The Wolf Road
Beth Lewis, 2016
Crown Publishing
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101906125
Summary
Elka barely remembers a time before she knew Trapper. She was just seven years old, wandering lost and hungry in the wilderness, when the solitary hunter took her in.
In the years since then, he’s taught her how to survive in this desolate land where civilization has been destroyed and men are at the mercy of the elements and each other.
But the man Elka thought she knew has been harboring a terrible secret. He’s a killer. A monster. And now that Elka knows the truth, she may be his next victim.
Armed with nothing but her knife and the hard lessons Trapper’s drilled into her, Elka flees into the frozen north in search of her real parents. But judging by the trail of blood dogging her footsteps, she hasn’t left Trapper behind—and he won’t be letting his little girl go without a fight.
If she’s going to survive, Elka will have to turn and confront not just him, but the truth about the dark road she’s been set on.
The Wolf Road is an intimate cat-and-mouse tale of revenge and redemption, played out against a vast, unforgiving landscape—told by an indomitable young heroine fighting to escape her past and rejoin humanity. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Beth Lewis is a managing editor at Titan Books in London. She was raised in the wilds of Cornwall and split her childhood between books and the beach. She has traveled extensively throughout the world and has had close encounters with black bears, killer whales, and great white sharks. She has been a bank cashier, a fire performer, and a juggler. (From the publisher .)
Book Reviews
[A]rresting, if grisly struggle...for survival in the land once known as British Columbia, which has been laid waste by two wars that destroyed most of humankind.... [A]n overwhelmingly grim odyssey that highlights the striking wilderness landscape and Elka’s grit.
Publishers Weekly
A girl on the run in a post-apocalyptic wilderness soon realizes that your past can not only haunt you, it can kill you.... A romp through the frozen woods on the trail of a killer who's also hunting you can be satisfying, but this debut is a rabbit snare that comes up empty time and again.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add the publisher's questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Wolf Road...then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Elka: she's far from squeamish...but what else would you say about her? Is she an engaging character? Do you find her credible?
2. The Wolf Road contains a fair amount of violence, some of it quite visceral. In writing the book, Beth Lewis has said that she "felt like glossing over those scenes" but that to do so would being doing "a disservice to her character and readers." What might she mean by that? What affect does the violence have on Elka and her sense of determination? What affect does it have on you, the reader?
3. Discuss the "Damned Stupid" event which left the world so altered. What exactly was it?
4. How are roads used as metaphors in this book. Consider Elka's thoughts about roads:
I don’t much like roads. Roads is some other man’s path that people follow no question. All my life I lived by rules of the forest and rules of myself. One of them rules is don’t go trusting another man’s path.
Journies are also traditional literary metaphors. How does Elka's journey function symbolically in The Wolf Road?
5. What role does the wolf club play in Elka's survival?
6. Did the book's ending take you by surprise? Were you caught off guard, or did you see in coming it?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Hopefuls
Jennifer Close, 2016
Knopf Doubleday
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101875612
Summary
A brilliantly funny novel about ambition and marriage from the best-selling author of Girls in White Dresses, The Hopefuls tells the story of a young wife who follows her husband and his political dreams to Washington, D.C., a city of idealism, gossip, and complicated friendships among the young aspiring elite.
When Beth arrives in D.C., she hates everything about it: the confusing traffic circles, the ubiquitous Ann Taylor suits, the humidity that descends each summer. At dinner parties, guests compare their security clearance levels. They leave their BlackBerrys on the table. They speak in acronyms. And once they realize Beth doesn't work in politics, they smile blandly and turn away.
Soon Beth and her husband, Matt, meet a charismatic White House staffer named Jimmy, and his wife, Ashleigh, and the four become inseparable, coordinating brunches, birthdays, and long weekends away. But as Jimmy’s star rises higher and higher, the couples’ friendship—and Beth’s relationship with Matt—is threatened by jealousy, competition, and rumors.
A glorious send-up of young D.C. and a blazingly honest portrait of a marriage, this is the finest work yet by one of our most beloved writers. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1979
• Where—Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., Boston College; M.F.A., The New School
• Currently—lives in Washington, DC
Jennifer Close is the American author of four novels, including her well known 2011 debut, Girls in White Dresses.
