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Summary
Amy Elliott Dunne, Eight Days Gone
Greta, Amy, and a friend of Greta's named Jeff, have a light-hearted afternoon at an amusement park, where they play bumper boats and mini golf. Amy decides not to kill herself, because she can’t stand the injustice of having to die after all her hard work. At lunch, Greta sees Amy's money pouch and teases her, which fuels her paranoia. Jeff knocks on her door late at night and offers her a job helping him illegally fish for catfish. The work is brutal and tiring, and Amy ends up covered in fish blood and blobs of flesh. Jeff makes her jump in the water to rinse off, and she must quickly swim back to shore to stop him from stealing her money pouch.
Nick Dunne, Eight Days Gone
Nick calls Hilary Handy to discuss Amy’s pattern of behavior. Having seen Nick on the news, Hilary tells him how Amy framed her in high school after Hilary had a short string of nice things happen to her. Amy forced Hilary to start doing things like dye her hair blonde and prank Amy’s parents, pretending to be her. Then Amy accused Hilary of pushing her down a flight of stairs, ruining her reputation and causing her family to move away. Later, Amy sent Hilary a typed list of all the ways she had disappointed her. Tanner pushes Nick to keep looking for evidence. Nick thinks about his and Amy’s failed tries at starting a family, feeling grief about his wish to be a father and Amy’s initial vagueness and then outright refusal. Their marriage was cold and distant. Nick goes to a bar and by chance meets Rebecca, a reporter who was supposed to cover his story. He tries to tell her a version of the story of Amy’s disappearance that will appeal to his wife, if she’s watching.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Nine Days Gone
Amy wakes up feeling nervous and decides to leave the Ozarks. She sees a viral video on the internet that Rebecca made of Nick’s “confession.” She considers what she’ll do next, as Nick’s video surprises her and she feels sudden warmth toward him. She returns to her cabin, where the manager demands her rent. As soon as she’s inside, Greta and Jeff barge in and rob her, stealing her money pouch. Amy only has a quarter and a dime left.
Nick Dunne, Nine Days Gone
Nick’s viral video has done a lot to rehabilitate his public image—instead of the hostility and hate he’s been receiving, people are commenting that he might not have killed his wife after all. Tanner and Go are furious, however, as they feel the interview could have ruined his case. Tanner tells Nick that if there was ever a time to go to the cops about the damning contents of Go’s woodshed, it’s now. He also tells Nick he’s set up an interview for him with a serious journalist: he’s going to be on Sharon Schieber’s TV show. Tanner and his wife, Betsy Bolt, prepare Nick for the interview.
Amy Elliot Dunne, Nine Days Gone
Amy sits in her car in a deserted parking lot. She knows she has to do something, but she’s frozen with panic. She has no money and only a quarter tank of gas. As she smells the Mississippi river, she suddenly gets an idea of what her next step should be.
Nick Dunne, Ten Days Gone
Nick, Go, Tanner, and Betsy continue prepping for the interview. As they enter the studio, Tanner gets a call from Boney but ignores it. Sharon Schieber enters the room, but just as she’s about to greet Nick, her producer whispers something in her ear. Sharon is shocked, and turns sharply back to Nick.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Ten Days Gone
Amy cleans herself up haphazardly and meets Desi Collings at a casino. She knows he’ll save her, whatever happens. She bursts into carefully coordinated tears, telling Desi a lurid story about Nick abusing her so he’ll feel sorry for her. Desi promises to protect her and offers to take her to his lake house. She pushes for cash, but he refuses, and she eventually agrees. As they are leaving, Amy sees a press conference with Andie on the TV, where she admits to an affair with Nick. Amy’s parents appear on TV next, publicly withdrawing their support from Nick.
Nick Dunne, Ten Days Gone
Sharon’s startled by the news about Andie, but agrees to proceed with the interview, provided Nick promises to be interesting. He is, giving a very convincing interview where he expresses regret, admits to his affair, and repeatedly avows his love for Amy. Tanner thinks they’re in good shape. However, Go calls Nick to tell him that the police have a warrant to search the woodshed. Boney confronts Nick with the incriminating evidence in the woodshed, showing him that his fingerprints are on every object, including violent pornography. The police arrest Go. Later, Boney shows Nick Amy’s diary, which has charred edges. Nick knows something very bad is about to happen.
