ALL EYES ON HER

Mark Forrester (aka “Mark the Shark”) was a Princeton student with a swimming scholarship. Some people thought that he was talented enough to be the next Michael Phelps (if he wasn’t planning on becoming a lawyer instead, that is). He once arrogantly claimed that drowning would be the last way he would die (considering how he spent more time in a pool than outside of it) -- except that’s exactly how he ended up dying in August 2019.

 

He was taking a hike with his girlfriend, Tabitha (aka “Tabby”), who he had a very extreme and “passionate” relationship with. Either they were arguing or they couldn’t get enough of each other. When they reached the cliff known as “the Split”, he fell down and then drowned. 

 

So what happened?

 

• Was the hike Mark’s impromptu idea, and did he simply accidentally lose his footing?

 

• Did Tabby push him, maybe in the heat of an argument? Or maybe she planned everything all along…

 

• She bought Mark a backpack from a hiking store back in May.

 

• She planted “clues” to frame Mark’s best friend (Keegan) by asking him to search things like if someone would survive a 40-ft fall, and she started writing diary entries about her love for Mark (which she knew the police would read later).

 

• She asked Mark to carry the backpack that she packed with “things they needed” (when really she filled it with rocks), knowing that he would arrogantly not complain about its weight. She, on the other hand, was carrying an (empty?) picnic basket, leaving behind the sandwiches she had prepared back in the fridge (why?). She had prepared some last words to Mark, but she didn’t expect for him to unzip the bag at the top. So she hurriedly pushed him right away before he could catch on. It’s a good thing that she handed him a spiked Gatorade earlier to slow down his reflexes. This is why the backpack was only near his body (not on him) in the creek. And this is why there was a footprint that matched the soles of the shoes that she borrowed from her younger sister (Bridget) by the creek (and why the shoes were wet in the otherwise dry forest) -- she had to make sure the job was finished before she left. 

 

• Was Keegan so fueled with jealousy over Mark always getting what Keegan wanted? Mark only joined swimming because Keegan was trying it out, and Mark ended up becoming the best. Keegan had called dibs on Tabby, but Mark went after her anyways. Mark was a star Princeton student with a bright future while Keegan was stuck being a lame grocery store cashier. So maybe Keegan convinced Mark to take Tabby on a hike, and when Keegan fell somehow, he finished him off by holding him under the water? This explains why Keegan had a suspicious search history, had a map of the forest printed out back in May, was gone around the time of the incident, and had told his “girlfriend” Kyla that the police thought that Mark died by drowning when at that point, the police still thought that it was the fall that killed him.

 

“‘Everybody loved Mark,’ // Except maybe the one person who was supposed to love him the most” (89).

 

……………………

 

Throughout the book, we hear other people’s perspectives that shed light on Tabby’s character:

 

• Elle shows us how loyal Tabby could be. Both named after their grandmothers (Elanor and Tabitha), the two became friends in 8th grade when Tabby lent Elle a tampon and a sweatshirt to cover her staining. Then, when Elle went to an abortion clinic, she wore Tabby’s (or rather, Mark’s) Princeton sweatshirt, which made people suspect that it was Tabby who went into the abortion clinic (due to a picture that someone snagged). Tabitha never corrected the rumors, not minding the fact that people were talking about her. This shows how far she would go to protect others while not minding the attention much herself.

 

• Lou (aka Louisa) primes us into thinking that Tabby can have boys of all ages wrapped around her finger, manipulatively playing mind games with them and everyone else. After all, Tabby “stole” the lead role in the school play from Lou (despite not having rehearsed at all), presumably by flirting with the drama director, Mr. Mancini? Then during the night of the performance, Tabby told Lou that there was a red-headed scout in the audience, knowing that Lou was thinking of pursuing acting professionally. Turns out that Mr. Mancini’s wife is a red-head, so Lou struck up an embarrassing conversation with her instead. How did Tabby even get the lead role in the first place, and was there actually a red-headed scout that day?

 

“She’s a taker. And something to know about takers is that they never have enough” (45).

 

• One of Tabby's exes (Beck) primes us into seeing how hard it can be to get over addictions (as he still has feelings for Elle and finds it hard to get over his cigarette addiction). So maybe Keegan similarly had a hard time getting over his obsession of getting even with Mark?

 

The court ultimately finds Tabby not guilty and Keegan guilty. The evidence does seem to point more to Keegan upon further inspection, but at the end, Bridget is revealed to regularly see a physiatrist due to her recurring nightmares that her sister actually did kill Mark. 

 

Tabby goes on to take a gap year after her high school graduation to write a book about her experience (once again, loving the attention).

 

We finally hear Tabby’s perspective in the last chapter, but instead of giving us a clear answer on what really happened (which I was waiting for), we just get a wishy-washy series of possible explanations of what could have happened. After all, she had plenty of time to fantasize different ways that things could have played out while she was held in juvie before her trial.