Close was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and attended Boston College. After earning her B.A., she headed to New York to get her M.F.A. at The New School where, according to an interview in the Washington Post, she wrote in a male voice to "avoid being too revelatory."
After an internship at The New Yorker, she spent another year at Vogue, then landed a job with a startup magazine called Portfolio. She rose to become the assistant managing editor before the magazine closed in 2009. It was at Portfolio, while waiting for proofs to be delivered late at night, that she began typing stories about her life and the lives of her friends who found themselves on an endless cycle of weddings, showers, and bachelorette parties—events which left them exhausted and broke. Those stories eventually became the 2011 novel, Girls in White Dresses.
When her boyfriend and now husband, Tim Hartz, joined the Obama White House, Close moved to D.C. to be with him. That life has also proven a rich lode to mine—this time for her fourth book, The Hopefuls.
Novels
2011 - Girls in White Dresses
2013 - The Smart One
2013 - The Things We Need
2016 - The Hopefuls
Book Reviews
Ambition, political power and charisma take center stage in Close’s riveting page turner about two couples who meet in DC—and the toll one pair’s success takes on the other.
Entertainment Weekly
A fascinating drama about relationships, loyalty, the price of aspirations and success, The Hopefuls will surely ensnare you into this world from page one—and hold you there, tightly, until the final word.
Refinery29
The author of Girls in White Dresses delivers her latest novel about a couple navigating the political ladder in D.C. Inspired by Close's own experiences moving to Washington for her husband's work on the Obama campaign, The Hopefuls is blisteringly honest about the circus of American politics and Washington's exhausting culture of competition—one that that renders people outside of political circles virtually invisible.
Meredith Turits - Elle
If you love and miss The West Wing, this is one book you’ll want to pick up. Jennifer Close gets so many things about DC and its culture so very right… She also knows political campaigns inside out – the bad and the ugly as well as the good. She writes honestly and convincingly about those aspects of marriage and friendship, too.
Claire Handscombe - BookRiot
[I]nitially snappy and engaging, it becomes a slog once Beth follows Matt to Texas, where he begins work on Jimmy’s local campaign.... A welcome tension returns to the story...but not enough to recover [from] the book’s tedious middle pages.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Close lays the sacrifices and successes of a marriage bare with razor-sharp prose and keen wit. Fans of Lianne Moriarty’s relatable heroines will adore fish-out-of-water Beth, while political junkies will appreciate an insider’s view of a small campaign.... The Hopefuls is unflinchingly honest and utterly compelling. —Stephanie Turza
Booklist
Close's depictions of troubled marriages are less interesting than her explorations of troubled friendships. Beth's tone veers between snark and whine, and to make matters worse, she couldn't care less about politics. This comedy about political insiders is surprisingly cheerless and weirdly apolitical.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer
Skip Hollandsworth, 2016
Henry Holt & Company
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780805097672
Summary
A sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer—America's first--who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885
In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis.
But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper.
For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch.
Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city.
With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—
• Where—
• Education—
• Awards—
• Currently—
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Book Reviews
Skip Hollandsworth knows his way around a crime scene.... Fans of Erik Larson's 2003 hit, The Devil in the White City...will find similar pleasures here. Mr. Hollandsworth doesn’t have the amount of raw material Mr. Larson did, and he doesn’t have a known villain. But if you don’t mind turning the last page without knowing who done it, this is true crime of high quality.... The Midnight Assassin is chilling.
John Williams - New York Times Book Review
(Starred review.) Gripping and atmospheric...This true crime page-turner is a balanced and insightful examination of one of the most stirring serial killing sprees in American history, and certainly one of the least well-known.
Publishers Weekly
[A]series of brutal attacks...terrorized [Austin, TX] for two-and-a-half years before disappearing without a trace.... Verdict: The lively social history of a town on the brink combines with a riveting true crime story that will make this a favorite in regional history collections —Deirdre Bray Root, MidPointe Lib. Syst., OH
Library Journal
(Starred review.) This is a painstakingly researched book written by a Texas native that examines prejudices, which still keep justice at bay. Verdict: This work introduces students to a grisly piece of American history and models footnote and bibliographic research —Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY
School Library Journal
Hollandsworth's theory about the killings is intriguing, and he subtly introduces it in such a way that it seems almost obvious that the killer has been pinpointed, but ultimately, there is no real resolution.... Not entirely satisfying but an engaging true-crime tale nonetheless.
