Reading Group Guide
THE RED HUNTER
Lisa Unger
Introduction
After the traumatic death of her parents, Zoey has outwardly pulled her life back together with the help of her beloved Uncle Paul. But her quiet life in Manhattan belies a dark truth: she is the “red hunter,” a trained vigilante, and she has sworn justice against those who left her for dead . . . by any means necessary.
Similarly, Claudia has put an outward mask of placid happiness over the trauma of her sexual assault, and despite separating from her husband, she has rebuilt her life into an enviable career as a blogger. Her latest project is restoring a house upstate with her teenaged daughter, Raven, who isn’t nearly as satisfied by her mother’s platitudes about recovery and optimism.
But the house Claudia hopes to revitalize holds a dark and violent mystery that will bring the three women together for a reckoning decades in the making. Bestselling author Lisa Unger’s latest novel is filled with all of the twists, turns, and heart-stoppingly realistic thrills her many fans are hungry for.
Discussion Questions
1. What is the effect of the author’s choice to begin the novel with the vivid scene of Didion’s murder? What were your first impressions of Zoey, and how did your understanding of her change from this initial portrait?
2. Ask the same question of Claudia: What is the effect of having the story of her rape appear so early in the book? What kind of person does it establish her as, and how did your impressions of her change by the novel’s final scenes?
3. Why does Raven decide to track down Andrew even before submitting her paternity test? What does she hope to find from him that a genetic test won’t reveal?
4. Review the end of Chapter 17, just after Zoey’s conversation with Boz. What power is there in the notion of revenge, even if it’s carried out against someone who wasn’t the perpetrator of a crime? How does this question fuel Zoey’s red hunter persona?
5. Troy wonders of Raven: “Why do you think where you came from has anything to do with where you belong?” What do you think: How closely is your past connected to your sense of home, or “rightness”? Discuss with your book club.
6. Examine the role of fathers and fatherhood in the novel as compared to maternal figures by comparing Zoey and Raven’s relationships to their parents, including characters like Paul, Mike, Ellie, and Melvin Cutter.
7. In many ways, Claudia is marked by her strength: She cheerfully refuses to let her assault define her life and refuses to slide into a “dark, slick-walled abyss.” Yet, in some ways, her refusal to despair also hinders her. How?
8. Both Josh and Zoey are implicated as murderers early in the book, and are complex characters who are neither fully good or fully bad. What effect did their moral ambiguity have on your relationship to them as characters? Was it easier for you to like and relate to one more than the other, and why?
9. Thinker. Watcher. Hunter. Which of Zoey’s personas affords her the most power, and why?
10. The novel ends with Zoey having to compromise her search for answers as she realizes that the secrets that undergird her life will likely never be fully unraveled. Discuss the effect of this ending—do you find it realistic? Satisfying? “Happy”?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Revisit Claudia’s theory that “if you reverse engineer any major disaster—oil spill, or train derailment, or airplane crash—there are usually seven things that had to go wrong in order for them to occur.” Test this theory in a less morbid way: What were the seven near-misses, coincidences, or chance happenings that brought each of you to this book club? Chart them on your own, and then take turns sharing with the rest of the group.
2. Though the action of the book takes place over the course of Claudia’s renovation of the old house, we don’t get many details about her vision for the place. Using design blogs (like the one she runs!), decor magazines, and online resources like Pinterest, imagine what the final product might look like. You might divide design elements among your group members, or have each person bring a few images that show their vision of Claudia’s space and style.
3. Just as Zoey names aspects of her personality the Thinker, the Watcher, and the Hunter, name three main facets of your identity. Come up with a sentence or two to introduce each, and share with your book club.
Author Q & A
1. After a career spent writing bestselling thrillers, what new ground did The Red Hunter allow you to cover? Why this story now?
A friend of mine, and a very successful writer, sent me an email the other day asking: Why does it always feel like the first time? I know exactly what he meant. Each story has a special kind of energy, is something different than what came before it. Every time a writer sit down to write, she's a different person — changed by her experiences, observations, new ideas.
I hope it never stops feeling like the first time. I can see now looking back, all of my novels have been intimately connected to questions that I have about people, or myself or the world, or issues with which I was grappling at the time. I’ve been dwelling in my fictional town, The Hollows, for a while. But the voice of Zoey Drake, which is the driving force of the narrative, was very clear and present. Her story was not connected to the other stories that have been kicking around my subconscious. This was the story I needed to tell, and now was the time to tell it.
2. Do you have a favorite character in the novel? Who is it, and why are you so drawn to them?
Of course it’s impossible to ever choose a favorite character! Each one is unique and holds a special place in my heart. I love Zoey’s fire, her fighting spirit. I admire and am also alarmed by her willingness to walk into darkness to do what she thinks is “right.” I am moved by Claudia’s dogged determination to look toward the light, even from a place of deepest despair. Her willingness to take on big, nearly impossible tasks, with self-confidence and verve is inspirational—even when things crumble around her. And I am intrigued by Raven’s struggle with her identity, worried by the risks she’s willing to take to find out where she truly belongs. Through the writing of The Red Hunter each of these very different characters continually surprised me—all of them deeper, more daring, and ultimately braver that I, at first, imagined them to be.