The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Goodman, Jessica. They’ll Never Catch Us. Penguin Random House, 2021. Kindle.

The novel is narrated in the present-tense by the Steckler sisters, Ellie and Stella, in alternating chapters. There is one chapter, late in the novel, that is narrated by Raven. The novel begins on the last weekend of summer vacation. Stella’s parents pick her up from the Breakbridge Elite Track and Field Center where she has been training and getting therapy all summer because of a violent incident she was involved with during her sophomore year. Stella’s times are better than ever, and she is determined to impress the Georgetown scouts who offered her a scholarship the previous year before pulling out after the violent incident.

Ellie, meanwhile, has spent the summer working as a lifeguard with Noah, who is the most popular boy on the track team. They began sleeping together, but Noah did not want to break up with his girlfriend, Tamara, because her dad was a Princeton-alum and Noah was counting on him to help with the admissions process.

At the first practice of the season, a new girl from Connecticut joins the Edgewater High track team. Mila Keene a famously gifted runner who Stella and Ellie are both jealous of and intimidated by because they are used to being the most talented runners on their team. However, Mila is kind and not overly-competitive, so she makes quick friends with the other girls on the team: Tamara, Julia, and Raven.

Almost a decade ago, a series of murders had targeted teen girls who were running alone in Edgewater. The police had never solved the crimes, but everyone assumed an old man who had passed away shortly after was responsible. Several years later, though, Raven’s sister, Shira, disappeared and the town went into a panic. However, Shira returned and admitted she had simply run off with a boyfriend. The town hated Shira and her whole family for the lie, and Raven felt a great deal of shame on her sister’s behalf.

The school year begins and the girls go to the team formal. At the afterparty, Stella and Mila talk about their parents and bond. At the first race of the season, Mila wins, though, which infuriates Stella. A few weeks pass and then the girls go to homecoming with the team. Mila and Stella talk again and develop an even closer friendship despite their competition. After, they go to the afterparty on the team bus and Ellie gets drunk and attack Noah in a rage. Everyone thinks she is just being drunk and crazy. Mila talks to her, though, and learns that Ellie had an abortion over the summer with Nathan. Mila promises not to tell anyone. Stella and Mila go on a run together, and then Ellie and Mila work on a history project together.

At the Longshot Run on Saturday, Stella hears a rumor that Mila has secretly met with scouts from Georgetown. Infuriated, Stella texts Mila and accuses her of betraying her and promises she will regret doing so.

On Monday morning, Mila does not come to school. Mila’s mother reports her missing and Detective Parker begins investigating her disappearance. Tamara organizes a search party with the team the next weekend. Raven finds Mila’s phone down by the lake. The team throws a charity run around the track. Stella finds Mila’s ID, covered in mud, in her locker. Raven sees the ID fall out of Stella’s locker and tells Parker about it. However, Ellie breaks into Stella’s locker and hides the ID before Parker can search it.

Parker searches Mila’s phone and sees the threatening texts from Stella. He takes her in for questioning, but she denies being involved at all. When Stella gets home, she asks Ellie where she was the morning of Mila’s disappearance. Ellie says she was with Noah but does not want to admit the truth. Stella decides they should say they were together at home all morning working out before school.

Stella finally reveals the truth to the reader that the violent incident she was involved with the year before had been a misunderstanding. A runner from a rival team, Allison Tarley, had intentionally injured herself to get off her team and had blamed Stella. At school, Julia paints the word “monster” on Stella’s locker and tapes clippings of the newspaper article about her attack on Allison Tarley all over the locker, too.

The team goes to regionals and Stella beats Ellie by a few seconds, though they both drastically improve their scores. Ellie gets offers from multiple schools. On Monday, Mila's body is found. Stella goes to Mila’s funeral and meets Mila’s best friend from Connecticut—Naomi. They meet at a diner and decide that Mila’s father is a prime suspect. The girls track him down together and find out that he was in a rehab facility until the day of Mila’s funeral.

Noah has a Halloween fundraiser for Mila. Parker announces that there is new evidence suggesting that Mila was running with a female friend the morning of her murder. Stella runs into Parker on her morning jog and he shows her a picture of Ellie and Mila running together. Stella goes home and asks Ellie where she was on the morning of Mila’s murder, but Ellie does not tell her the truth about the photo. The next day, Ellie stays home sick from school and Noah comes over. They argue about Mila and Noah throws a lamp at Ellie. Stella walks into the scene and rushes to her sister’s side.

Ellie and Noah admit that they conspired to lure Mila out to the pit so they could intimidate her into not revealing the secret of their abortion. They left her there all day. When they came back, they thought she was gone. The three of them meet up with the rest of the team and Raven admits to being guilty of following Mila and Ellie on their run. She pretended to help Mila climb out of the pit, but pushed her back in on her head so she could murder her and frame Stella.

The girls tell Parker everything and Raven is arrested. The team decides to protest the final race of the year by standing still and refusing to run.