Kirkus Reviews
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.)
Mata Hari's Last Dance
Michelle Moran, 2016
Simon & Schuster
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476716381
Summary
From the international bestselling author of Nefertiti comes a captivating novel about the infamous Mata Hari, exotic dancer, adored courtesan, and, possibly, relentless spy.
Paris, 1917. The notorious dancer Mata Hari sits in a cold cell awaiting freedom…or death. Alone and despondent, Mata Hari is as confused as the rest of the world about the charges she’s been arrested on: treason leading to the deaths of thousands of French soldiers.
As Mata Hari waits for her fate to be decided, she relays the story of her life to a reporter who is allowed to visit her in prison. Beginning with her carefree childhood, Mata Hari recounts her father’s cruel abandonment of her family as well her calamitous marriage to a military officer.
Taken to the island of Java, Mata Hari refuses to be ruled by her abusive husband and instead learns to dance, paving the way to her stardom as Europe’s most infamous dancer.
From Indian temples and Parisian theatres to German barracks in war-torn Europe, international bestselling author Michelle Moran who "expertly balances fact and fiction" (Associated Press) brings to vibrant life the famed world of Mata Hari: dancer, courtesan, and possibly, spy. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 11, 1980
• Where—San Fernando Valley of California, USA
• Education—B.A., Pomona College; M.A., Claremont Graduate University
• Currently—lives in southern California
Michelle Moran, an American novelist, was born in California's San Fernando Valley. She took an interest in writing from an early age, purchasing Writer's Market and submitting her stories and novellas to publishers from the time she was twelve. She majored in literature at Pomona College. Following a summer in Israel where she worked as a volunteer archaeologist, she earned an MA from the Claremont Graduate University.
Her experiences at archaeological sites were what inspired her to write historical fiction. A public high school teacher for six years, Moran is currently a full-time writer living in California
Novels
Moran's novels have been published in both the UK and the US, and have been translated and sold in more than 20 countries, including France, Bulgaria, Portugal, Brazil, Greece, Poland, Russia, China, and Taiwan.
2016 - Mata Hari's Last Dance
2015 - Rebel Queen
2012 - The Second Empress
2011 - Madame Tussaud
2009 - Cleopatra's Daughter
2008 - The Heretic Queen
2007 - Nefertiti
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 7/18/2016.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Michelle's on History Buff.
Book Reviews
Hari's rise to fame as a dancer and courtesan.... At once worldly and naïve, this version of Hari evokes both sympathy and frustration. She is portrayed with depth, yet she also seems to lack intelligence and relies too much on men and her own charms to get by. —Christina Thurairatnam, Holmes Cty. Dist. P.L., Millersburg, OH
Library Journal
[A]n evocative tapestry depicting the woman who captured the collective imagination of several nations.... [Q]uestions of her guilt or innocence ultimately take a back seat to her mesmerizing tale. Moran breathes new life into another atrophied legend of a remarkable woman.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Mata Hari’s Last Dance opens with a newspaper article detailing Mata Hari’s death by French firing squad—an article that claims she was not only guilty but "one of the most dangerous of the Kaiser’s agents in France and England" (page 2). Discuss how this article compares to the story that the character Mata Hari tells us. Is there any overlap? In general, why do you think the author chose to use so many newspaper articles throughout the novel? Do the articles give us a different perspective? How so?
2. Mata Hari describes her small, run-down apartment as a place where "the carpets stink of urine and mold" and the landlord is "a man who beats his wife" (page 18). Would you describe Mata Hari as a strong female character? Is she a feminist? Do you attribute her ability to lift herself out of poverty as an indication of her strength?
3. Discuss the relationship between Edouard Clunet and Mata Hari. Would you call their relationship odd? Unrequited? Problematic? Do you think the two are truly in love with each other? Why or why not?
4. The snake handler tells Mata Hari not to be afraid of the snake, but to "treat her well...and she will never harm you" (page 48). Is the snake a symbol of the main character? Both Mata Hari and the snake are exotic, dangerous, and arguably misunderstood. In the end, do you believe Mata Hari is as harmless as the snake? Why or why not?
