Clarissa

Clarissa is Susie's closest friend. Her secret meeting with her boyfriend, Brian, in the cornfield leads to Brian attacking Jack.

Ruth Connors

Ruth, the girl Susie accidentally touches as she leaves the earth, is a creative and poetic individual with a feminist outlook. She exists on the periphery of junior high and high school social circles. After graduation, she relocates to New York, living a bohemian lifestyle filled with writing poetry, connecting with Susie, and documenting the deaths of women and children in her journal—deaths she perceives through dreams and visions. Due to her psychic connection with the spirits of murdered women and children, Ruth enables Susie to return to earth and fulfill her relationship with Ray. Ruth also forms and maintains a deep friendship with Ray.

Detective Len Fenerman

Len Fenerman is the lead detective investigating Susie's murder. A small but determined man, Fenerman is confident he will uncover Susie's killer. He empathizes with the horror of unexplained deaths, having lost his wife to suicide. Fenerman keeps Susie's photo, along with pictures of victims from unsolved murder cases, in his wallet. Despite knowing he should resist his feelings for Abigail, he ultimately starts an affair with her. His cautious approach towards Harvey, Susie's murderer, results in Harvey's escape. This failure haunts Fenerman, burdening him with the guilt of his decisions.

Franny

Franny, who was a social worker on earth, serves as Susie's intake counselor in heaven. She also acts as a surrogate mother figure to Susie.

George Harvey

George Harvey, a thirty-six-year-old single man, is a serial killer who rapes and murders Susie. Though his neighbors find him peculiar, Harvey manages to avoid drawing attention. He builds dollhouses and has a keen interest in architecture. Taught to steal by his mother before she abandoned him, and raised by a domineering father, Harvey lacks both conscience and social skills. He fits the profile of a sociopath, reliving his murders in his mind, deriving intense pleasure from them, and keeping trophies from his victims. When Lindsey breaks into his house and collects evidence connecting him to Susie's murder, Harvey's orderly life starts to crumble. He leaves town but returns with the intent to kill Lindsey. However, various circumstances prevent him from succeeding.

Hal Heckler

Hal is Samuel's older brother and is skilled in riding and repairing motorcycles. After Harvey disappears, Hal uses his network of biker friends to search for him. Eventually, Hal provides crucial information to Detective Fenerman.

Samuel Heckler

Samuel, Lindsey's childhood sweetheart, eventually marries her. He supports Lindsey through her sister's death, their mother's abandonment, and their father's heart attack. Samuel and his brother Hal become crucial members of the Salmon family, treating Lindsey's younger brother Buckley as their own. Samuel has a passion for carpentry and restoring old houses, which he turns into a career. This love for repairing broken things mirrors his ability to ease Lindsey's pain, temper Jack's overprotectiveness, and diffuse Buckley's anger.

Holly

Holly is Susie's roommate in heaven. While they share much of their heaven, Holly also has a private heaven that Susie cannot access. Holly helps Susie understand the nature of heaven.

Grandma Lynn

Grandma Lynn, Susie's grandmother and Abigail's mother, is eccentric, vibrant, and drinks excessively. Before Susie's murder, her visits to the Salmons disrupted routines but delighted her grandchildren. Not particularly nurturing, Lynn has a strained relationship with her daughter. When Abigail leaves, Lynn provides the stability the family needs. She helps Lindsey grow into womanhood and assists Buckley in managing his anger and hurt.

Brian Nelson

Brian is Clarissa's boyfriend. He assaults Mr. Salmon with a baseball bat, mistakenly believing Susie's father is attacking Clarissa in the cornfield.

Abigail Salmon

Abigail, Susie's mother, holds a master's degree in literature and once aspired to teach. Early in her marriage to Jack, she was passionate, but the responsibilities of motherhood distanced her from her husband and dreams. As her family grew, Abigail became less involved with them. Susie's death deeply unsettles her, and she finds no outlet for her grief. She starts an affair with Detective Fenerman but does not love him. Seeking to rediscover herself and escape her overwhelming grief, she moves to California. There, working in a vineyard, she finds some peace, leaving behind her roles as mother and wife. However, she realizes she cannot truly abandon these roles. When she returns to Pennsylvania, she understands Susie's death as a punishment for her perceived failures as a mother. This realization helps her rebuild her relationships with her husband and children. Though challenging, Abigail reclaims her place within the family, now changed by Susie's absence and her own journey.

Buckley Salmon

Buckley is the youngest of the three Salmon children. At the time of Susie's murder, he is four years old, and he is seven when his mother leaves. These traumatic events compel Buckley to build emotional defenses to cope with the pain of abandonment. He believes he has supernatural encounters with Susie. Both Grandma Lynn and Lindsey step in as maternal figures, and Buckley forms a strong bond with his father. As he grows older, he becomes protective of his father and Lindsey. When Abigail returns, Buckley feels intense anger, resentment, and bitterness.

