Karen D’s Comments (group member since Aug 25, 2015)

Karen D’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

(Kim's book)

p. 240: " 'You're a life-saver' "

Updated Goals
*New* Read a book with the phrase "a life-saver" in a book
Read a book with the word build, make, create or construct (plurals are acceptable) in the title
Read a book with 3 U's in the title
Read a book that has the birthstone Peridot in the text or title
Read a book with a single body part on the cover

p. 95: "Something bold, like turquoise?"

Anna wrote: "Kaz, Inez, Matthias, Nina, Wylan & Jesper I think."

This is really helpful! I was getting really lost in all the names. Thanks!

P. 288: "she put down her darning and got to her feet"

, one of Kim's books. Published June 6, 2011.

(having way too much fun with this!)

Hardcover has 279 pages

I'm on a roll :)

has "library" listed in the first page of top shelves

- https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

had the word mint!

p. 28: "We sat and drank a pot of mint tea"

Discussion Questions November 22

Chapters 1-4



1. Do you like the book so far? Why did you decide to read it? Is this a genre you normally read?
If I'm able to get the book in time from the library, I try to stay up on the books of the month, gives me more direction in reading. Also doesn't hurt to get extra TT points. :)

But honestly, I'm not sold on it yet. There are a lot of characters and it was getting confusing about how they were connected and what the conflict was. But it's still early so I'm assuming it will all come together.

2. During the parley in chapter two, Kaz tells rival gang member Geels: "A secret's not like coin. It doesn't keep its value in spending." What does Kaz mean by this? Do you agree with him?
Once you tell a secret, it's not a secret, so the value is gone. The value is keeping it a secret but that the other person knows you have the ability to reveal it at any point. Definitely agree.

3. Inez seems to have led a very interesting life so far. What do you think her relationship with Kaz is? Does she have romantic feelings towards him? Is Inez someone you would trust? Is Kaz trustworthy?
I was really confused at first about her, because she made a reference to herself as an old woman, but then later sounds like she's really fairly young. It sounds to me like she has more of a brother-sister relationship with him, but that can always change.



4. If you could have a magical talent like the Grisha, what would you want your talent to be? Which category of Grisha types (listed in post 102) do you think would be most helpful to us in the real world?
I really don't know...the list of grisha types doesn't really help when you don't know what they all do....

5. Have you read any of Leigh Bardugo's other books? If so, would you recommend reading her Grisha trilogy before reading Six of Crows?
Haven't read anything else yet.

Finished 11/21
Goals: none yet, but did participate in BOM discussions

Notables:
- Characters: Lydia, Claire, Paul, Helen
- Takes place in Atlanta
- Involves character death (not a spoiler, that's in the synopsis)

Well, basically did nothing all day but read, but did manage to finish in time to contribute to the discussion!

And now I'm excited to be able to read at a more leisurely pace. :)

The end!

I feel like I should have figured out Hucklebee's involvement earlier, given how hard he was pushing the family to believe Julia had run away. But then I don't understand why Paul was so insistent that Claire get rid of him, when he stopped by the Fuller house (when Paul had driven off with Lydia in the truck.

Also...WHO IS LEXIE FULLER???? How come that never came up again? Gah!

My favorite part of the whole book was Helen. I dont necessarily agree with her decision to keep Julia's death a secret from the other girls, but the way she came through at the end. It was just perfect. no questions asked, just what can she do to help. INcluding finding out that she had been writing letters to Lydia this whole time. She did not in fact abandon a daughter like the beginning of the book led us to believe.

Overall, I don't know. I thought there was too much of the storyline that worked out too perfectly..the faked death, the relationship with Lydia coming together at the right moment, how they found out about the house and decided to go there...it just didn't really ring true. but setting aside doubts of reality, I did enjoy. It was very suspenseful and exciting, and the point of view from the father was really very touching.

Discussion Questions November 18 Chapters 13-16

28.What was your reaction when Claire confirmed the masked man was Paul? Were you surprised?
Honestly, I'm surprised that I was surprised. At this point, with every other horrible thing we've learned about Paul, I should have suspected that was coming.

29. We learn that Claire's dad did not like Paul. What questions do you think Claire's dad wanted to ask him? (end of chapter VI in my version--the mini chapter before chapter 15)
Sam had clearly pieced together that Paul's dad was connected to Julia's disappearance and Paul was "off" enough that he probably suspected Paul was involved somehow. So I'm assuming he wanted to ask Paul about that. And now, because Sam wrote in his journal that he would never commit suicide, it seems like Paul probably killed him and brought the tapes over, which would explain how Sam was able to get ahold of them.

30. Do you think Rick will become involved or take Dee and run?
Ugh, I think Rick is going to come to the rescue somehow, but i hope not, that would be really cheesy.

