1- What is the single greatest difference between today’s relationships vs. the way men and women interacted in Thrill Girl’s 1951 Los Angeles?
2-Did the references to Robinson as a Negro or to the WWII slang used by Elaine Baldwin make you uncomfortable? Do you think the author made the correct choice by keeping the dialogue and slang authentic to the times?
3-Are der katzenjunge real? Could they be? How powerful are superstitions in America today and how do they affect how communities react to news stories?
4-Were people better informed when the read newspapers for their news, or does today’s multi-sourced media offer a better world view?
5-Was Alana’s secret about Tomas’s birth hers to keep, or should she have told him what she knew?
6-What did you think about Jack Curran’s relationship with Eddie Wentz? Was it positive? Does mentoring like this still exist?
7-Quentin DeVille, Lynton Maxwell, and Susan Baldwin all have signifcant secrets in their backgrounds. How common is this, and how important is it to the reader to have strong psycological motivations for secondary characters?
8-Jack Curran’s view of authority changes significantly during the time of the book. In what way do you think he changed for the better or worse?
9-Did you enjoy the setting of Los Angeles in 1951? How important is setting in a mystery for you as a reader?
10-The mystery of Thrill Girl is solved for Jack Curran. Is it for you?
Jack Curran, Author 