Discussion Questions
1. Early on in the police investigation there’s a question of whether Kim ran away or was abducted. How does this issue get resolved and do you believe it’s the right conclusion?
2. Kim’s family disapproves of her involvement with J.P. What do you make of his character? Is he a bad influence or a normal teenager?
3. Kim’s friends hide the truth about Kim’s private life from her parents. What impact does this have on the search to find her? Are they right to protect her privacy or are they selfish for trying to protect themselves?
4. What are Lindsay’s feelings about her sister’s disappearance and how does the experience ultimately change her?
5. How do Kim’s parents cope individually and collectively with her absence? Where do they differ and how?
6. What significance does the butterfly pendant have for Kim’s mom?
7. Kingsville is a distinctively Midwestern small town. Could this story have taken place in another setting? How might it be different?
8. Kim is only physically present in one scene in the book but much of the description of her character comes through her friends’ and family’s point of view. Do you feel that you “know” her? Do you feel that her friends and family know her? What don’t they know or understand about her?
9. The Larsens are dissatisfied with the police’s efforts. How would you rate the police performance in the search for Kim? Have they done enough or could they have done more?
10. In the beginning of the book, O’Nan places us in Kim’s point of view as she ponders “the sins of the Midwest.” She says, “flatness, emptiness, a necessary acceptance of the familiar. Where is the romance in being buried alive? In growing old?” How do these sentiments resonate throughout the story? Why did the author choose to include them?
11. At the end of the book the reader still knows very little about what really happened to Kim. Does this matter to you? Do you find the ending satisfying?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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