Good Girl, Bad Blood

Ravi is Pip’s boyfriend and the younger brother of murder victim Sal Singh from the first book in the series. Ravi functions as a foil to Pip’s intense personality. While he assists her with the missing persons investigation, he also tries to keep her grounded. Despite Ravi’s own personal loss, he seems more accepting of the world as it is than Pip is. He has less difficulty letting go of unkind people and buried truths. Ravi is the ideal boyfriend in Pip’s eyes, and she clearly values him. Though he doesn’t emerge as a fully drawn character in the novel, he functions well as the devoted Watson to her Sherlock Holmes and follows her lead in solving the central mystery.

Jamie is a 24-year-old college dropout who still lives at home. He seems to have trouble finding a sense of direction in life. While his mother is tolerant of his sensitive, passive nature, Jamie often draws the wrath of his father for his lack of focus. Jamie’s loneliness leads him to form an online connection with Layla Mead, an internet catfish. Jamie’s gullibility and desire to have a girlfriend cause him to perform some morally questionable actions at Layla’s request, including attempted murder.

Jamie’s disappearance is the central event that drives the entire plot. While Pip and her friends gather evidence leading to his whereabouts, they receive many conflicting accounts of Jamie’s behavior. His own malleable temperament raises questions about who he really is and what he’s capable of doing. By the end of the story, Jamie develops a bit more focus and learns a valuable lesson about not looking for love on the internet.

Connor is Jamie’s younger brother. He is a high school senior and a friend of Pip’s. Without his intervention, Pip might never have gotten involved in finding Jamie. While not as sensitive as his older brother, Connor is deeply connected to his family, especially his brother. He frequently overreacts to negative online comments about the likelihood of finding Jamie alive. Connor is willing to risk his own safety by breaking into Stanley’s house to find his brother. His belief in Pip and his loyalty to Jamie are eventually rewarded when his brother is returned safely.

Joanna is Jamie’s doting mother. She doesn’t exert much discipline, not even insisting that her elder son keep his bedroom clean. When Jamie disappears, she is devastated. Joanna has formed a picture of her son that runs contrary to the image revealed by Pip’s investigation. Late in the book, Joanna declares that she doesn’t know who Jamie is anymore. She principally functions in the book as a source of backstory information for Pip’s investigation rather than as a fully developed character in her own right. When her son is returned to her at the end of the novel, she is relieved and happy to have her family together again.

Arthur is Jamie’s father, and his behavior runs in counterpoint to Joanna’s. Where she is nurturing and affectionate toward her son, Arthur is strict and demanding. He and Jamie fight frequently, and when his son disappears, he shows no interest in getting him back. Initially, this behavior makes Arthur appear as a suspect in his son’s disappearance. However, this proves to be a red herring. When Jamie appears to be in real danger, Arthur exhibits remorse and concern for his son’s welfare. Like his wife, he isn’t drawn as a three-dimensional character, but he seems genuinely pleased by his son’s return at the end of the story.

Layla is a fictitious persona who exists only on the internet. In many ways, she represents a moral lesson for people who too readily believe how others represent themselves online. She also employs tactics that are well-known catfishing ploys in the real world, such as asking Jamie to give her money for a medical treatment. Layla is a temptress who trolls dating sites and finds many men interested in doing her bidding. The fact that she is a mask concealing someone with darker motives doesn’t become apparent until the book’s final chapters.

Charlie Green is Pip’s kindly neighbor down the block. When she is troubled about how her podcast is perceived, he gives her some good advice about pursuing the truth and ignoring other people’s opinions. While these words are helpful to Pip, she doesn’t recognize Charlie’s hidden agenda. Layla is his creation, and he hides behind this internet persona to trap the man who helped kill his sister.

Even as Charlie makes grand speeches about the importance of truth and justice, he avoids scrutinizing his own behavior too closely. Charlie, masquerading as Layla, is perfectly willing to set up the gullible Jamie to commit murder for him. He escapes at the end of the novel after killing Stanley Forbes. However, Pip continues to search for him. Presumably, this chase may be featured in the third book in the series.

Stanley is a volunteer at the town newspaper who helps Pip get the word out about the missing Jamie. He is portrayed as a sympathetic character until the reader learns his true identity late in the book. As the son of a serial killer, Stanley is plagued by the belief that he is no better than his father. Although he is trying to live a virtuous life in Fairview, he is haunted by the conviction that he can’t undo the damage of his past. When Charlie shoots Stanley, the latter seems to welcome death as a relief, since he feels that he will never be able to outrun his tragic history. Pip buries Stanley’s body in Fairview because it is the only place that ever felt like a home to him.

Nat is a female in her twenties whose backstory was told in the first book in the series. In 2014, she was drugged and raped by Max Hastings at the time of Andie Bell’s disappearance. She is the sister of local policeman Daniel da Silva, and both siblings were briefly considered suspects in Pip’s first podcast. As a result, Nat is resentful of Pip. In the current book, Nat testifies at Max’s trial. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations on rape has expired, so he can only be charged with kidnapping her. When Max is acquitted, Nat is devastated by the verdict. She warms to Pip after the two bond over this miscarriage of justice. Nat provides valuable information late in the novel that leads to solving the mystery. By the end of the story, she seems receptive to the idea of dating Jamie. 

Luke is Nat’s heavily tattooed, drug-dealer boyfriend. His intimidating appearance makes Pip suspect him of involvement in Jamie’s kidnapping. While Luke is a drug dealer and a loan shark, he is also a target of Layla’s catfish scheme because he fits the profile of Child Brunswick. Despite his ruthless behavior, he cooperates with Pip’s investigation when she promises to pay him the $900 that Jamie owes him. Luke’s own near brush with Layla offers Pip valuable information that helps her crack the case. By the end of the book, he is no longer dating Nat.

Daniel is Nat’s brother and a person of interest in Pip’s first investigation. As a member of law enforcement, he is especially hostile to her meddling in police matters. When Jamie disappears, Daniel shows no interest in pursuing the matter. He even accuses Pip of planting Jamie’s knife at the abandoned farm property. Daniel himself is briefly entangled with Layla online but denies this fact when Pip questions him. In most respects, he impedes her investigation and limits Pip’s chances of finding Jamie. Only after Stanley is shot by Charlie does Daniel start to behave like the law enforcement officer he is supposed to be.