Gone, Baby, Gone characters

Appears from the start

A private investigator rooted in the working-class Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Patrick knows its streets, loyalties, and criminal networks from the inside. He takes cases personally and relies on a moral code that can be stubborn even when every available choice carries harm.

Also known as Angie

Appears from the start

Patrick's investigative partner and closest emotional companion. Angie is perceptive, direct, and formidable under pressure, with her own strong judgment about what justice requires. Her partnership with Patrick combines professional trust, shared history, and an intimate bond that difficult cases repeatedly test.

Appears from the start

A four-year-old girl who has vanished from her mother's apartment in Dorchester. Amanda's face is widely circulated by the news, but the circumstances of her home life and disappearance make it difficult to know whether she was taken by a stranger or by someone connected to her family.

First appears in chapter 2

Amanda's mother, whose neglect is central to the circumstances of the disappearance. Helene left her young daughter alone while she went to a bar and responds to attention with a mixture of defensiveness, self-interest, and flashes of concern. Her connections in the neighborhood complicate the search.

Appears from the start

Helene's brother and Amanda's uncle, who approaches Patrick and Angie with his wife to ask for help finding the child. Lionel presents himself as the steadier member of a troubled family and believes local investigators may reach people who will not cooperate with police.

Also known as Bea

Appears from the start

Lionel's wife and Amanda's aunt. Beatrice is openly appalled by Helene's parenting and is a driving force behind hiring Patrick and Angie. Her fear for Amanda is accompanied by anger that the child was left vulnerable in the first place.

First appears in chapter 3

A veteran police captain associated with the official search for Amanda. Doyle's own child was abducted and murdered years earlier, giving him a personal understanding of the case and a reputation shaped by the protection of children.

First appears in chapter 3

A police detective assigned to Amanda's disappearance. Remy is an experienced, forceful investigator who knows the city's violent offenders and works with Patrick and Angie despite the tension between official police procedure and their neighborhood methods.

First appears in chapter 3

Remy Broussard's police partner in the investigation of Amanda's disappearance. Poole is part of the uneasy cooperation between the detectives and the private investigators as they pursue leads through Dorchester's criminal circles.

First appears in chapter 6

Patrick's dangerous but fiercely loyal friend, an arms dealer whose resources and capacity for violence make him useful when an investigation moves beyond what ordinary police channels can handle. Bubba's loyalty is chiefly to Patrick and Angie rather than to rules or institutions.

First appears in chapter 9

A powerful drug dealer connected to money stolen by Helene and one of her associates. Cheese's criminal organization and threats provide a plausible motive for taking Amanda, forcing the investigators to negotiate in a world where a child's safety can be treated as leverage.