Genre
Mystery, Domestic Fiction
Setting and Context
Set in Sydney, Australia
Narrator and Point of View
It is narrated in third-person from an omniscient point of view.
Tone and Mood
Suspenseful, humorous, and shocking
Protagonist and Antagonist
Each of the Delaneys can be viewed as the protagonist with the parents and four children taking center stage. While the antagonist is Savannah.
Major Conflict
With the disappearance of the matriarch, speculations about the turn of events run wild since the husband is the number one suspect. They have nothing much to go on with except for a vague text message from her phone before her disappearance. This digs up all the familial conflicts and resentments within the Delaneys household as they figure out Joy’s whereabouts.
Climax
While the narrative entails several climaxes, the main climax could be the argument between Joy and Stan about why Harry left their tennis academy.
Foreshadowing
Joy acknowledges the annoying thing about Stan is not owning a mobile phone because she cannot reach him easily. This foreshadows the miscommunication or inaccessibility in the future that leads to confusion about her disappearance in the first place.
Understatement
Sometime after Joy and Stan had confronted their issues, Stan forgives her in an understated manner for initiating Harry’s departure.
Allusions
The novel references the Covid-19 pandemic through the safety measures that the characters have to take and the occurrences that followed the outbreak.
Imagery
“The beauty therapist, dressed in immaculate white, knelt at her client’s enormous feet as she gently guided them into a footbath filled with warm scented water, floating rose petals and smooth oval-shaped pebbles manufactured to look like they came from a mountain stream.”
Paradox
The supposed evidence that pointed at Stan as the murderer turns out to be as a result of things he was doing to please Joy. For instance, the incriminating video of him taking out the carpet turns out to be him trying to get it cleaned for his wife.
Parallelism
As a coach, Stan constantly compares his children’s talents in tennis with that of former students, particularly Harry Haddad. These comparisons are a source of conflict in the household even now in their adulthood and continue to create a rift.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“She pushed the Polaroid of the bloodied t-shirt across the table.”
Personification
“The smoke haze outside her window was as grey and sombre as a midwinter sky, except for the blood-red summer sun that burned like a cigarette end.”
