” The bar setting itself is a stage: public laughter and private horrors collide, especially when the blood on her hands is explained away by a bodily function often used to dismiss women.
Bodies and Disposal: The swamp as a body dump recurs as a motif of hidden truths. Savvy’s line about gators erasing evidence foreshadows how Plumpton itself swallows secrets.
Trauma Bonding: Lucy and Savvy’s relationship gains a new layer of intimacy. The hand‑holding and the whispered words cement a bond based on shared knowledge of a killing, moving them from friends to co‑conspirators in spirit.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 32 is the crucial reveal of Savvy’s capacity for lethal violence, given five years before the novel’s present timeline. It retroactively explains the tension around Savvy and her fierce protectiveness of Lucy. The confession does more than shock: it plants the seed that Matt’s death might not only be wished for but possible. By ending on Savvy’s assertion that Matt deserves the same fate as Troy, the chapter directly foreshadows the central crime and the moral ambiguity that drives the book’s mystery. It also lends weight to every future interaction between these two characters, as readers now know the secret they share about the swamp and the blood.
Study Questions and Answers
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Why does Savvy choose to reveal her past murder at this moment? Savvy has already offered to kill Matt; when Lucy dismisses the idea out of inexperience, Savvy is essentially providing her qualifications. She is proving that she is capable and that her willingness is not idle talk. The confession also tests whether Lucy can handle the truth, deepening their alliance.
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How does the image of blood function in this chapter? Blood is both literal and symbolic. Savvy’s bloodied hands after stabbing Troy become a hasty lie about menstruation — turning a mark of violence into one of biology. This inversion reflects how society might overlook women’s violence. At the same time, the blood bonds Lucy and Savvy, as Lucy now carries the knowledge of what Savvy’s hands have done.
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What does Savvy’s explanation for leaving college add to her character? She punctures the narrative her mother tells about missing home. Instead, she paints herself as a person who rejects systems of control — whether an exploitative university or a legal system that would not see her as a victim. It reinforces her pragmatism and willingness to walk away from institutions, just as she walked away from Troy’s body.