The novel opens with Erin narrating from a moment of crisis before circling back to explain how she got there. How did that framing shape your reading — did it build dread, or did you spend the book trying to guess what she'd actually done?
Erin and Mark both arrive at their honeymoon under real pressure — his sudden job loss, her stalled documentary career. How does that setup make their eventual choices feel plausible rather than just reckless?
Erin's day job is interviewing former prisoners for a documentary about what freedom really means. What did you expect that thread to add to the main plot, and how did that expectation hold up as you read?
Where do you think Erin and Mark actually cross the point of no return — finding the bag on the wreck, deciding to keep it, or something later? Was there a moment where a different choice could still have saved them?
Their justifications get more elaborate as the story goes on — no one will miss it, they'll only use a little, they've earned it. Which rationalization did you find most convincing, and which one first made you distrust them?
Would you have opened the bag? Kept what was inside? Talk about what you think you'd actually do in the moment — not just what you'd like to believe about yourself.
Hiding an enormous secret from the rest of the world seems, at first, to bond the newlyweds tighter. At what point does that shared secret start working against the marriage instead of for it?
How much of Mark did Erin actually know before the honeymoon? Looking back, are there hints early on about who he really is that are easy to miss on a first read?
By the end, Erin is left wondering whether Mark ever truly loved her. Based on everything we learn about him, what's your read — was the marriage real to him, or was Erin always a means to an end?
Erin's interview subjects — Eddie, Alexa, Holli — each define freedom differently: as license to keep breaking rules, as an inner state you can hold onto even locked up, and beyond. How do their stories comment on what Erin and Mark do with their own new "freedom" once they have the money?
By the last page, Erin is technically free — never charged, money intact, life outwardly rebuilt. Do you think she's actually free? What would freedom even look like for her at that point?
Steadman is an actor as well as a novelist. Did the book feel cinematic to you — in its pacing, scene-setting, dialogue? Were there moments that played more like a thriller movie than a literary novel, for better or worse?
The ending leaves Erin having gotten away with nearly everything, pregnant, quietly rebuilding her life. Did you find that satisfying, chilling, or both? Would you have wanted her to face more consequences — and does the book earn the ending it chooses?