Gretchen / Daisy Driscoll Character Analysis in The Boyfriend

Overview

Gretchen Driscoll—born Daisy Driscoll—is the central antagonist of Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller The Boyfriend. She presents herself as a kind, supportive friend to the protagonist Sydney, but is secretly a serial killer driven by an obsessive, possessive love for Tom Brewer. Her character embodies the novel’s core themes of deception and identity, obsessive love, and violence and control. This analysis distinguishes explicit evidence from interpretive reading.

Plot Role

Gretchen first appears as Sydney’s yoga-class friend who dates Randy, Sydney’s super. She provides alibis and emotional support, all while secretly being the serial killer who murdered Bonnie and others. She is revealed to be Daisy, Tom’s high-school sweetheart who faked her own death twenty years earlier. In the climax, she drugs Sydney and Randy with oleander, stabs Randy, and confesses to manipulating Tom’s relationships by killing his girlfriends. She then flees with Tom, leaving Sydney alive but complicit in covering up the murders.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

• Obsessive love for Tom: Gretchen admits she has loved Tom since childhood and cannot live without him. She says she “loathes” Randy and only used him as an alibi. Her murders of Tom’s past girlfriends (including Bonnie) are motivated by jealousy and a desire to eliminate rivals.
• Psychopathic lack of empathy: She drugs Sydney and Randy without remorse, stabs Randy three times while he is unconscious, and shows no hesitation. She is fascinated by lividity and forensic details, discussing them calmly.
• Manipulation and charm: She befriends Sydney by joining Bonnie’s yoga class and feigning kindness. She manipulates Randy into giving her an alibi. Her sweet, open face disarms suspicion.
• Need for control: She orchestrates scenes to frame Randy for her crimes (collecting hair locks in the toilet tank) and only spares Sydney because Tom threatens to leave if she harms her.

Chronological Arc

1. High school (Before): Daisy Driscoll is Tom’s crush and first girlfriend. She volunteers, seems kind, but Tom’s prologue reveals his fear that he will strangle her. During their relationship, she kills two classmates and Tom’s best friend Slug, then fakes her own death to evade suspicion.
2. Twenty-year gap: She changes her name to Gretchen and moves to New York. She stalks Tom from afar, monitoring his relationships.
3. Present timeline: She joins Bonnie’s yoga class and becomes Sydney’s friend. She dates Randy and provides false alibis while killing Tom’s girlfriends (including Bonnie). She gets engaged to Randy as a cover.
4. Climax: After Randy proposes, Gretchen drugs him and Sydney with oleander, stabs Randy to death, and reveals her identity to Sydney. Tom arrives and initially plans to call the police. He calls them but also chooses to flee with Gretchen after she promises no more killings (unless deserved). They escape together.
5. Epilogue: Tom sends Sydney a note and lock of hair confirming he killed Sydney’s stalker Kevin. Sydney destroys the evidence, leaving Gretchen and Tom unpunished.

Relationships

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Faking her own death at 17: Allows her to escape prosecution for her high-school murders, but forces her to live under a new identity alone for twenty years.
• Becoming Sydney’s friend: Gains access to Tom’s life and controls the investigation by providing alibis. Consequences: Sydney nearly becomes her final victim.
• Killing Randy: Planned as part of a frame-up. It forces Tom to choose between justice and his love for her. He chooses her, but only after extracting a promise to stop killing (with loopholes).
• Sp reading Sydney: Tom’s ultimatum (“If you touch Sydney, I’m not going with you”) saves Sydney’s life. This decision allows Gretchen to escape with Tom, but leaves a loose end that Tom later resolves by killing Kevin.

Theme/Symbol Connections

• Obsessive Love: Gretchen’s love for Tom is a destructive, possessive force. She kills to keep him, echoing the prologue’s twisted romance.
• Deception and Identity: She hides her true self behind the name Gretchen and a kind facade. Her love of daisies (the flower she claims to love but Tom once killed) symbolises her own fragile, deadly beauty.
• Violence and Control: She murders to control Tom’s relationships. Her preference for oleander (a poison that mimics natural death) shows her calculated, methodical violence.
• Justice vs. Complicity: Sydney’s decision to destroy the evidence in the epilogue highlights the theme of complicity. By not reporting Tom and Gretchen, she becomes part of the cycle of violence.
• Trauma and Survival: Gretchen’s past (possibly abusive father) is hinted at but not fully explored. Her survival as a fugitive mirrors Tom’s own trauma from his father’s death.

5 Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Gretchen fake her own death?

Explicit: She kills two classmates and Tom’s best friend Slug in high school. To avoid being caught, she stages her death while the investigation is ongoing. Tom agrees to keep her secret because he loves her and wants to protect himself.

2. How does Gretchen get away with her murders for so long?

Explicit: She uses her father’s position as police chief to avoid scrutiny (high school). Later, she uses Randy as an alibi, frames him by planting hair evidence, and picks victims who are Tom’s girlfriends—making them look like random attacks.

3. What is the significance of the name change from Daisy to Gretchen?

Interpretive: The name “Daisy” is tied to her childhood, innocence, and Tom’s memory. Changing to “Gretchen” allows her to reinvent herself as a new person, hiding her violent past. The daisy flower also becomes a symbol of her ability to appear pure while being deadly.

4. Does Gretchen truly love Tom, or is it obsession?

Explicit evidence: She says to Tom, “I can’t live without you” and “You’re the only man I have ever loved or will ever love.” Tom’s own flashbacks show he also cannot live without her. Interpretation blurs love and obsession; her actions—killing to keep him—suggest possessive obsession rather than healthy love.

5. What happens to Gretchen at the end of the book?

Explicit: She escapes with Tom through a secret exit before police arrive. In the epilogue, Tom sends Sydney a note confirming he killed Kevin, implying he and Gretchen are still on the run together. Sydney destroys the note, leaving them free.

For further exploration of the novel’s themes, visit our ending explained and questions and answers pages.