Spoiler Alert –

These questions  may prevent you from enjoying Privileged Killers. Though the book relates a true story, it’s written in a novelized way where mysteries and action build to a peak. So to reveal secrets and outcomes prematurely may ruin the experience for some readers.

READING GROUP GUIDE

Discussion questions for Schools & Book Clubs

THE HOOK

1.  What motivated you, if anything, to select Privilege Killers, to read? A recommendation? An interest in true crime, memoir, things noir?  The concept of privilege or other concepts flowing out of the themes or subthemes noted below?

2.  Did something grab you early on to keep you reading – a character, something ominous, a wish to know more about Dark Triad individuals?

3.  What emotional reactions did you have to various events at the start of the book?

THE BOOK

THEMES

Dark Triads
1. Have there ever been Dark Triad individuals in your life? How might you treat them differently now, given what you’ve learned in this book?

2  Which characters in the book would you describe as psychopaths? Which as narcisissts? And which as Machiavellians, named after the Renaissance author-politician-historian who advised princes to hold on to power by using deception, treachery, and violence?

Privilege
3.  Do you know people you consider to be privileged? If so, are they mostly privileged because of their wealth, status, smarts, talent, appearance, gender, race, or something else?  If a combo, what is it?

4.  Have you pondered various aspects of “white privilege?” If so, how important is the ability to afford good legal representation to “work” the crim justice sytem more easily than
poor defendants?

SUB THEMES

Ideal vs Real
5.  Do you think most people confront a difference between the real world and their early expectations around work, relationships, and other aspects of life? If so, discuss whether this
process ever stops.

6.  With respect to expectations, would you say the author is a modern day Don Quixote “mugged by reality” regarding crime and the workings of the crim justice system?
Do you know a liberal/progressive who changed after being  victimized by crimes.

7.  Do you think killers like Ira Einhorn, Charlie Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray helped “kill” the sixties? If so, did they kill off the decade’s dreams of peace and love?

Deceiving Others, Oneself
8.  Are psychopaths– who habitually deceive others– likely to deceive themselves also? Is Einhorn an example of someone who did this?

9. How important is deception in the betrayals the author experienced from some of his loved ones?

10. Have you found appearances to be deceiving oftentimes in your life? Give examples?

Perfectionism
11. The author struggles with perfectionism which he sometimes  confuses with the effort to appear a certain way to others. Has perfectionism ever bedeviled you?

12. Are psychologists and writers of current childrens’ books correct in warning people about the danger of trying to never make a mistake? They claim growth is stymied.

Plea bargaining
13. What’re your feelings about deals hatched in the crim justice system? In plea bargaining, a prosecutor [with a judge’s Os] treats defendants more leniently that plead guilty
because they save everyone the time and expense of a trial.

14. Are you more sympathetic towards plea bargains for nonviolent crimes (e.g.,fraud) versus the violent ones (e.g., murder, rape) –chronicled in the book?

15.  What is the significance of the time period – 1968 to 1986 – during which the story occurs?
U.S. crime rates showed a steady rise in violent crime throughout the sixties and seventies, peaking in 1980. Why do you think this happened?

16.  What did you like or dislike about the book that hasn’t been mentioned so far?
If you’ve read the author’s Cleft Heart, does it seamlessly flow into Privileged Killers?

ESPECIALLY FOR SCHOOL GROUPS

17. Answer all or some of the essay questions the author gave to his students on p.338.

Settings and Time
18.  How important are the cities and towns featured in the story? What differing roles do different places play? Does the author provide enough information for you to understand their
role?

THE COOK

1.  Privileged Killers is a true crime story, but it also contains elements of  memoir-like crime books by A.Rule, T. Jentz, and A. Marzano-Lesnevich. Do you consider it something of a “coming of age” story?

2.  What did you like about getting to know the author as well as his four privileged offenders? Does the fact that the story is true improve the story?

3.   What was interesting to you about the author’s life as a criminologist?
Did his being a professor help you understand the story, especially the murder and crim  justice aspects?

4. Why do you think the author included his deceased father in the story? (The author  has said that no one would celebrate – or be as pained by – this book as much as his father).

5. Conveying crime cases in a way that’s clear and enjoyable for readers can be a challenge. Do you feel the author rose to the challenge here?

6. Given that studies show Dark Triad individuals are growing in numbers and upend lives, does this mean that Privileged Killers matters and should be widely read?

 

 

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