Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses death by suicide and drug addiction.

“Charlotte might as well have been a different world from Mirror Lake. I was a different person out there, without the anchor of history.”

Hazel contrasts her identity in the big city of Charlotte, where her past has no meaning, with the heavy atmosphere of Mirror Lake. She uses the word “anchor” to describe the way in which her personal history weighs her down in the eyes of the community. The marine analogy foreshadows what is to be found at the bottom of the lake.

“No matter where you were driving in Mirror Lake, you were always circling the basin, bending toward it, like a galaxy spiraling closer to a black hole.”

Hazel is describing the topography of her hometown. The mountains completely encircle Mirror Lake, and the main road is a loop that runs next to the water. In depicting the lake as a vortex that sucks everything into it like a black hole, Megan Miranda alludes to the secrets at the bottom of the lake, suggesting that it is inevitable that the lake will become important to the plot.

“Every house has a story, and every renovation, a mystery—something the prior owners are trying to fix, or cover up. Something they hoped you wouldn’t notice.”

Hazel is describing her property rehab business in Charlotte. Part of her job is to assess houses for their renovation potential. While this comment is accurate about real estate in general, it also describes the Holt home. Perry has spent his life covering up family secrets, but the clues are found in the structure itself, and it is up to Hazel to solve the mystery.