59 pages • 1 hour read
Karen M. McManusNothing More to Tell
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Ethics of True-Crime Media
Although the novel’s young protagonist, Brynn, is a student and intern pursuing true-crime journalism, the novel questions the ethics of the true-crime genre on multiple fronts. The novel ends with Brynn taking her internship back, so clearly the novel does not take the stance that true-crime journalism is inherently or always immoral. However, the novel does take the stance that true-crime reporting is a special type of journalism that comes with its own boundaries and ethical considerations. A variety of issues are shown in the novel, ranging from large-scale violations that are clearly immoral, such as Gunnar completely fabricating stories and trying to pass them off as true, to smaller transgressions, such as those committed by Brynn, Carly, and other characters who are generally well-meaning and not villains like Gunnar.
Gunnar’s outright lies are obviously wrong because they mislead people while the show is advertised as “true crime.” Gunnar sensationalizes crime and murder for entertainment purposes. For example, he gets Lisa Marie to pretend she’s the heartbroken mother of a child murderer because he thinks this would make a juicy story. Fame is Gunnar’s only consideration, and he does not care if he ruins lives in the process. Tripp points out how destructive sensationalized crime can be when he sarcastically tells his mother, “Am I the next Killer Kid, then? [...] Thanks a lot. I’ll be sure to plan my day around getting slandered on YouTube” (134). Far from wanting to help the community actually solve a murder and remove dangerous people, Gunnar just wants to create popular videos that entertain people so he can make money.
Although not all true-crime hosts lie as much as Gunnar, even those who tell the truth can sometimes sensationalize or glamorize crime in a problematic way. Brynn claims that, “Motive is nothing like Don’t Do the Crime!” (103), but she receives several warnings that her secret involvement with the show might upset her friends and classmates (which it ultimately does). Her lack of transparency is an issue for several types of journalism: People generally don’t like when they think someone is just being friendly, then later turn out to be “spying” to collect information for a story or a show. Furthermore, people warn Brynn that stirring up old problems can cause harm, which it also does. She learns to draw boundaries based on safety and people’s wellbeing. She also learns that she should be in true crime for the right reasons if she’s going to do it. The point is not to write a good story that makes herself look impressive. True crime is too sensitive of a topic for that. The focus should be on bringing justice and telling the truth.
The Burden of Keeping Secrets
Several characters keep secrets for different reasons, but in all cases, regardless of their original motives, keeping secrets results in loneliness, isolation, substance abuse, guilt, regret, and a host of other negative outcomes. The novel suggests that keeping secrets is harmful to oneself as well as to others. When Tripp finds out that she lied about her internship and her motives for bringing up Mr. Larkin, Brynn sees how her lie has ruined his ability to trust her or believe that she values him. As a gesture of loyalty, she quits her internship because she realizes her relationships are more important than stories. In Brynn’s words:
I’ve never felt more alone than I did when people were mad at me for being sneaky about working at Motive, which was bad enough. But it’s been worse to realize how much my tunnel vision hurt my friends, my family, and especially Tripp (244).
The two are then able to investigate the murder together, showing that the problem was the secret-keeping, not the murder-investigating.
Tripp’s character also illustrates the burden of keeping secrets on several fronts. For years, he believed his father stole the school’s money and killed Mr. Larkin, but tells no one, not even his father. His secret causes him to distance himself from his father, to drink excessively and skip school, and to set goals that make no sense because they’re based on false information. He could easily have avoided this entire burden by asking his father what he did that day. Instead, he kept his suspicions a secret, which damaged his own relationships but also prevented the police from solving a murder. These same false assumptions caused Tripp to end his friendship with Brynn in eighth grade and pick up a false friendship with Shane and Charlotte.
Some characters, such as Mason/Mikey and his mother Ms. Rafferty/Lila keep secrets out of actual necessity, for their own safety, health, and wellbeing. However, even this kind of secret does not come without a cost or burden to the characters. As Mason says, “You’re holding a lot of secrets, Brynn […] Be careful. That can wear a person down after a while. I should know” (308). It’s difficult for Mason to keep his past and old name secret from everyone, but he does so until the danger, Dexter, is removed, freeing him to be honest about the past. This is healing for Mason, as is the opportunity to finally share his truth with a friend (Brynn) in the auditorium. Overall, the novel shows time and again that keeping secrets usually makes people lonely and only breeds additional dishonesty. Although at times secrets may be necessary, the novel shows that openness is best.
The Importance of Teamwork and Honesty
It’s not surprising that Mr. Larkin’s murder went unsolved for four years, considering how many characters were either lying or omitting information, both to the police, to each other, and to themselves. Examples of this include Tripp, Shane, and Charlotte claiming they never left each other’s sight in the woods; Tripp stealing the medallion so the police couldn’t find it; and Shane neglecting to mention he heard and saw Mr. Larkin arguing with Nick Gallagher over the stolen money. All of these lies and omissions prevented the police and civilians from gleaning important pieces of information that could have helped them solve the case. Ironically, most of the lies and omissions were committed because of false assumptions in the first place. These false assumptions could have been avoided with communication and teamwork. For example, Tripp conceals the medallion from the police because he assumes it belongs to his father, and that his father killed Mr. Larkin. In reality, the medallion belonged to Mr. Larkin, and could have led police to the tavern owned by Rose, a woman who knew Mr. Larkin before he changed his name and the whole story about Dexter, Mikey, and Lila. If Tripp had spoken to his father or Brynn about that day, he could have easily determined his father was innocent.
To solve Mr. Larkin’s murder, the characters have to work together, ironically stated in the school’s motto, “Stronger together.” There is no one character who possesses all the knowledge necessary to crack the case; instead, each person knows certain things that are relevant, and only when pieced together like a puzzle can the murder begin to make sense. As a journalism student, Brynn understands how to undergo this process, and can spearhead the project, but still, she doesn’t have all the knowledge herself. She learns certain information through research and interviews, but she needs the people who have been lying and/or avoiding her—Tripp, Shane, Charlotte, Uncle Nick, and more—to speak to her and tell the truth if she is to have a chance at cracking the case.
Although the police could probably also help if they weren’t being lied to, the dream team that helps solve the murder is Brynn, Ellie, and Tripp. Tripp and Brynn were apart for years, first because Tripp pushed her away, and then because Brynn’s family moved away. During this time, no progress was made on the murder case. When Brynn moves back, she begins making progress on her own, but doesn’t get anywhere meaningful until Tripp is honest about the medallion and about not being with Shane and Charlotte the whole time. Although Tripp doesn’t manage to be completely honest with everyone (such as his dad), he makes strides, and even apologizes for “muzzling” Shane. At the novel’s end, several characters break their silence by beginning to work together and share their truth with the police.
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By Karen M. McManus
