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Back An Honest Lie Save as PDF
Chapters (37)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Dedication
  5. At the end of the
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. EPILOGUE
  32. Acknowledgments
  33. Reader’s Guide
  34. Questions For Discussion
  35. Author Q & A
  36. The Wrong Family
  37. Booklist
  1. At its core, this book is about women fighting back against misogyny. While Rainy’s experience is more extreme, how does this relate to recent news headlines—and the effects of the patriarchy on society overall?
  2. How does Taured compare to and contrast with other real-life cult leaders? Think of Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Keith Raniere and others.
  3. Discuss this book’s feminist themes. Particularly, how did it make you feel when Rainy decided to rescue Braithe, despite how Braithe treated her? Why do you think she did it? If you were Rainy, would you have gone after Braithe?
  4. What did you make of Rainy’s decision to adopt her mother’s maiden name as her own?
  5. What role does art play in this story?
  6. Rainy has a lot of insecurities about her relationship with Grant, and these insecurities make her feel very human and relatable. How do you think her past informs that particular vulnerability?
  7. The phrase “the sins of the parents will be visited upon the children” appears frequently in the story. Where do you think this phrase comes from, and do you see this sentiment playing a role in our larger society? How do you think Rainy takes that idea and flips it on its head?
  8. Have you read any other books or watched any films or television shows about cults? How does Rainy deal with her trauma compared to other characters you’ve seen or read about?
  9. Are there any parallels between Taured and Rainy’s grandparents? Why or why not?
  10. What did you make of the ending?

Author Q & A

Author Q & A

1. What inspired you to write this book?

A need to read it. I was thinking about the many male-driven movies of the ’90s like Face/Off and Con Air and I wanted to translate that into a female-driven book.

2. How did Rainy’s character evolve? Did the character come first and lead you to the story, or did you build the story around this character?

As I was finishing up The Wrong Family I began to see a woman in the recesses of my mind. She was urgent and she had long dark hair, and since I was still writing The Wrong Family I tried my best to ignore her. So I’d say in this case the character drove the story all the way.

3. What research did you do for this book?

I started with psychological research for the villain of the story. What type of personality disorder was I dealing with? How does my villain manipulate and why? I watched just about every documentary on serial killers and cult leaders that I could find.

4. Why the Vegas setting?