Question A

[Jonetta]

Morgan is visited by Lena Oleander who wants her to handle her son’s appeal of his murder conviction. When she turns her down, Lena goes out to her van and commits suicide. Why did you think so at the time? Did your opinion of her motives change by the end of the book?

[Lauren]

There was something really strange about this entire scenario. It was obvious that Lena was abused, but I still don't get why she killed herself. Her son's conviction just doesn't seem like enough of a trigger.

[Jonetta]

I didn’t understand at all why at the beginning of the book. By the end, I understood that without her son and the prospect of continuing to live with her abusive and mean husband, Lena’s life looked awfully bleak. It made more sense then.

[Lauren]

Jonetta wrote: "By the end, I understood that without her son and the prospect of continuing to live with her abusive and mean husband, Lena’s life looked awfully bleak"

Yes, this makes sense.
That said, I find it strange that a mother so invested in her son's innocence (however misguided) would kill herself. It would have made more sense if she had been killed by the militia because she was speaking to the authorities.

[Jonetta]

Esposito said her defense sounded rehearsed so it could have been that she just couldn’t take living with this guy anymore. The LMS was going to kill him anyway for mortgaging the property and losing it. Not sure she knew that but her life was awful and they were going to have to leave the property to go who knows where.

[Lauren]

Maybe she finally accepted her son and husband were monsters and just couldn't live with it. This sub plot needed a suicide note with an explanation, lol!

[Jonetta]

I agree!! It wasn’t clear and I had to piece this together myself.

[Robin]

I was shocked when she killed herself. I thought it came out of left field and was never clearly explained. Of course, it isn't clear why people sometimes kill themselves.