I hope you enjoyed the twisting ride that I took you on in The Hunted. (If you haven’t yet read it, bookmark this page and come back to it after you’ve finished it.) Below are questions designed to stimulate healthy discussion with your book group:
1. Lauren Chambers suffers from agoraphobia. What does this condition prevent someone from doing?
2. How did you feel about the “cabin scene,” where Scarponi and Lauren “square off”?
3. Hector DeSantos returns in two other Alan Jacobson novels. Which ones?
4. FBI Director Douglas Knox likewise returns in other novels of Alan’s. Which ones?
5. What’s your impression of the FBI Academy after having “visited” it through Alan’s eyes in The Hunted?
6. The issue of mind control is broached in The Hunted. It has been used by certain countries over the years, including the United States, by spy agencies. Do you think this is a legitimate military weapon, to be used by one country against another, or does it cross moral boundaries?
7. If you were in Lauren’s position at the beginning of the novel, what would you have done? Would you have gone looking for your husband (or wife)? How far would you have gone?
8. Do you know anyone who discovered that their spouse had a secret past?
9. Often, intelligence agents with the CIA or NSA (and the like) must lie to their spouses to keep their work secret. There’s been a shift away from keeping secrets from one’s family, but that runs the risk of exposing them to danger. If your spouse had a covert career, would you want to know what he/she did, or would it be better if you were left in the dark?