- What does the image of the White Rabbit on the cover convey to you about the book?
- How would you describe Detective Hannah McCabe? What are her strengths? Weaknesses?
- What role(s) does McCabe’s father, Angus, play in the book? What do you think of the father-daughter relationship?
- The incident that happened when McCabe was nine years old has had a long-term impact on both McCabe and her brother Adam. How do you feel about their relationship and the way each has coped?
- The novel is set in a fictional Albany, New York in 2019. But the fictional Albany shares characteristics such as history and architecture with the Albany of our reality. How important is the setting to the plot? Could this story occur in some other place?
- The novel begins seven years after a confirmed sighting of a UFO. How would you describe the impact of this event on the world of 2019? What can you point to in the novel to illustrate this?
- Early in the book, a character named Mrs. Givens visits McCabe at the station house. What do you think about the choice Mrs. Givens made in dealing with the trauma of being a victim? Do you agree or disagree with Lt. Dole that victims have an obligation to see the criminal justice process through?
- Clarence Redfield, the crime beat threader, argues that he has an obligation to report on the police and to offer a critique of their performance. Do you think that it is important that such “watch dogs” exist? Aside from Redfield’s own motives, do you think such surveillance of the police can go too far?
- Do you have a favorite scene in the book? What did this scene symbolize for you?
- What are the plot twists and red herrings in the book?
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