31. What is your opinion of Claire at this point? Claire has had a rough life, one sister disappearing, the other sister constantly on drugs or in jail, her parents splitting up, mom getting depressed, it makes sense that she would just be happy to meet someone who dotes and her. And denial is a powerful thing.

32. Will Lydia and Claire get out of this "nightmare" (for lack of a better word) alive?
Yes, as disturbing as the story is, I don't think they would re-introduce the sisters and have them come to terms with their past and their relationships to then kill one off.

33. Your thoughts on chapter 16? That kills me. Paul was still one step ahead, even when Claire thought she finally had the upper hand. It still fit perfectly into Paul's plan, because Claire had to leave the house in order for Paul to come back with Lydia.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Chapters 10 - 12 DAY 6

23. Did Claire actually fall in love with Paul or was she just so afraid of being alone? She cheated on him multiple times, is that "being in love?" She took care of him in the hospital, but was that guttural fear just because she can't be alone?
If she'd never truly been "in love" then who's to say what she was really feeling. It might have been true love, it might have been what she thought was love but without another comparison, wouldn't know otherwise.

24. Do you think Lydia really forgives Claire for choosing Paul over her? Do you think Claire forgives herself?
Did Lydia actually say she forgave her? If she did, I have a hard time believing that. Twenty years of estrangement dont' just go away overnight.

25. Do you find yourself yelling at the book? Things like GET OUT OF THE HOUSE or CALL THE FBI AND STOP STRAGGLING! What do you find yourself saying or thinking?
Don't touch anything! I had a really hard time thinking about how much they were incriminating themselves. Even if they tell the cops the truth, it's going to look really bad.

26. Do you think Paul's father started this or do you think this started long before him? Do you think it goes so deep as to include politicians and law enforcement?
This is one of my problems with this book. This seems to take it just too far. THe politicians I believe, because of the family connections...but this would require dirty cops that they paid off both in their home town and in their current town, and no one ever connecting the dots.

27. SO MUCH WAS REVEALED IN THIS SECTION! Questions were answered, loose ends were tied up. Did you expect Paul to be alive? Is he telling the truth about being purely a distributor?
Well, after so many people suggested it on this forum, I was starting to think that, although I never would have come up with that on my own. Again, way too much had to happen exactly right for that to work, including with Claire herself. I imagine it has to be really hard to truly fake dead to your wife.

Part of me thinks it would be an interesting twist if Paul was really the good guy in all this, just caught up in a bad scheme. But there's too much history with Lydia to really believe that. No matter what his role is with the murders, he did still try to rape Claire's sister, so there are still some issues there.

Discussion Questions for Chapters 8-iv

18. Claire's crime is now known. Were you surprised? Does it seem in character?
It seems we dont' really know Claire all that well. She's presented as this "trophy wife" (words from the synopsis) but there's clearly much more to her than that. That's shown also through the lack of surprise her sister had at her affairs, even though they havent' spoken in 20 years, the comment about Claire always being "sexually liberated" doesn't really fit with the image you get of Claire. With that said, I thought the attack was great, and completely justified.

19. Paul now seems to be a terrible character - serial rapist, stalker, hard core pornographer, bigamist, kidnapper? murderer? Do you think someone with that much to hide could really have kept everything from his wife? Is Claire going to start having A-ha moments as she researches his life?
I think that speaks to what Claire has already realized, that she never looked precisely because he was so open with her. She never suspected a thing becuase you only suspect when someone looks like they're trying to hide something.

however, it may end up that all that about bigamy and murder is accurate...but at this point it really feels like Claire and Lydia are drawing conclusions REALLY quickly. Even reading along with what they discovered I think I would have waited a second before deciding that Paul had multiple wives, and where did murder come into play?? There's nothing yet (the branding hadnt yet been revealed) to think Paul was involved in murder and Claire is already making comments about other wives being buried in the back yard? It just felt really rushed to me.

20. I haven't read a lot of Slaughter novels, but those that I have read always seem to have dirty cops. How careful do you think the author has to be navigating Atlanta? Does she get arrested daily by angry cops? :D Sorry, my original question was almost exactly like #15. :D Haha I havent ready anything else by Slaughter, but maybe!

21. Anna Kilpatrick - she was killed and dumped. Why weren't the other women, Julia included, found in the same way?
I'm guessing because this is a separate case. Julia is probably completely unrelated, since that was 20 years prior. Assuming Paul is actually involved in Anna's case, this would probably be a first-time escalation from rape to murder, so there wouldn't be a pattern yet anyway.

22. Ben Carver - involved in Julia's case or just a red herring? And did I miss something or is the quote in the Dr. Seuss book not explained yet.
Confused by the Dr Seuss quote too! I'm sure it will end up being important and hopefully explained soon.

