“‘Two things you must remember,’ a voice says through some kind of speech-distortion machine. ‘Number one: you are not the first and you will certainly not be the last. Number two: it’s not about the money—it’s about the Chain.’”

This quote is the first thing that new “links” in The Chain (victims) hear over the phone, and it is repeated throughout The Chain. The claim that The Chain is “not about the money” usually rings true in the moment, because for most links, it’s more difficult (both emotionally and logistically) to kidnap someone than it is to pay a ransom, even a large amount. However, this claim is ironic because it is about the money: The Chain’s creators Ginger and Olly made their crime ring to pay off their student loans and buy houses, but kept it going out of greed.

“She feels sick, nauseated, untethered. Like on the treatment days when she allowed them to poison her and burn her in the hope that it would make her better.”

Rachel repeatedly compares the trauma of Kylie’s kidnapping to her experience with chemotherapy. Both were traumatic, and produced emotional sensations as well as physical ones. While others find Rachel’s survival from breast cancer inspiring, the kidnapping only compounds her pain.

“Is Rachel the bad apple?

It doesn’t really matter if she is. As Olly is always saying, The Chain is largely a self-regulating mechanism that repairs its own broken DNA with only a little nudging from the outside.”

The Chain leader Ginger views her crime ring as a hivemind made up of an unknown number of individuals. Although she and Olly started The Chain, it’s become self-sustaining due in part to Olly’s programming skills.