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Book Club Kits: The 7th Victim

Alamance County Public Libraries offer Book Club Kits for check out to area book clubs. Each kit contains 10 copies of a book and a reading guide.

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Book Summary

In FBI Profiler Karen Vail’s debut novel, Vail battles the Dead Eyes killer–and personal demons–in the profiling unit’s backyard. Vail discovers that the seventh victim holds the key to all that stirs this killer…the key that unlocks secrets too painful for Vail to bear, secrets that threaten to destroy her career. For Vail, the truth lies at the heart of a lie.
 
Meticulously researched over seven years with the FBI profiling unit, The 7th Victim is packed with twists and turns–and a shockeroo ending you won’t see coming.
 
Real-life FBI profiling legend Robert Ressler said that “The 7th Victim redefines the genre…with dead-on accuracy. Alan Jacobson has not only written a gripping, twisting thriller, he’s created a must-read book.”
 

Read an excerpt from the novel.

Discussion Questions

  • Based on what you learned about behavioral analysis (profiling), do you feel it is a valuable law enforcement tool for helping to catch serial offenders?

  • Were you emotionally engaged in the characters --- did you care what happened to Vail? To Jonathan? To Robby and Bledsoe?

  • What was your favorite scene?

  • Describe your feelings about the scene in which Vail confronts her biological mother, Senator Eleanor Linwood, about her past.

  • Is Vail's reaction appropriate and reasonable when she discovers her gun is missing after leaving Deacon's house? What about when Vail goes to Deacon's to pick up Jonathan's book?

  • Did you like Karen Vail as a character, and would you like to read another novel featuring Karen Vail?

  • Why do you think the author chose to make Karen Vail a victim of abuse?

  • What did that tell us about her character in terms of how she deals with other events that happen in the story?

  • Did the killer's diary entries, written in the first person, put you closer to him?

  • The film rights to The 7th Victim have been optioned by a major Hollywood producer. What actors/actresses would you cast for the main characters in the movie --- Vail; Robby; Bledsoe?

Book Trailer