I also noticed that this was the first mention of the locket, which probably plays a pretty significant role based on the cover. Since it's been dropped in water, I'm guessing Julia drowned or her body was dumped in water somewhere? Curious to see how that plays out too.

13) Now that we're almost a third into the story, how are you enjoying it?
Honestly, not as much as the first two sections. the story between Adam and the FBI doesn't seem to line up and having the FBI agent come by seems more like a way to introduce drama rather than a logical part of the storyline

14) Why do you think Adam is pushing so much for the files Paul had? Do you think it has anything to do with the embezzling or the videos Claire found?
I think (I hope) the embezzling angle is too easy. Adam turned Paul in to the FBI, so it doesn't make sense that he'd be desperately trying to get files related to that.

15) What do think of Captain Mayhew? Did you think his asking about all the possible places copies of the videos could be was suspicious?
Yes, it did seem suspicious, but also could just be part of procedure.

16) Why do you think Paul had Lydia under surveillance every year? Do you think he was obsessing after the one that escaped from him or that he felt guilty for what he tried to do?
Neither, he's obviously a control freak, so I think Claire is more correct in that the women he attacks (even the rape wasn't successful), he follows to still feel like he controls them.


17) Do you think the videos that Claire found are real? If so, who do you think is the man in them (since Claire ruled out Paul)?
Paul could still be the one filming, which would make just as involved. I do think they're real, they take up too much of the plot to just be fake and be discarded.

Discussion Questions - 13 Nov

8) the opening scene between Paul and Claire indicated they had a happy marriage but it seems that there were many secrets in Claire's life with Paul, do you think they were as happy together as it seemed at the start?
Is anyone really as happy as they seem? I think the assault charge (or whatever the legal term was) is telling, that Claire has some anger or aggression that shes' keeping to herself, and she exploded at some point. Also, maybe Claire and paul were trying too hard to fix their marriage, which led to the reckless behavior in the alley, trying to rekindle old passions?

9) what do you think Claire had done to have an ankle monitor and now be on parole?
Well, the book tells us she attacked a woman at tennis. I guess the bigger question is not what she did but why she did it.

10) do you think the burglary of her house had anything to do with her husband's murder?
Yes, definitely. Although they're telling us it's unrelated, having the FBI involved suggests something else is going on underpinning everything.

11) what are your thoughts about the video Claire found
I expected the video would reveal a tie between Paul and the man that attacked them in the alley, and I still expect her to find something like that. I think at this point Claire is going to continue to discover sides of Paul she either wasn't aware of or wouldn't admit to herself were there

12) given Lydia's history of lying, stealing and drug abuse, do you think it was understandable that her family didn't believe her about Paul's assault years ago?
yes, to a degree. I think the most redeeming factor (in defense of Lydia's family) was the list of things Lydia lied about regularly. If she had owned up to all the things she'd done wrong, then her family probably should have taken her word on the assault. But at the time I'm sure it looked like just another lie, or another way of acting out. Twenty years later however, and while clean and sober, it's probably time for Claire to rethink the truth of the matter.

The book just came in today from the library, so starting a bit late, but I'll catch up as quickly as I can!

Discussion Questions Day 1 Chapter i-2

Q1) How do feel about the opening commentary?
It was an interesting approach to a story on missing children. That seems to be a common theme that comes out over the course of similar novels--is it better to know that a child has been killed, or something equally horrible has happened? or is it better to be left wondering forever. I really liked this being put out there up front.

Q2) What is your first impression ? Do you like the alternating view points or do you find them irritating ?
I did like it, at least so far the viewpoints are so different, it's really intriguing.

Q3) What did you make of Paul's behaviour ? Why did he go into the alley ?
It seemed strange, and at first I thought he was somehow in cahoots with the robber...but if that was the case, he obviously miscalculated very badly!

Q4) What is your impression of Claire and her general attitude ?
I'm very interested to know what she did to get arrested. Otherwise, she seemed very normal, so the arrest appears to be out of character. She also seemed really happy, out with her husband and excited to be together even after 18 years. It's too bad we couldn't see more of their relationship.

Q5) What do you think of Lydia 's reaction to the news about Paul ?
Intriguing! Since we know from the synopsis Lydia and CLaire haven't spoken in 20 years, I wonder if Paul is somehow related to that.


Q6) The book's synopsis tells us the connection between Claire and Lydia. Do you think you would have made the connection from these initial introductions ?
not at all. I had to go back and re-read the synopsis to make sure I remembered it correctly.

Q7) Do you like any of the characters we have met so far ?
So far I actually like all of them (except for the Mothers, but they're not 'real' characters). They've each obviously been through a lot and are struggling to get by as best they can.

Ooh just came in from the library, going to read it as fast as possible today to get in the BOM discussions!