5. What do you think is Mata Hari’s goal? Does she want to simply be famous, or is it something more? Why do you think she seeks out the attention of Bowtie and the media?
6. The famous fashion designer tells Mata, "women like us prefer to forget we had a past. Too painful. We’d rather create" (page 64). Discuss Mata Hari’s creation. What kind of creation does she make when she dances? What kind of life does her art create? What kind of image? In the process of creation, does she also do as the epigraph to the novel suggests: "This is the dance I dance tonight. The dance of destruction as it leads to creation" (page vii)?
7. Revisit the scene in which Mata Hari reveals the truth about her husband, daughter, and her deceased son (page 93). Is this the first glance we get into the "real" Mata Hari? Did you believe she was removing the mask of her dancer persona in this scene? Why or why not?
8. Bowtie tells Mata Hari "you’re good for my career" (page 121). Discuss the ways in which the characters in the novel use one another. Are any of their relationships sincere, or are they all born from opportunity? Consider Bowtie, Mata Hari, Edouard, Mata Hari’s father, and Rudolph MacLeod in your response.
9. What is the symbolism of Mata Hari’s characterization of herself as "an orchid amongst buttercups" (page 129)? Do you think she values herself for her distinct appearance, her distinct way of being in the world, or both?
10. Do you think death acts as a catalyst for change in the novel? How might the deaths of Mata Hari’s mother and son cause Mata Hari to transform herself into someone new?
11. Do you forgive Mata Hari for her decision to leave her daughter Non? Do you think she tried everything in her power to get Non back? Is Mata Hari any different from her own father in the end? Why or why not?
12. How does the tension between the real and the fictional serve as a theme for the novel? You may wish to consider Mata Hari’s family, her job, and her accusation as a spy in your response. Do you agree that Mata Hari’s Last Dance presents the point of view that perhaps the "truth" is a composite of fact and fiction, as exemplified in the fact that Mata Hari is not from India but did live in Java?
13. What is Mata Hari’s "last dance"? Do you agree with her that she "danced [her]....own destruction" (page 246)? In some ways, does Mata Hari’s death also create something new? Consider the role of women during her lifetime in your response. Does Mata Hari leave anything but tragedy as a legacy for her daughter?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Redemption Road
John Hart, 2016
St. Martin's Press
432 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312380366
Summary
Since his debut bestseller, The King of Lies, reviewers across the country have heaped praise on John Hart, comparing his writing to that of Pat Conroy, Cormac McCarthy and Scott Turow. Each novel has taken Hart higher on the New York Times Bestseller list as his masterful writing and assured evocation of place have won readers around the world and earned history's only consecutive Edgar Awards for Best Novel with Down River and The Last Child. Now, Hart delivers his most powerful story yet.
Imagine:
A boy with a gun waits for the man who killed his mother.
A troubled detective confronts her past in the aftermath of a brutal shooting.
After thirteen years in prison, a good cop walks free as deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen…
This is a town on the brink. This is Redemption Road.
Brimming with tension, secrets, and betrayal, Redemption Road proves again that John Hart is a master of the literary thriller. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1965
• Where—Durham, North Carolina, USA
• Education—B.A., Davidson College; MAcc, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill;
J.D., University of New Hampshire
• Awards—Edgar Awards (2), Best Novel; Barry Award; Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award
• Currently—lives in Charlottesville, Virginia
John Hart is an American author of five mystery-thriller novels that have achieved both popular and critical acclaim—and that have garnered him several major awards.
Hart was born and raised in North Carolina; his father was a surgeon and his mother a French teacher. Spending a year in France and learning the language, he decided to major in French at Davidson College (north of Charlotte, North Carolina). After college, Hart tried his hand at writing and completed his first novel, though it remains unpublished. He went on to earn his Master's in Accounting at the University of North Carolina, headed to Juneau, Alaska, for a spell with his two sisters, and eventually returned to school for his law degree at the University of New Hampshire. He wrote a second novel while there, but that, too, went unpublished.
Hart returned to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he practiced law for three years—until he was assigned a case involving the defense of a child murderer. Deciding the law wasn't for him, he left the law practice and returned to his first love, writing. He spent just shy of a year buried in the local library writing what would become his first published work, The King of Lies.
