You Shouldn't Have Come Here

Calvin Wells is a handsome farmer and one of the novel’s two unreliable first-person narrators. He turned his ranch along the Wind River outside Dubois, Wyoming, into an Airbnb—supposedly due to loneliness. Since Calvin is drawn to Grace’s beauty, much of the novel’s tension comprises his struggle to win her affection—which culminates in the pair having sex.

Calvin has a turbulent history: His parents died a year ago, and his girlfriend Lisa died a year ago on his birthday, due to his younger brother Joe’s drunk driving. His remaining family members (Joe, uncle Albert, and surrogate mother Betty) and friends discourage his relationship with Grace, due to her being a non-resident (and in Charlotte’s case, a rival suitor). In reality, like Grace, Calvin is a serial killer who murdered Lisa and framed Joe, and hides his most recent kidnapping victim (of four)—Briana Becker, a woman who resembles Grace—at the ranch. He always intended to kidnap and kill Grace to add her head to those of other victims—but is ultimately outplayed by her, drugged and murdered with his own knife. Before his death, he exhibited one moment of vulnerability—in which he voiced shock at his parents’ murder-suicide.

Charlotte Miller is a friend of Calvin and ex-wife of Wyatt, a deputy who serves under new County Sheriff Almond. In addition to her job at a local grocery store, she collects eggs from Calvin’s ducks and chickens to sell. She is infatuated with Calvin, and it is implied that she divorced Wyatt after a fling with him. Perceiving Grace as a rival suitor, Charlotte consistently tries to come between her and Calvin—but is ultimately discouraged by him. In a telling moment, she confesses to having had a fling with Joe as well, in which she revealed everything—a confession that causes Calvin to lash out. Like Calvin’s family members and other friends, it is implied that she harbors some knowledge of his crimes. Overall, Charlotte’s inclusion in the novel creates tension. In this, she both disrupts and supports the novel’s true genre as a mystery-thriller by only revealing select information.