Characters The Perfect Couple Elin Hilderbrand

Merritt Monaco in The Perfect Couple: Character Analysis

Overview

Merritt Monaco is a central figure in Elin Hilderbrand’s The Perfect Couple, even though she is dead before the story opens. As the murdered maid of honor, her body is discovered floating in Nantucket Harbor on the morning of her best friend Celeste Otis’s wedding to Benji Winbury. Merritt, 29, worked as director of public relations for the New York Wildlife Conservation Society and maintained a visible presence as a social-media influencer. She was estranged from her family on Long Island and had a complicated romantic history—most notably a coercive affair with a former boss and a secret relationship with Tag Winbury, the groom’s father, which left her pregnant. Her death sets the mystery in motion and forces every character to confront hidden truths.

Plot Role and Significance

Merritt’s role is that of a catalyst. Her drowning triggers a police investigation that unravels the Winbury family’s carefully guarded secrets. Chief Ed Kapenash and Detective Nick Diamantopoulos quickly learn that Merritt was having an affair with Tag Winbury and that she was six to seven weeks pregnant (Chapter 17; Chapter 21). The discovery of a sedative in her system—barbiturates from Greer Winbury’s missing sleeping pills—turns a possible accident into a suspicious death (Chapter 27; Chapter 37). Although the death is eventually ruled accidental (Chapter 36), Merritt’s presence exposes the adultery, financial manipulation, and fractured loyalties within the wedding party. Her absence also forces Celeste to re-evaluate her own feelings and ultimately call off the wedding.

Motivations and Character Traits

Merritt is driven by a deep longing for genuine, lasting love. She admits to herself that she “wants what [Benji and Celeste] have more than she wants anything else in this world” (Chapter 38). This desire leads her to engage in intense, obsessive relationships with men who are not available. She craves validation and excitement, often pursuing affairs that start with flattery and then turn into emotional dependence. She tells Celeste that Tag is “in her blood” and that she feels “infected” (Chapter 30). This language suggests a pattern of love addiction rather than calculated manipulation.

At the same time, Merritt is resilient and adaptable. After Tag ends the affair and she discovers her pregnancy, she resolves to raise the child alone and even imagines a blog titled “Millennial Influencer Turned Unwed Mother” (Chapter 38). She shows warmth and generosity—for instance, helping the teenage server Chloe after a dropped tray of glasses (Chapter 16). Yet she also carries the scars of a past coercive relationship with Travis Darling, her former boss, which left her wary of commitment (Chapter 11). This backstory helps explain why she initially hesitates to settle down and why she seeks affirmation from powerful, older men.

Chronological Arc

Merritt’s arc is presented through flashbacks and witness accounts. She entered the story well before the wedding weekend, having met Tag Winbury at a pre-wedding function. Tag’s chapter (Chapter 7) shows him pursuing Merritt immediately after a flirtatious kitchen encounter; within a week they begin a secret affair. Merritt becomes increasingly invested, even telling strangers that she and Tag are newlyweds. When Tag tries to end the relationship—calling it “a fling, for fun, for a release” (Chapter 38)—Merritt is devastated and informs him she is pregnant.

On the eve of the wedding, Merritt and Tag go kayaking. She jumps into the water to get his attention; he rescues her in anger. Back on shore, she cuts her foot on broken glass from a tray the server Chloe had dropped. Exhausted and heartbroken, she throws away Tag’s silver ring, then wades back into the water to retrieve it. Unable to reach the ring, she floats on her back and drowns, either accidentally or because she was drugged. Greer’s missing pill—intended for Featherleigh Dale but ending up in Merritt’s water glass—likely caused her to become drowsy and unable to swim (Chapter 37). The official report lists her death as accidental drowning complicated by a barbiturate (Chapter 36).

Relationships

Celeste Otis: The friendship between Merritt and Celeste is both genuine and strained by secrets. Merritt is Celeste’s maid of honor and confidante. She coaches Celeste on how to say “I dew” instead of “I do” to mask a stutter (Chapter 34). Celeste is the first person Merritt tells about the affair with Tag (Chapter 30). Their bond is tested by Merritt’s relationship with Tag, which Celeste warns her to end. After Merritt’s death, Celeste feels guilty for not intervening more forcefully.

Tag Winbury: Merritt’s affair with Tag is central to the plot. Tag is initially obsessed—standing outside her apartment, taking her to a wine dinner, and showering her with attention—but his feelings cool quickly. He views the relationship as a temporary escape from his unhappy marriage. When Merritt announces her pregnancy, Tag panics and pressures her to terminate (overheard by Chloe, Chapter 16). On the kayak, he cruelly says “It was a fling… Nothing more” (Chapter 38). Their relationship is unbalanced: Tag holds all the power, and Merritt is left vulnerable and alone.

Travis Darling: Before the events of the novel, Merritt had an affair with her married boss, Travis Darling. This relationship was coercive; Travis pursued her while his wife Cordelia was present, and the affair ended with Cordelia exacting revenge by ruining Merritt’s career and reputation (Chapter 11; Chapter 23). This experience left Merritt estranged from her family and fearful of deep attachment.

