Do Not Disturb

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of pregnancy loss, suicidal ideation, physical and emotional domestic abuse, illness, violence, and death.

Quinn Alexander is a point-of-view character and protagonist. She works at a bank full-time, while caring for her husband and their home. Her parents died when she was 14 on the way to her school play, leaving her with residual guilt and self-blame. She is Claudia’s younger sister, and is unaware of how jealous and resentful Claudia is towards her.

At the start of the novel, Quinn has killed her husband, Derek, in self-defense, after he is physically and emotionally abusive to her throughout their marriage. She suffered Derek’s abuse for over two years, fearing that his money and his well-connected family would destroy her life if she left him. In this way, her character conveys the theme of The Psychological Impact of Trauma and Abuse. She kept his abuse hidden, fearing that people would not believe her or that she would somehow be blamed. Her retaliation and murder of Derek serves as the inciting incident of the novel, as she is so consumed by her feelings of entrapment that she feels as though she has no choice but to run.