Jack Salmon

Jack is Susie's father. After her murder, he grapples with his own grief and anger while also trying to comfort Lindsey and shield Buckley from the pain. Like Abigail, Jack must confront feelings of guilt over his daughter's death. He questions his role as a father and protector, realizing he was not there to save Susie. This sense of failure drives his need to actively participate in the police investigation. Jack cannot stand by as the police struggle to find leads. He remains steadfast in his belief that Mr. Harvey is the murderer, and when the police dismiss his theories, he confides in Lindsey. Despite his closeness to Lindsey and Buckley, Jack maintains a strong connection to Susie, feeling her presence, conversing with her, and refusing to let her memory fade. While Abigail withdraws into near indifference, Jack forms bonds that may be too tight. Ultimately, Jack learns that to maintain a healthy family, he must loosen these ties and do what the living must—let go of the dead. Additionally, he must do what parents often have to do: let go of their children. Jack can only make these changes after confronting his own fears and weaknesses.

Lindsey Salmon

Lindsey is the middle child among the three Salmon siblings. Bright, articulate, athletic, blonde, and attractive, Lindsey is just a year younger than Susie and shares a close bond with her. Susie's death leaves a significant void in Lindsey's life. However, she refuses to be defined as the dead girl's sister or the living reminder of Susie. Lindsey navigates the usual challenges of adolescence, but Susie's murder, Abigail's emotional distance, Jack's obsession with finding the killer, and Buckley's reliance on her all make this process more complicated. With the support of Grandma Lynn, Samuel's devotion, and her own determination, Lindsey grows into a strong young woman. She even risks her own safety to gather evidence of Harvey's guilt. Despite these challenges, Lindsey remains true to her dreams. Unlike her mother, she pursues her aspirations, graduates from college, earns an advanced degree, and embarks on a career. Although she never forgets Susie, Lindsey moves beyond the shadow of her sister's death.

Susie Salmon

Susie, the narrator, is a fourteen-year-old girl and the oldest of the three Salmon children. She is raped and murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey, while walking home from junior high school. Susie is spirited and inquisitive, a dreamer with ambitions of becoming a wildlife photographer, eagerly anticipating high school and adulthood. She shares a special bond with her father, assisting him in building ships in bottles. Susie is also close to her sister Lindsey and acts as a protective figure to her younger brother Buckley. She adores her mother and seems to understand her need for privacy.

Susie rarely participates directly in the events; she mostly observes and reflects. Occasionally, she makes her presence felt among the living—through the shards of glass from her father's broken ships in bottles, a faint appearance at a family gathering, or through Ruth Connors' body. She guides Lindsey as she searches Mr. Harvey's house, leading her sister into the upstairs rooms. Much of the story's action is driven by someone's longing for, search for, or love for Susie. Thus, Susie indirectly influences decisions and outcomes.

While Lindsey must learn what it means to grow up and live, Susie must understand what it means to not grow up and be dead. She discovers that, like the living, she too must embark on a journey. Susie learns that the dead, like the living, must let go, a challenging task for a girl who desperately wants to live.

Susie does return to earth, inhabiting Ruth's body. This event is partly driven by Susie's desire to kiss Ray one more time and see where it leads, and partly by Ruth's wish to understand and see the dead. Ruth wants to leave the earth, while Susie longs to return. After this incident, Susie watches with love and contentment as her family evolves into a new form, one that both includes and excludes her.

Ray Singh

Ray is the boy with whom Susie shares her first kiss. Originally from India, he grew up in England before his family relocated to the United States. Ray has a dark complexion and speaks eloquently. He writes a love letter to Susie, but she never gets the chance to read it. This letter is later found by the police in the cornfield, making Ray a suspect in Susie's murder. Similar to Ruth, Ray exists on the fringes of junior high society. He is captivated by Ruth's unique personality, her passion for art and literature, and her bond with Susie. Together, Ray and Ruth ponder the circumstances of Susie's death. Ray remains close to Ruth throughout high school and even after graduation, with him attending Penn State and Ruth moving to New York. Susie yearns for Ray as she watches him from heaven. When she temporarily inhabits Ruth's body on earth, Ray notices the difference and calls her Susie. They make love, and he asks her to describe heaven. This experience profoundly influences Ray as he begins his medical career, leading him to reject purely scientific explanations for death.

Ruana Singh

Ruana is Ray's mother, known for her exotic demeanor, dignified and composed when the police question her son about Susie's murder. Ruana has a deep empathy for the Salmons and plays a crucial role in Jack's quest for vengeance over Susie's death. She listens to his suspicions about Mr. Harvey and validates Jack's need for retribution. Before Abigail leaves, the two women share a moment of understanding, with Ruana recognizing Abigail's sense of isolation. After Abigail's departure, Ruana frequently bakes apple pies for the Salmons, which Ray delivers.