The Family Game

“I am just a British novelist with no real credentials—except one bestseller to her name—no real history, no Ivy League anything, no Oxbridge. I can’t imagine I’m what they had in mind for their firstborn son. I don’t even have a family, let alone a notable one.”

This quote highlights Harriet as an outsider character. The outsider is crucial to the structure of a thriller novel because outsiders bring in new perspectives that enable them to see the dangers, evils, or problems that prompt the thriller and are unseen by insiders. This quote characterizes Harriet through her outsider-ness as not having a family, not having wealth, and not having the same upbringing as Edward.

“I feel my expression freeze in place as I take him in for the first time, a strange sensation fizzling through me. It’s undeniable—his questionable past and ethics aside—and as much as I would never admit this to another living soul, there is something overpoweringly attractive about him. I hate myself for thinking it, but there it is. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”

This characterization of Robert is important in building up his mystique. His energy gives off power, a power that is easy for him to abuse. What’s more, Harriet’s deep attraction to Robert is notable because it reveals that Robert is a person who can easily use his charms and looks to take advantage of others.

“It must be hard to look at him every day, to know that everything in your life is due to the hard work of another man. And no matter how hard you strive, no matter how much you achieve, in your heart you’ll always question how much of it was due to you. Hard to be faced with that kind of legacy every day. But here I am feeling sorry for a billionaire.”

Harriet’s ability to feel sympathy and empathy for a ruthless billionaire highlights why she’s a good writer. She can see people for all of their nuances, not just for the character they present to the world. This quote also emphasizes that Robert, though ruthless, may have his own history of scars and traumas that inform that ruthlessness. The pressure of the Holbeck family legacy is crucial in understanding the dynamics of the Holbecks.

“That little tell behind his eyes, that world-weary calm, the feeling that at any moment he could switch on me, the tone could change, and a man like him would have the power, the ability, to do almost anything and get away with it. I don’t see how that couldn’t be both terrifying and intoxicating. Edward has it too, that deep undertow of power, that sense that I may not be good enough, smart enough, quick enough to live in his world.”

Edward and Robert look a lot alike, which is an important physical characterization to make because it foreshadows the future conflict of Edward potentially becoming powerful like Robert, which is dangerous. This characterization also emphasizes the intoxicating power of people like Edward and Robert, and the way they can sway people into believing that something is wrong with themselves, and not with Edward and Robert.

“‘I like their mechanics, their intricacy. But in the end, all is explained.’ He shakes his head, lost in thought, and finally looks back at me. ‘That kind of clarity, it’s so rare we find it in life.’”

Robert’s interest in thriller fiction is ironic given the horrors his family cause. Robert likes thrillers because he sees himself as a villain and a hero, like a main character in a thriller novel. This quote also highlights the thriller fiction form as one that is intricate, mechanical, engaging, and ends with all mysteries explained. The satisfaction of the explained mystery is crucial to the genre. This quote essentially explains the value of Steadman’s own genre.

“Adam offering Eve an apple, a small, brittle plastic apple. And there’s nothing I can do but accept it.”

In this quote, Steadman alludes to the Fall of Eve, but she subverts the narrative and has Adam offering Eve the apple instead of the other way around. The consumption of the apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge gives human beings knowledge and therefore, forces them into sin. Therefore, Steadman implies that the tape-recording Robert gives to Harriet is a symbolic passing of knowledge that can ruin Harriet’s innocent view of Edward and the Holbecks.

“As every writer knows, even if a story is pure fiction, there are truths hidden in there—about the writer, about the time it was written—that are incontrovertible.”

Harriet’s outsider status is emphasized by her role as a writer. She knows how to be observant and how to read people for the stories that they are capable of representing. This quote emphasizes the importance of Harriet’s relationship with constructing narratives because she knows that fiction is often a thin mask that hides the truth about the writer. This directly relates to Robert, whose tape-recording could be fiction but even if it is, it reveals the truth about him nevertheless.

“I put this odd little infatuation down to two very simple things: early-pregnancy hormones and novelty. I haven’t had access to Edward’s family until now and I’m getting carried away. This mild obsession with Robert is just an obsession with everything to do with that family, with Edward’s life before me, as shrouded in mystery and exoticism as it is.”

Harriet’s intense attraction to Robert perplexes and disturbs her. She seeks explanations for this desire, such as her hormones due to pregnancy, the similarities between Robert and Edward, and her absence from much of Edward’s life. The more she gets to know Edward’s family, the more mysterious Edward’s past becomes to her, which is in a way erotic and interesting.

