Things You Won't Say (42 page)

4. Henry learns about the shooting via text messages, YouTube, and other forms of social media. Discuss how you would handle interference by the media if this were your family. What could Mike and Jamie have done differently to help the kids, especially Henry, cope with the situation?

5. Communication, or lack thereof, is a major issue among the family members. On
page 110
, Christie expresses that she’s hurt to not have been “included in the family crisis.” Discuss the communication issues between Jamie and Christie, Christie and Mike, Jamie and Mike, and Lou and Jamie. Is there someone in your life you find it especially difficult to communicate with? Is there anyone in your family who seems to be the “designated communicator”? Why do you think they are in that role?

6. Compare Lou’s breakup with Donny to Christie’s breakup with Mike. Do you think either relationship could have worked out, had the circumstances been different? Do you think Christie truly fell back in love with Mike, or was he more appealing to her because she didn’t think she could have him?

7. Discuss the scene in the mall with the stranger who verbally harasses Jamie on
pages 224
–5. Do you agree with how Jamie and Lou handled it, or do you think they risked making the man more upset and angry and possibly escalating the incident? Do you tend to fight back when challenged, or do you prefer to walk away?

8. Christie and Jamie have a relatively strained relationship. Did you find yourself sympathizing with one woman more than the other? Who do you think was more at fault for the issues in their relationship, or do you believe that both women were doing the best they could?

9. During her press conference, Lucia Torres says,
“None of us mothers expect to be here, before news crews, talking about our kids whose only crime was to be brown or black”
. Do you agree with Jamie’s reaction? If you were to read this scene through Lucia Torres’s eyes instead of Jamie’s, what do you think she would have gone through emotionally during her press conference as the mother of the slain boy?

10. Discuss this interaction between Mike and Jamie on
page 264
: “ ‘When did you stop believing in me?’ he asked. She blinked and looked up at him. His gaze was steely, but it flickered away a second after she met his eyes. It was as if he could hardly bear to look at her.” Why is it hard for Jamie to believe there was a gun? Would you have believed your spouse in this case? Why is Christie so quick to believe Mike?

11. Is Mike and Jamie’s relationship weaker or stronger by the end of the book?

Q&A with Sarah Pekkanen

Q: You cover some timely issues in this new novel. What was the inspiration for this book?

A: Fifteen years ago, I was a new reporter for the
Baltimore Sun
newspaper. One of my first big assignments was to write an article about police officer Harold Carey Jr., who died in the line of duty. As I conducted interviews, the story that unfolded stunned me: Minutes before his death, Harold had been eating breakfast with a group that included Officer Lavon’De Alston, a close friend who’d encouraged him to join the force. Then a summons came in from their dispatcher: An officer was in trouble a short distance away. Few calls inspire such urgency among the brothers and sisters in blue, and the officers sprinted to their vehicles and sped, sirens blaring, to help.

At an intersection a couple of blocks away, the van being driven by Harold’s partner collided with the cruiser being driven by Lavon’De. Harold died at the scene.

Lavon’De, who was badly injured in the crash, was devastated. She couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Harold, the big, lovable man who’d nicknamed her “Shorty” and gobbled the rest of her pancakes when she couldn’t finish them.

Her anguish—as well as her sensitivity and strength—made a deep impression on me. It was wrenchingly unfair: How could this happen to a police officer who was committed to helping people, to doing good, to saving lives? How could she endure the pain and guilt?

Although the circumstances in my novel are different, my newspaper article “Officer Down!” was the inspiration for this book.

Retired Baltimore Police Officer Lavon’De Alston was one of the first recipients of
Things You
Won’t Say.

Q: Did cases such as the shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson play into your decision to write this book? How do you handle this issue with care in a fictionalized setting?

A: I turn in my manuscripts a full year before publication, so
Things You Won’t Say
was already in the copyediting stage when Michael Brown was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. I did ask the production editor to add a brief line referencing the Ferguson shooting before my novel went to press because a white police officer shot Michael Brown, who was a black teenager. In
Things You Won’t Say
, Michael Anderson, a white police officer, shoots Jose Torres, who was an Hispanic teenager, and some of the questions that arose for characters in my book—Would Anderson have fired if Jose Torres had been white?—echoed some of the questions swirling around the Ferguson case.

My characters and their feelings are imaginary. My book is fiction. That said, I don’t believe authors should shy away from tackling controversial topics. There were several possible endings for my book. As a novelist, I tried to choose one that was gripping, thoughtful, and unexpected. Obviously, it should not be viewed as reflecting any personal opinions I have on similar cases in our country.

Q: Why did you decide to have Jamie Anderson, the wife of the accused police officer, be a narrator?

A: I’m always curious about the stories behind the headlines. When we hear about a politician being charged with something untoward, I immediately think of his or her family. The spouse and children are often invisible casualties. It’s the same with a police officer, or minister, or doctor—or anyone else accused of a crime, whether or not they are high profile. The ripple effects are deep and wide-reaching. I wanted to explore the private emotions of a wife who was desperately trying to hold her family together in a very public crisis, so I knew I had to give voice to Jamie.

Q: Do you plot out the ending of a book before you write it?

A: I knew the broad outline of
Things You Won’t Say
, but some of the twists and turns were unexpected, and for me, that’s the best part of writing.

Q: Is the ending of your book intended to be hopeful or tragic?

A: It’s never an uplifting story when a young man is killed—and when so many outrageous circumstances played into his death. As Lucia Torres, Jose’s mother, says: “Do you know my son was stopped and threatened by a cop when he was walking in his own neighborhood? Told to get home and stop causing trouble or the cop would give him real trouble? Tell me that didn’t happen because of the color of his skin. You have no idea what this world is like for our brown boys.”

Mike Anderson, Jamie’s husband, was a good cop. A fair cop. An honest cop. I personally believe most police officers are like Mike. Yet, as in any profession, bad and corrupt officers exist—and although Lucia is a fictional character, I also believe her statement has the unfortunate ring of truth.

SPOILER ALERT:
Although Mike was exonerated when it was revealed Jose had a gun, Mike was the one who recognized that the police—and, in a larger sense, our society—did, in a way, cause Jose’s death. Jose was wary of police officers because of his prior experience. He was terrified, and didn’t intend to hurt anyone. He was trying to defend himself. Because guns are commonplace in the United States and frequently land in the wrong hands, police officers are often afraid for their lives, too. The issues I tried to explore are troubling and complex, and in this case, I wanted to convey that no one—and, at the same time, everyone—was responsible for Jose’s death.

Q: What’s in store for you next?

A: I’m happy to say I’ll be publishing through 2018 with Atria Books. I’m currently at work on my next manuscript, but I always love to hear from readers. You can find me on Facebook or Twitter, or you can contact me via my website, www.sarahpekkanen.com.

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