Amy Elliott Dunne, Ten Days Gone
Desi and Amy drive to Illinois to ditch her car, and then go to his enormous, extravagant lake house. It’s comically luxurious, and Desi has incorporated lots of touches that show how devoted he’s always been to Amy. He painted one of the rooms her favorite color, and he’s filled a greenhouse with tulips that will bloom year-round. Amy feels suddenly nervous: Desi has been planning to bring her here for a while. She asks him for money and he refuses at first, and then indulgently gives her $40. Amy’s worry increases.
Analysis
Nick's interview with Rachel is a turning point for him; he decides to play Amy at her own game. It’s a calculated move to manipulate Amy into returning to him. Aware that Amy will be watching and that this might be his only chance to avoid the death penalty, Nick uses this platform to stage a performance of being the husband Amy wants—essentially, he’s trying to be the male version of the “Cool Girl.” His groveling apology and fake admissions of guilt and shame show his understanding of what Amy wants to hear. By admitting to his faults and expressing remorse, Nick taps into a very powerful narrative. Rather than looking like a liar, he reorients the story the media tells around a tale of masculine guilt and redemption. The way he fakes intense vulnerability and acknowledges his shortcomings here is a strategic use of toxic masculinity.
Nick knows what the “remorseful husband trope” looks like, and so he leans into the role of the flawed but repentant man seeking forgiveness. He also pretends to be drunk, slurring his words and appearing disheveled. It’s a far cry from his otherwise annoyingly handsome and relaxed demeanor, and he does it to evoke sympathy and create a sense of authenticity. It’s a masterpiece of deception so strategic and well-executed, it’s almost worthy of Amy herself.
Nick isn’t the only person who’s acting ironically in this section. Amy sees Nick’s candor for what it is; a performance, just like those she’s been putting on all her life. She decides that this might mean Nick is worthy of her after all, and is starting to organize herself to head back to Missouri when she’s robbed and left broke. Given her circumstances, she thinks that the best way to get what she wants is to do what she’s done so often: she’s going to manipulate a man.. She calls up Desi Collings, believing she can easily exploit his affection for her. However, after linking up with Desi she falls victim to a far less sophisticated set of schemes than her own. The irony here—that Desi actually does keep Amy prisoner— lies in the fact that master manipulator Amy Elliott Dunne becomes ensnared in someone else's plans. Desi keeping Amy prisoner and forcing her into a distorted version of their past stems from a deeply personal vendetta. He’s always wanted her, and she’s always held power over him.
In this situation the tables are turned, and Amy is unprepared for how seriously Desi takes his new conservatorship of her. Everything at the lake house, from the décor to the menu, reflects a twisted form of revenge for Amy's rejection of Desi. As soon as she arrives, she feels that she’s made a mistake, as Desi has clearly decorated and outfitted this place with her in mind. Indeed, he has preserved unnervingly specific details of her past. His obsession with her extends to having painted one of the bedrooms a “dusty rose” (Amy’s favorite color in high school) to filling a greenhouse with special tulips, as she once said she wished their season wasn’t so short.
It’s a literal prison, as Amy can’t leave, but it’s also a psychological cage. Desi's meticulous attention to detail mirrors Amy's own schemes, as he attempts to recreate the perfect world he believes she would want. This perfection isn’t for Amy’s benefit, though: Desi wants to exert complete control over Amy, a desire which parallels her own manipulative tendencies. He doesn’t care about her recovery from the trauma she tells him Nick caused her; in fact, he likes to be needed by emotionally fragile women. He wants Amy to transform into her “Cool Girl” persona from their high school relationship—that way, the image he has of their perfect life together will crystallize completely.
This seems like karmic justice of a sort, given Amy’s history of manipulating people to punish them for “wronging” her. As Hilary Handy and Tommy O’Hara reveal to Nick in this section, throughout her life Amy has doled out vigilante justice to people who do things she doesn’t like. Not only does she punish them, she also secretly declares to her victims that she’s responsible for their misfortune, sending anonymous notes to make sure they understand her power and the consequences of crossing her. The punishment she metes out far outweighs the often negligible or nonexistent crimes of her enemies,, and she gets more and more vicious as time goes on.
In high school she causes Hilary to change schools when she fabricates a story that she’s a dangerous stalker. She does this because of a list of tiny slights that Hilary has unknowingly committed, which Amy types up and sends to her by mail. Later on, Amy falsely accuses Tommy of rape after he pulls away from her, faking injuries consistent with sexual assault. He’s put on the Sex Offenders Register, which devastates his life and leaves a lasting impact on his reputation. When Tommy and Nick discuss this, Tommy’s chilling statement that Amy had “graduated to murder” implies that she will only keep escalating the scope of her schemes.