Initially rejected by publishers, he and his wife Katie, also a North Carolinian, moved to Greensboro where Hart worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. That was when he decided to revisit and revise The King of Lies and send it out again. This time it was scooped up by the second publisher who saw it. It was published by St. Martin's Press in 2006 and became an immediate bestseller.
Four more books followed, most recently the 2016 Redemption Road. His books have accrued awards, including two back-to-back Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Best Novel, in 2008 and 2010—he is the only writer to have done so. (He won for Down River and The Last Child). Over two million of his books are in print.
He and Katie now live with their children in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he writes full time.
Novels
2006 - The King of Lies
2007 - Down River (Edgar Allan Poe Award)
2009 - The Last Child (Edgar Allan Poe Award, Ian Flemming Silver Dagger, Barry Award)
2011 - Iron House
2016 - Redemption Road.
(Visit the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A]s good as any of [Hart's] previous novels and in some cases even better. His grasp of plot is still phenomenal, his creation of characters is still amazing, and his way with words is still magnificently acute. ... [H]is story rings true. It possesses tremendous depth as it reveals the isolation a wounded heart can feel. It shows understanding in the emotions of rage and revenge. It shows the curative blessings of a redemptive soul. That is a lot to pack into a story but Hart has the heart and stamina to make it all work.
Huffington Post
One of today’s finest thriller writers - certainly in the same league as David Baldacci, John Grisham, Frederick Forsyth and Lee Child. There are moments when Hart’s writing soars off the page with a lyricism that probably only James Lee Burke can match. Unforgettable.
Daily Mail (UK)
John Hart's exquisite writing had me the moment I opened this book.... Hart introduces a full cast of characters and manages to weave them together seamlessly.
New Jersey Star Ledger
Hart ties the two plot threads in a gripping, believable story that doesn't rest until the last sentence.... Redemption Road contains a more ambitious plot than Hart's previous novels, and he weaves this seemingly far-flung story with aplomb.
Associated Press
The pages keep turning—almost involuntarily—until the end. Hart's writing is, at times, pure poetry. Yet at other times, the violence and cruelty he describes are almost too horrible to read. And that's probably the best way to describe this book—a novel that has everything from torture and tortured people to beauty and what is the best in human nature. Hart manages to encompass it all. Beautifully.
Examiner.com
There’s a magic in his work.... Hart creates characters your heart bleeds for...thoroughly worth a slow, attentive read. Hart’s muscular prose is an editor’s dream, written not just in active voice but using verbs you feel in your viscera.
Raleigh News & Observer
Hart once again has proved that he ranks among the best writers anywhere when it comes to literary and psychological thrillers, those novels that combine crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul.
Greensboro News & Record
With prose that runs the gamut between tough and lyrical, a page-turner plot that raises issues both timely and timeless and the talent to delve deeply into the psyches of the injured, Hart...again shines in a novel that examines our ability to rise above the destructive events in our lives―or to surrender to our weaknesses. More than a crime novel, “Redemption Road” offers a volcano of unspeakable cruelty, corruption and sin―but also a testament to saving love, courage and grace.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Edgar Award winning John Hart cements his status as one of America’s premier novelists, as well as mystery writers, in "Redemption Road," a beautifully rendered, heart wrenching tale that’s the perfect combination of brains and brawn...haunting in its base simplicity and riveting in its emotional angst, this is an extraordinary novel in which the human heart proves the most confounding mystery of all.
Providence Journal
(Starred review.) In this stellar crime thriller, Edgar-winner Hart explores the human capacity for resilience and trust in the face of heartbreaking betrayal.... Though Hart employs plot twists effectively, it’s his powerful, wounded but courageous lead whom readers will remember.
Publishers Weekly
Hart unwinds another complex plot, rich in backstory but driven by a propulsive main narrative.... [H]is grasp of character gives this novel―and all his works―the extra dimension that extends his audience well beyond adrenaline junkies.... Hart hasn’t lost his touch
Booklist
Enough characters, confrontations, secrets, and subplots to fill the stage of an opera house―and leave spectators from the orchestra to the balcony moved and misty-eyed
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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