BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- The author, Brian Freeman, says he likes to write “mysteries with an emotional core.” Talk about how this plays out in the plot and characters of PHOTOGRAPH.
- How does Shannon’s “voice” as the narrator of the story reveal more about her character? What was your reaction to Shannon? Do you want to see more of her in future books?
- Ultimately, the loss, violence, and tragedy of the story help Shannon find her way to her sister and repair her relationship with her father. As her mother used to tell her: “The good and the bad of our lives lead us where we’re supposed to go.” Do you believe that?
- There’s a rational explanation for everything that happens in the book – but Shannon can’t help but wonder if Maro was right about past lives. How did you react to the “mystical” elements of the book? Do you believe in past lives?
- Discuss the complex up-and-down relationship Shannon has with her father. What did you think about Martin Wells? Talk about the good and bad choices he made as a husband and father.
- How did you react to the story’s big twist – where Shannon discovers the truth behind the little girl in the photograph?
- Faith Selby (Lara Lovell) only appears in the novel in a single flashback, but she casts a shadow over the entire story. Did Lara make the right choice in trying to help Dawn West? Was she wrong to keep her secret from her daughter Kate?
- Brian says that mysteries often turn on tiny events unrelated to the crime. Lara forgets a roll of film in her rain coat. An Impala runs out of oil. A teenager leaves a CD behind in a stereo. Discuss the many ways in which “fate” changes the course of a mystery.
- Have you read any of Brian’s other novels? How would you compare PHOTOGRAPH to his other stand-alone novels like THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW, or to his Jonathan Stride and Jason Bourne series?