“The fact remains I password-locked the document, to stop Edward from reading it, whatever that means in terms of trust. It’s not that I don’t trust him, and there’s nothing wrong with curiosity and it’s flattering to imagine he might want to sneak a peek, but I didn’t want to feel encumbered at the first-draft stage by outside judgment. The truth is I am pleased with it, come what may. It might be the best thing I have written.”

Upon meeting Edward’s family, Harriet becomes increasingly secretive. She doesn’t tell Edward about Eleanor’s invitation for Christmas, or Robert’s tape-recording, or about the novel she’s writing which is loosely based on his family. This signifies a foreshadowing that Edward’s family can and will come between Edward and his relationship with Harriet. Harriet’s secret-keeping from Edward also makes her culpable in the family drama.

“I shake off the thought and tell myself I am not that person anymore. We change, we grow; I will never be her again. Though I know that’s not true. I feel her inside me down dark alleys; late at night when things get scary I know she is there in the shadows with me. I know she has my back; our back.”

This is an important plot twist in the novel, as it reveals that Harriet is keeping her own deeply held, dark secret. This quote foreshadows internal conflict as Harriet continues to struggle with her guilt. It also foreshadows conflict between various secret-keepers. Having a secret means that you’re vulnerable to others coming in and using that secret against you. This quote also questions how much people can fundamentally or superficially change, which also relates to the Holbeck family treasure trove of secrets, crimes, and evil doings.

“I know monsters are not real, my rational mind knows that, but like it or not my heart will not stop pounding. First Robert’s tape and now this; games definitely don’t feel like games in this family.”

The Krampus monster is a man in costume, but this quote about monsters not being real is both literal and metaphorical. Literally, the Krampus monster isn’t real, but metaphorically, monsters very much exist. Robert is a type of monster, and the monstrosity of the Holbeck family itself is scarier even than the Krampus myth. Though Harriet is rational and seeks for explanations when odd, strange, and disturbing things happen, there is sometimes no explaining a true monster.

“For what it is worth, Harriet, I like you. I forgive you. We must remember, you were just a child; your parents killed and the man responsible there in front of you. It’s at moments like these that our true nature is revealed. You did a terrible thing, but you did it for your family. And I have done the same for mine.”

Robert hones in on Harriet’s deepest vulnerability. He taps into her guilt, tries to free her from that guilt, but also uses that guilt against her. This quote highlights Robert’s ability as a master manipulator. But this quote also emphasizes how faultless Harriet can be for her crime because she was a traumatized child when she committed her murder. This quote contains Robert’s attempt to align himself with Harriet, but Harriet and Robert are categorically not the same.

“I know I should feel shame, dread, fear—and in part I do, though those feelings are old friends. The new feeling weaving and twisting among them is a surprise, something I never even considered: acknowledgment. Hearing his words—even given who he is and the terrible things he has done—I feel known. For the first time in my adult life, I have been seen by another person. And they did not shrink away in disgust. I know Robert Holbeck is no arbiter of moral character, no great judge of human worth, but someone knows and they have done worse, and they understand.”

This quote highlights the complicated nature of carrying deep, dark secrets. Harriet is now fully under Robert’s influence because he knows her vulnerability. This poses a great danger to Harriet. On the other hand, the relief that someone else knows about her secret is an ironic relief. Harriet is somewhat freed from her secret, even though she now has to fight against having that secret uncovered even more. In Steadman’s novel, she articulates how easy it is for all people to become fallible to violence, but also highlights the difference between mistakes and true evil.

“It would be a misreading to say I did what I did with the best of intentions. I did not. I wanted him to suffer; I wanted to see him suffer. I didn’t do it to protect the world, or others, or because I could sense he was a bad person. I didn’t know anything about him the day he died, except what he had just done to me, to us.”

This confession highlights Harriet’s culpability and guilt. It also emphasizes her humanity. In this novel, there are few moral grey areas, but Harriet’s reaction to her parents’ death is one of the few instances in which Steadman highlights the capacity of all human beings to succumb to violence and revenge. Harriet has no qualms about acknowledging that her act was done out of vengeance and desire to see suffering inflicted on he who hurt her family. She doesn’t make apologies to herself or excuses.

“I feel anger fizz inside me at the fact I cannot untangle the knot Robert has presented me with. There is really nothing more I can do but go to The Hydes and face whatever he has laid in store for me.”

This quote highlights a plot turning point. In not being able to get ahead of Robert, Harriet must face the violence and conflict awaiting her at The Hydes. The only thing she can do to control what will happen to her is to set up a trail. This unknowability of what will happen next emphasizes and escalates tension and drama.

