Reading Guide 1

1. On grieving. Vito still grieves the woman he loves and Sophie still grieves her sister Elle. How much of their grief is really guilt?
2. On sacrifice. Many of the characters in Die For Me have sacrificed for others. What is the nature of their sacrifice? Have you ever sacrificed in a similar way for someone or something you held dear?
• Sophie gives up the career opportunity of a lifetime to return home to care for Anna.
• Yuri Petrovich Chertov sacrificed his freedom.
3. On falling in love. Sophie listens to Vito sing and realizes later "it was an odd moment" to have fallen in love.
• Have you ever been in love?
• Do you remember a moment in which it "happened" or was it gradual?
4. On evil versus insanity. Simon is willing to cross any societal more to achieve his goal.
• What is Simon's goal?
• Does Simon's true goal transcend fame and recognition?
• Is Simon crazy or just evil?
5. On the "Big M"—Murder. Claire Reynolds is Simon's first murder.
• Why do you think Simon waited so long to take his first life?
• Was it merely the fact that the need had not presented itself or was there a line even Simon hesitated to cross? Or could it been perhaps a bit of both?
• What do you think goes through a killer's mind as they commit their first murder?
• Do you think the second murder is as hard as the first?
6. On sociopathy. Die For Me is chock full of sociopaths—Simon, of course, but also Jager Van Zandt, Stacy Savard, Claire Reynolds, and Simon's father, Arthur Vartanian.
• Who is the worst?
• Of the other sociopaths, only Simon committed murder. Are the others guilty as well?
7. On sin by omission. Several characters commit no overt crimes, but are they guilty as well? Of what sins are they guilty?
• Derek Harrington
• Connie Vartanian, Simon's mother
8. On Daniel Vartanian. Daniel is a man with a grave secret.
• If you'd been in Daniel's place, what would you have done about the pictures he'd seen his father possess and presumably destroy?
• Did he do the right thing by turning the pictures in to Vito?
9. On technology. Die For Me is as chock full of technology as it is of sociopaths. Ground penetrating radar, prosthetic limbs, video games, computer-wiping viruses...
• Did you learn anything new?
• Did you find the use of technology effective in moving the plot ahead?