Book Club Discussion Questions for a Special Political Thriller

U.S. Capitol Building at night. Courtesy Architect of the Capitol.

When I set out to write Intentional Consequences, I wanted to create a sophisticated but fast-paced political thriller that would appeal to women as well as men and educate as well as entertain. I also wanted the book to make people think about socio-political stereotypes and clichés (or tropes, as they are more popularly called in the political media today).

I went after this by portraying extreme, or at least controversial, political points of view and social attitudes designed to make some readers uncomfortable and possibly angry. I knew I was on the right track when one early reader who had made it through Chapter 10 said she didn’t much like any of the characters (yet). This is risky work, because it breaks the normal rule of making your protagonist loved by all in the first few chapters. Bend the rule too far and the book will go on the shelf, partially read.

With these goals in mind, I wanted to include some interesting discussion questions for book club and other readers. To put these questions in context without spoiling the story requires a brief overview of the plot.

The book is about a geopolitical cyber conspiracy designed to dominate the 2020 U.S. presidential election and restructure American democracy. As the book cover says: “Taking advantage of the current bitterness in U.S. politics, wealthy activist investor David Bernbach conspires with Chinese associates, a leading social media company and other Democratic elites to dominate the 2020 presidential election and usher in decades of single-party rule in the United States. As his strategy to restructure American democracy unfolds, he’s forced to contend with Eva Johnson, a beautiful artist and technologist who’s facing her own challenges with China and her husband, who runs a leading political data analytics firm. With help from Rakesh Jain, her husband’s billionaire partner, who’s on his own mission to reunite America, and Jain’s wife, a nationally respected professor of American democracy, Eva teams up with a young newspaper reporter to unleash havoc on Bernbach’s conspiracy campaign with results no one expects. Set in the early days of the 2020 presidential election cycle, in a world of real candidates and strategies, artificial intelligence, fake news, facial recognition, altered images, hacking, social media manipulation and a loss of trust in our traditional socio-political institutions, the book rockets you forward through twists and turns, betrayals and double crosses, deadly assaults and virtual assassinations. It’s an electrifying conspiracy story about what people and countries will do to manipulate political opinion in our post-internet world.”

All that sounds like a traditional thriller ride, and it is. But as the book club questions and the Author’s Notes suggest, a lot more is going on under the surface. If I’m successful, different readers will react differently to the characters and their socio-political attitudes and conduct.

Although you’ll need to read the book to appreciate the conflicting views, nuances and reader provocations involved in various characters and scenes, the following discussion questions will give you an idea of some of the issues I wanted to explore. (Note: I have edited and deleted a few questions to avoid spoiling the book for new readers.)

1. How does the book explore the causes and effects of personal, political and business betrayal?

2. Which characters were the victims of betrayal? Which were the perpetrators?

3. How did the victims of betrayal respond? Were some responses more successful or satisfying than others?

4. How were the principal characters affected by their relative ability to exercise self-discipline and control?

5. How does the theme of personal discipline relate to the internet’s trend toward shorter attention spans and quick, easy answers?

6. What were David Bernbach’s strengths and weaknesses?

7. What were Susan Ward’s strengths and weaknesses? (Ward is COO of the social media company involved in the conspiracy.)

8. What are some of the personal and business privacy issues the book explores?

9. How does the book relate loss of personal and business privacy to loss of trust and betrayal?

10. Several of the characters talk about using silos and “need to know” to protect information. How effective was that approach for them?

11. The book highlights several emerging technologies that are affecting our society. What are the benefits and dangers of these technologies? How should the dangers be controlled?

12. What are some of the “intentional” consequences different characters caused or enabled by their actions or inactions?

13. Is reckless disregard for a possible result as morally culpable as knowing intent? Where does malice fit in?

14. The author says the book was intended to be pointed and provocative, but not partisan. Do you think the book had a partisan slant and, if so, what was it?

15. The book includes three posts or Op/Eds by Professor Williams. Why do you think the author included these? (Professor Williams is the wife of the billionaire Rakesh Jain, who is also a business partner of Eva’s husband.)

16. Was Professor Williams as objective as she portrayed herself to be? Why or why not? How would your answer apply to other professors and commentators?

17. Are you seeing a loss in the trust Americans have in their traditional socio-political institutions (religious, school, government and civic organizations and news media) and elites? If so, why do you think this is occurring?

18. If you are seeing a decline in trust in these organizations and elites, what do you see filling the gap?

19. Do you think foreign or domestic players are more likely to manipulate social media and the internet to influence the outcome of American elections? Why?

20. Several of the characters talk about the bitter polarization in American politics today. Do you see this occurring? If so, how bad is it and what are some of the causes?

21. Do you believe the United States is susceptible to radical political change in the coming election cycle? If so, why, and what do you think the changes might be?

22. The book uses character traits and tropes to explore social as well as political stereotypes. How did the author’s portrayal of the wealth, fashion, sexual identity and sexiness of the various characters affect your reaction to the characters and the story? Why?

23. Did you find tension between any of these portrayals and current progressive social movements, such as #MeToo? If so, how did you react and why?

My guess is you won’t find discussion questions like these in a typical political thriller. That’s part of what makes Intentional Consequences so unique. The story is fiction, but the socio-political issues are real—and worth thinking about and exploring together.