Family: Merritt is estranged from her parents, Gary and Katherine Monaco, and her brother Douglas. They are notified of her death by the police (Chapter 21). The reasons for estrangement are hinted at but never fully explained in the provided evidence; the novel suggests her relationship with her parents was damaged by the fallout of the Darling affair.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Merritt’s decision to begin the affair with Tag is the most consequential. It puts her in a vulnerable position, isolates her, and ultimately leads to her death. Her choice to keep the pregnancy and plan to raise the child alone shows her independent spirit, but it also makes her a target for those who want the secret kept—namely, Tag and, indirectly, Greer.

Her decision to wade back into the water to retrieve the ring—a symbol of Tag’s affection—is tragically impulsive. Combined with the sedative that had been placed in her water, this choice becomes fatal. While Merritt did not choose to be drugged, her exhaustion and emotional state caused her to stay in the water until she lost consciousness.

Thematic and Symbolic Connections

Merritt embodies several key themes in the novel:

  • Infidelity and Secrets: Her affair with Tag is a secret that corrupts the wedding weekend and destroys the perfect facade of the Winbury family. The theme of hidden truths is explored in the infidelity and secrets analysis.

  • Class Divide: Merritt, though professionally successful, is not from the wealthy world of the Winburys. Her background as a social-media influencer and PR professional from a middle-class Long Island family contrasts with Greer’s elite publishing circles and the Winburys’ Nantucket compound. The class tension is amplified in the class divide theme page.

  • Family Loyalty and Deception: Merritt is left unprotected by her own estranged family, and the Winbury family closes ranks to protect their reputation after her death—even at the expense of justice (Chapter 37). This connects to the theme of family loyalty and deception.

  • Grief and Terminal Illness: Although Karen Otis’s cancer is the primary vehicle for this theme, Merritt’s death brings grief to those who loved her, particularly Celeste. The sudden loss forces Celeste to confront her own choices.

  • Justice vs. Reputation: The investigation of Merritt’s death could have led to charges against Abby (who accidentally administered the pill) or Tag (for coercion). Instead, the Nantucket police rule it an accident, and Greer destroys the evidence to protect her family. The tension between what is right and what is hidden is central to the justice vs. reputation theme.

The silver ring Merritt throws into the water symbolizes her desperate hope for permanence in a transient relationship. She resolves to save it for her future daughter, saying “This is a ring your father gave me. Your real father” (Chapter 38). The ring remains unreachable, just as Merritt’s dream of a “perfect” love remains out of grasp.

Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why was Merritt Monaco estranged from her family?

It is stated that Merritt had not spoken to her parents in six or seven years (Chapter 4). The evidence does not give a single explicit reason, but the novel implies that the fallout from her affair with Travis Darling—which involved Cordelia contacting her parents—caused a permanent rift. Merritt’s brother Douglas is notified of her death and confirms the estrangement (Chapter 21).

2. Did Merritt really love Tag, or was it just an affair?

Merritt believed she was in love. She told Celeste that Tag was “all I think about” and compared the feeling to an infection (Chapter 30). In her final chapter, she longs for a love like Benji and Celeste’s—a “real feeling” that lasts beyond obsession (Chapter 38). Tag, however, viewed the relationship as a temporary fling. Merritt’s love was not reciprocated in the same way.

3. How did Merritt die—was she murdered?

The official ruling is accidental drowning, but the circumstances are suspicious. A barbiturate from Greer Winbury’s sleeping pills was found in Merritt’s system, making her too drowsy to swim (Chapter 17; Chapter 27). Greer deduces that her daughter-in-law Abby stole the pills to drug Featherleigh Dale, but the drugged water was mistakenly given to Merritt (Chapter 37). The novel makes clear that no one intended to kill Merritt, but her death was not a simple accident—it was a tragic consequence of others’ schemes.

4. Did Merritt have any positive relationships besides Celeste?

As a social-media influencer (Chapter 4), Merritt had a wide network, but the only close relationship shown in the book is with Celeste. She is briefly friendly with Chloe, the server, and offers to help her after the dropped tray (Chapter 16). Some colleagues, like Sage Kennedy, followed her on Instagram and admired her career recovery after the Darling affair (Chapter 23). However, Merritt had no close family or long-term partner at the time of her death.

5. What did Merritt want most out of life?

Merritt wanted to be loved deeply and unconditionally. She envied the “perfect couple” Benji and Celeste and hoped to find such a connection (Chapter 38). She was also ambitious, building a career in public relations and cultivating an online brand. When she discovered her pregnancy, she immediately began planning to raise the child alone and turn her story into a platform (Chapter 38). Ultimately, Merritt sought both personal fulfillment and romantic commitment—the very things that had been denied to her by her past and by the powerful men in her life.

For a full discussion of the novel’s ending and how the investigation closes, visit the ending explained page. For common reader questions, see the questions and answers.