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Pilgrim’s Progress
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in When Will There Be Good News?, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma, Survival, and Reckoning with the Past
Appearances vs. Reality
Lies and Deceptions
Family
Summary
Analysis
Even though Louise can drink most guys under the table, she refuses Neil Hunter’s offer of whiskey. Instead she buys an espresso and goes to her office to study all the reported sightings of David Needler. She fears that the case is going cold. Marcus comes in with news about Neil Hunter. The manager of one of his arcades was attacked, another arcade was smashed up, and one of his drivers was beaten up. Meanwhile, Louise gets the news that Andrew Decker has disappeared. She figures that he’s trying to get away from the press, much like Joanna.
Louise continues to be fixated on the Needler case, but meanwhile, there’s more news about Neil Hunter’s shady dealings—and the killer of Joanna’s family has disappeared. Louise doesn’t attribute much importance to this, however—she seems to worry less about Joanna than about other women, assuming she can fend for herself.
Themes
On her way back from a meeting later, Louise gets an unusual craving for chocolate, so she buys a large candy bar, devours it, and then promptly throws up the whole thing. Just as she’s coming out of the bathroom, she gets a frantic phone call from Reggie Chase, whom she’d briefly met at the Hunters’ the other evening. She drives back into the city and meets Reggie at a Starbucks.
Louise has had an awful lot of unusual cravings lately, but she doesn’t think much of this at the moment, figuring it’s just stress. Reggie, meanwhile, remembers Louise’s surprising visit to the Hunters’ the other night and tracks her down, panicked about the Hunters.
Themes
Reggie shows Louise the piece of the baby’s blanket. It makes Louise think about Archie as a baby. Reggie also tells her about Dr. Hunter’s car, the phone left behind, and her uncharacteristic lack of communication. She concludes that she thinks someone has taken Joanna, or she’s been murdered. Louise sighs, thinking, “The girl was one of those.” She’s met overexcitable types like this before. She tells Reggie it’s all just a coincidence. Reggie urges Louise to track down the supposed elderly aunt. Louise insists on driving Reggie home.
Reggie lays out her observations to Louise, figuring Louise is the only person she knows who’s likely to take her seriously. But Louise, cynical from years of police work and also not familiar with Reggie, figures the girl is just getting worked up over nothing, making up stories based on a coincidence. She reads Reggie’s affectionate loyalty as an appetite for drama and dismisses her concerns.
Themes
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Louise also dismisses Reggie’s claims about saving a man’s life as fantasy. She shouldn’t have wasted her time talking to the girl, but she can’t shake her obsession with Joanna Hunter. She figures Joanna’s marriage is shaky, Neil Hunter’s finances are a mess, and Andrew Decker is out of prison, so why wouldn’t Joanna disappear? Plus, Reggie doesn’t know about Joanna’s past. Louise doesn’t want to break that confidence.
Louise also doesn’t believe Reggie about her involvement at the crash site last night. She is thinking about Joanna as a consummate survivor—she survived by running before, so why wouldn’t she do the same thing under these circumstances? She buys Joanna’s projected image and is disinclined to believe that anything else bad could happen to her.
Themes
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On the drive to Musselburgh, Louise asks Reggie what she knows about Dr. Hunter. Reggie rattles off everything she knows about Joanna’s likes and dislikes. She also gives Louise the postcard she’d taken from Jackson Brodie’s pocket last night. Louise peers at the muck-splattered postcard and sees it’s addressed to “Jackson Brodie.” Reggie asks if Louise might have “a week look” for Brodie. Louise says she’s too busy, but after she drops Reggie off, she makes a beeline for the hospital—“as obedient as a dog to a shepherd calling her home.”
Although Reggie’s description of Dr. Hunter is relatively superficial, it still demonstrates her deep affection for Dr. Hunter. When Reggie shows Louise the postcard from last night, Louise finally believes there’s some truth to Reggie’s stories. Whereas she’s been avoiding her own husband and family as much as possible, now she can’t get to Jackson—the self-proclaimed “shepherd” and gatherer of the outcast—fast enough.
Themes
