Reckless Girls: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and cursing.

The newcomer is a Southerner named Robbie, to whom Lux takes an immediate dislike. He is “smarmy” and interested in the island’s lurid history in a way that strikes Lux as distasteful. He makes jokes about cannibalism that she does not find funny. He immediately asks if they have any food, and although they have a repeat of their first-night party, the atmosphere is different. Robbie makes several sinister comments about survival and the human tendency to revert to a wilder state under extreme duress. The guys seem unphased by Robbie, but Lux can tell that the other women also find him distasteful.

Lux wakes up early and swims to shore. The guys build a small shelter to keep books, beach towels, and other supplies in. Robbie offers Lux a beer, and she declines. She asks how long he plans to stay, and he says that if he likes the island, he might just stay forever. There is food in his teeth, which she finds gross. He mentions that when a friend of his visited, he was sure that someone was secretly living in the island’s dense interior.