Discussion Questions
We'll add the publisher's questions if and when they're made available. In the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Midnight Assassin...then take off on your own:
1. Comparisons to Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City have been made with regards to The Midnight Assassin. If you've read Larson's book, what are some of the similarities?
2. Talk about the role that racism played in the hunt for the Austin killer. And politics?
3. One of the most perplexing questions is how a murderer, who killed so blantantly, could go undetected in a small city the size of Austin. What do you think? Had these killings taken place today, given our current investigative technology, how might both the search and outcome have been different?
4. What do you make of the hypothesis that the Austin killer crossed the Atlantic and became London's Jack the Ripper? What are the similarities as well as differences between the Texas and British attacks?
5. The murders were particularly grisly. Does Skip Hollandsworth sensationalize the brutality, or do you feel he shows restraint when describing the crime scenes?
6. Mystified by the crimes, the Austin police force calls upon more experienced detectives from Houston and Chicago. Talk about the funny moment (which will go unspoiled here) that occurs when the detective from Chicago is summoned to help solve the case.
7. Did this book terrify you?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)