“He liked it as an origin story. He liked the reminder that no matter what you do, how much work you put in, it will always be misunderstood. There’s something in there about the inadequacy of the human condition—I don’t know. The human element in any enterprise will always be its sticking point. My family loves myth creation. They managed to turn a simple spelling mistake into some kind of life lesson. Hence The Hydes.”

In this quote, Steadman highlights the ways in which human beings are fallible. The fallibility of human beings is important to this novel because vulnerabilities are easy to manipulate. Because all human beings are capable of error, hard work and pragmatism are not always enough to be successful. The Holbeck family, especially Robert, enjoys the different layers of the human experience, which he exposes through the games they play.

“Games take us as close as is acceptable to the strategies we use in life. Games reveal our most base instinct: the instinct to survive. Under the mask of enjoyment, we reveal ourselves, we reveal how we play at life, our methods, how we navigate others’ strengths and weaknesses.”

In this quote, Steadman explains the inclusion of games in the novel. The Holbeck family loves games because they enjoy the experience of psychological control. Games can expose people’s true selves, thereby preventing them from maintaining the psychological control of their outward persona. But if games expose people’s true, rudimentary selves, then they also reveal people’s strengths. Games are the ultimate test of the human condition, and the Holbecks enjoy testing the human condition.

“Beyond the bedroom window, thick flakes of snow are beginning to drift. We watch it swirl and settle, dusting the moonlit gardens as far as the eye can see. A winter wonderland in the making. I try to imagine the view through Edward’s eyes, try to imagine the feeling of owning all of this, owning the grass, the snow, the walls, the windows, the moon bone white in the sky. But the idea, like quicksilver, is too mercurial to hold in my mind.”

This quote characterizes The Hydes through its beauty and peaceful exterior. This characterization is important because it sets up a dichotomy between what The Hydes looks like and what The Hydes actually is. This quote also emphasizes Edward’s wealth and the vast chasm of experience and privilege between he and Harriet.

“If you win, Harriet, you win what you need most and the knowledge of what everyone else needed. But if you lose, you lose what you need most as well as the secret of that. I think you’ll agree, the stakes are high. So we all play to win here, because we know everyone else will do the same.”

In this novel, games are used to test character and strengthen individual and group dynamics. But games are also used for psychological control. This quote features the game that changes the plot, tone, resolution of mystery, and characterizations of the novel. Crucially, this quote reveals the high stakes of the game, the intimate knowledge that the Holbeck family has about other people, and the ways in which even a tight-knit family can compete against one another.

“I know and yet, inches from this person, I am scared. An animal instinct, a reflexive fear of death overriding my system. It’s strange, because the dead are really the only things in the world who can’t hurt us anymore.”

This quote emphasizes tension and fear, two tones that are important to the thriller fiction genre. Corpses are frightening, and the presence of this quote is a direct threat to Harriet, who fears she’ll become one of the murdered women. This quote also highlights the peacefulness of the dead, a direct juxtaposition to the violence and danger posed by living people. This emphasizes Steadman’s message that all human beings are capable of danger.

“All this time, I’ve been condemning the wrong Holbeck, terrified Edward might find out my own awful secret. But he knows. He knew all along; in me, he found someone as broken as he was.”

This quote highlights the major plot twist of the novel. The revelation that Robert Holbeck, who has been painted as the antagonist throughout the novel, is actually not who he appears to be, and that Edward is the villain of the story is a shocking turn of events. This quote also emphasizes that Harriet has been carefully selected by Edward because he has mistaken her past to be indicative of her present and future. She is a pawn in his game.

“And suddenly, with a seismic shift, I feel myself break away from Edward. I feel him being ripped from me, not by Robert, or by his controlling family, but by the real Edward. My Edward—my good, kind, funny Edward—never really existed. I created him. Well, Edward Holbeck created him, a copy of the brother he killed.”

This quote characterizes Edward as cunning, duplicitous, and as having a carefully curated mask. Edward Holbeck has never been the person he’s presented himself to be to Harriet. He has modeled his persona after his dead brother, hoping to become like Bobby and fill his shoes. This speaks to Edward’s psychopathy, as well as the ability for people like Edward to manipulate and psychologically toy with others.

“My story might not be a perfect rendition of the facts, but sometimes it’s easier to understand the truth of our lives through stories. Sometimes stories cut to the heart of things straighter, truer.”

In this quote, Steadman proposes that stories are imperfect narratives and yet are true. Stories can reveal themes, characters, and ideas in ways that reciting a set of facts can’t. Stories help to illuminate the human condition. This is what Harriet does when she plans to tell her daughter about her past, it’s what she does as a thriller author, and it’s also what Steadman does.