Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of drug addiction and death by suicide.

Beth is the eldest of the three Thomas siblings and a round, dynamic character. Now in her forties, the novel opens with her living with her mother in her childhood home. Beth is divorced and rarely speaks to her adult daughter, who is stationed overseas with the Navy. While she is attractive, she does little to enhance her appearance. In many ways, Beth perceives her life as over. A knee injury in high school prevented her from going away to college on an athletic scholarship. Instead, she has spent all her life in the little town of Allen’s Grove and resents her brother for leaving and making something of his life. She also mistrusts her younger sister, Nicole, because she has been repeatedly disappointed by her as she struggles with drug addiction.

Up until her mother’s death, Beth spends her life brooding over the past and her father’s mysterious disappearance. When her siblings reunite and they discover that their parents concealed a murder, Beth reveals that she is both emotionally intelligent and resilient. She interprets her mother’s actions and feelings through the videotape and ultimately decides to find Emma’s body herself, furious about her family’s deceit.