Unlike a standalone novel that moves toward a closing moment in which conflicts are resolved and characters are given appropriate closure, Things We Hide from the Light is part of a series, which means it returns to characters and situations from a previous novel, Things We Never Got Over. At the same time, the novel can be read with no knowledge of the first book in the series: Its main characters were secondary, and conversations fill in any exposition readers may need to understand events.

Score’s commentary on her website and her publisher’s marketing buzz lets readers know that her fictitious Northern Virginia town of Knockemout will be the setting for other forthcoming titles, an ongoing series without a specific end in sight. To ensure plotlines for future books in the series, Things We Hide from the Light introduces many characters that have little to do with the unfolding story of Lina and Nash’s romance and the ongoing investigation into the Hugo crime ring, but rather promise future development in new titles: Lina’s neighbor, struggling to handle her adult child with autism; the bourbon-sipping, 70-something gym-club regular Mrs. Tweedy, who hints at a marriage that went south; Nash’s flamboyant gay friend Stef and his happily roving eye; Angie, Lina’s high school chum, whose marriage survived her first child’s recovery from leukemia; Tate Dilton’s long-suffering wife; Nash’s father Duke; and Naomi’s imprisoned twin sister Tina.