Love in the Time of Serial Killers

Fraught familial relationships are at the heart of the novel’s depiction of Phoebe, Conner, and their childhood trauma. The author paints a vivid portrait of their parents’ tumultuous marriage, showing its impact on Phoebe and Conner, and explores how it continued to shape them as adults.

Severe dysfunction characterized Phoebe and Conner’s early childhood. Their parents’ explosive marriage was volatile and emotionally abusive, and it put a serious strain on the entire family. Phoebe’s father was prone to fits of rage that, because they often emerged out of nowhere, created extreme anxiety in their mother. She consequently found it difficult to devote her attention to parenting, and Phoebe ultimately came to characterize her mother as aloof and overly focused on appearances. She doesn’t feel that she and her mother had an authentic relationship, even after the divorce. Their father was similarly detached in his own relationship with Conner, and each child grew up with the knowledge that their parents were never fully invested in them. This became a source of deep hurt to each of them, though they eventually addressed it in different ways.

Each child moved in with one of their parents after the divorce, which truncated their relationship with each other.