Content Warning: The source material includes descriptions of abduction, torture, murder, and graphic violence, as well as sexual references, objectification, and harassment.

Protagonist Dolores Hernandez becomes Dee Guerrera when her dad erases her old identity to protect Dee following her childhood abduction. Dee’s kidnapping leaves her with emotional scars: She feels “dark and jaded,” admits she has trust issues, and avoids relationships (97). Dee is also traumatized by the murder of her stepsister, Monica, for which she was blamed.

Dee, however, lives up to her new last name, which means “warrior” in Spanish. Dee fights for truth and justice for herself and her dead sister. Dee stands up for herself and her innocence. She fights against her own lack of trust and fear of attachment while on Alcatraz 2.0, eventually trusting her friends and falling for Nyles. Dee physically battles the Painiacs on their turf, to save herself, and her friends, and expose the truth.

Like any teenager, Dee has a keen fashion sense and is outraged by her princess wardrobe both because of its aesthetic and because she chafes at being forced into a stereotypical role. Dee also has a wealth of cynical and sarcastic comebacks for Griselda’s snark and the Painiacs’ bombast.