Two Can Keep a Secret

Though similar to the motif above, a sense of things echoing, repeating, or mirroring each other is just as pervasive and distinct in the book. Malcolm and Ellery are coping with the same kind of trauma; Daisy and Sadie both suffer from survivor’s guilt; the past repeats itself in Lacey and then Brooke’s murder. Even the name, Echo Ridge, is deliberate in its assertion that violence reverberates across generations.

In Chapter 19, Ellery observes a broken Hummel figurine of a little girl that belongs to her Nana. Sadie broke it, but Sarah took the blame. This “broken girl” comes to symbolize many of the young women in town, including Ellery herself; the story of the figurine also foreshadows the answer to Sarah’s disappearance. Throughout the book, Ellery grapples with the idea that if she can save someone or provide answers to why a young woman was harmed, then she will have done something important for the legacy of Sarah. The final broken girl, Katrin, complicates that idea: She’s guilty of trying to conceal her father’s crimes, but she is no less a victim of his controlling nature than the others. In the end, the narrative suggests that Ellery’s idea about brokenness was too simplistic, and part of her growth will be coping with that realization.