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Ms. MacDonald
Billy is Reggie’s older brother, aged 19 in the novel. He was Reggie’s hero when they were children, but over the years, he’s gotten involved in petty theft and drugs. Thugs associated with Billy trash Reggie’s flat and later burn it down, and Reggie discovers that Billy, on the premise of doing odd jobs for Ms. MacDonald, has been smuggling heroin in hollowed-out Loeb Classics editions. He later threatens Reggie with violence and, at the end of the book, muses that he’s going to kill his sister. It’s unclear whether this is an idle threat or not. It also happens that Billy sold a Russian handgun, his father’s Gulf War souvenir, to Dr. Hunter—though Reggie is unaware that Joanna had any knowledge of Billy.
Billy Chase Quotes in When Will There Be Good News?
The When Will There Be Good News? quotes below are all either spoken by Billy Chase or refer to Billy Chase. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Reggie Chase, Warrior Virgin Quotes
She picked it up. Same neat hole cut into its center. She ran a finger around the sides of the little paper coffin. Was someone hiding secrets inside Ms. MacDonald’s Loeb Classics? All of them? Or only the ones that she needed for her A level? The cutout hole was the work of someone who was good with his hands. Someone who might have had a future as a joiner but instead became a street dealer hanging around on corners, pale and shifty. He was higher up the pyramid now, but Billy was someone with no sense of loyalty. Someone who would take from the hand that fed him, and hide what he took in secret little boxes.
Reggie didn’t mean to cry, but she was so tired and so small and her face hurt where the book had hit it and the world was so full of big men telling people they were dead. “Sweet little wife, pretty little baby.”
Where did a person go when they had no one to turn to and nowhere left to run?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Billy Chase Character Timeline in When Will There Be Good News?
The timeline below shows where the character Billy Chase appears in When Will There Be Good News?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Life and Adventures of Reggie Chase
Reggie’s brother, Billy, made her an ID so she can get into pubs, but Reggie doesn’t see the...
(full context)
...uncharacteristically ignoring the baby and Sadie. Reggie hopes the visitor has nothing to do with Billy, whom she’s never mentioned to Dr. Hunter. After the woman leaves, Dr. Hunter has “a...
(full context)
Sanctuary
As Reggie is standing at the bus stop, reading Great Expectations, her brother Billy appears. Reggie still remembers when Billy was her “hero and defender.” Reggie doesn’t really know...
(full context)
Reggie feels uncomfortable with Billy being in close proximity to the Hunters. He occasionally turns up at Ms. MacDonald’s, where...
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The Famous Reggie
...Chase: you cant hide from us.” The front door is also unlocked. She wonders if Billy has been here. When she goes inside, it takes a moment for her to realize...
(full context)
...a knife. Terrified, Reggie tries to reason with the men, telling them she hasn’t seen Billy in ages. They look confused and insist that they’re looking for a “guy called Reggie.”...
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...he leaves again, Reggie vomits. She hurries to the bus stop, unable to reach either Billy or Dr. Hunter. The threatening message feels applicable—“your dead.” Reggie has enough dead people in...
(full context)
Reggie Chase, Warrior Virgin
...get out and swagger towards her. They demand to know if she’s “Reggie Chase’s sister, Billy.” Sadie growls at the man’s tone of voice. Reggie delays. Ginger threatens Reggie that her...
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Tribulation
...been so shocked when they entered Ms. MacDonald’s house and were greeted by a knife-wielding Billy. Billy pushes Jackson to the floor and half-strangles Reggie, looking wild-eyed. She can feel his...
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Suddenly, they hear a savage growling. Sadie leaps and digs her teeth into Billy’s forearm. He starts screaming. Sadie won’t let go until Jackson punches her in the side...
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The Rising of the Sun, the Running of the Deer
Reggie spends Christmas at the Hunters’. Dr. Hunter gives Reggie a brand-new PowerBook. (Billy had gifted her one before, but then he’d stolen it back.) Jackson Brodie had given...
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Dr. Hunter asks Reggie what Billy is doing for Christmas. Reggie wonders how Dr. Hunter knows about Billy. It’s just one...
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God Bless Us, Every One
Billy thinks that he’s going to kill his sister. He’d thought his heroin stash was safe;...
(full context)
