Content Warning: This section contains references to sexual assault, addiction, and death by suicide, in addition to descriptions of murders.

The symbol of snow runs throughout the novel, which is set in Boston during the winter. The very first line includes snow: “The front door opened, and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent’s feet on the doormat. It had just begun to snow, and the air that rushed into the store was heavy and brimming with energy” (1). Snow can be read to symbolize energy and/or a beginning, and different kinds of snow take on different meanings in the narrative. For example, Malcolm walks through “shin-high snow” (53) while thinking about Gwen asking him to call her by her first name. Malcolm hopes this is a sign that she doesn’t consider him a suspect, symbolically linking drifts of snow with hope. Another example is when Malcolm drives, drunk, to Brian’s house, knowing that Marty is attempting to kill the couple, it was “snowing harder than it had been all night” (230). The snow represents the struggle that Malcolm faces in getting to them. At the end of the novel, as he plans to die by suicide, Malcolm notices that “It is snowing outside” (270).