Ink Ribbon Red

A wickedly plotted new thriller, in which a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, from Alex Pavesi, the author of The Eighth Detective

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention called Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other.

Points are awarded for making the murders feel real. Of course, it’s only natural for each friend to use what they know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once they’ve put it in a story, each secret is out. It’s not long before the game reawakens old resentments and brings private matters into the light of day. With each fictional crime, someone new gets a very real motive.

Can all six friends survive the weekend, or will truth turn out to be deadlier than fiction?

These book club questions are from the publisher, Henry Holt & Co.

Book club questions for Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What do you think is the significance of the title, INK RIBBON RED? What was your interpretation of it before reading the book? How has this interpretation changed?

Chronologically, the story begins with the death of Anatol’s father, Gus. Anatol states that the three main ingredients of grief are “guilt, regret and disbelief.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? Do you think Anatol’s grief is real?

The characters play a game called “Motive Method Death”. Would you ever play this game with people you know? How about with friends or family? If you did, how do you think it would work out?

Anatol argues that people enjoy violence in books or in films because it makes horrible things feel familiar and routine, so that real tragedy becomes less difficult to process. Is there any truth to this? Do you think Anatol really believes it?

Janika arrives late to the party. Do you think she sees herself as an outsider within the group? Do the others see her this way? How does this motivate her throughout the story?

Dean, Phoebe and her sister, Yulie, form a dysfunctional love triangle. Who do you consider most at fault in this situation? Are any of their actions defensible or forgivable?

Marcin is accused of insider trading. He considers it ridiculous that in his profession it is illegal just to know things. Do you agree with this and find this defense convincing?

Maya is being blackmailed along with the others, but do you think she has done anything wrong? Or is she an underserving victim of the game?

By the end of the book, several of the crimes committed have caused other crimes, ultimately leading to tragedy. What are some examples of this happening in the book? To what extent do you think this chain reaction of crimes causing crimes reflects reality?

Do you think the survivors will continue to be friends after the events of the book? How do you think their lives will change after the book ends? What will carry them beyond the ending of the book and where will they go?

Ink Ribbon Red Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Ink Ribbon Red discussion questions

"Ink Ribbon Red is a thriller for clever people. This dark-hearted, light-footed mystery-thriller — an inspired mash-up of And Then There Were None, Clue, and Lucy Foley — plays fair, fierce, and fast: Like the what-could-go-wrong party game that goes very wrong indeed for its cast, it’s dangerous fun. Just the tonic for readers hungover on same-old-same-old crime fiction." —A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"Ink Ribbon Red is the epitome of the artful murder mystery and Alex Pavesi the master puppeteer of literary crime, creating a unique yet relatable cast on pages that won’t stop turning. I was utterly hooked." —Janice Hallett, Internationally bestselling author of The Appeal

"Quirky and unpredictable, Ink Ribbon Red is a Rubik's cube of unreliable narratives" —Martin Edwards, Edgar-award winning author of The Golden Age of Murder

“Today’s greatest exponent of playful detective fiction.” —The Guardian

"Pavesi impresses with this head-spinning meta-mystery... Early on, Anatol acknowledges that his game owes a debt to Agatha Christie’s remote-location classics and the gothic spirit of Shirley Jackson; the novel does justice to the comparisons. With shrewd plotting and a bewitching atmosphere, Pavesi ensures that fans of Anthony Horowitz will delight in staying one step ahead of his befuddled characters." —Publishers Weekly

"Pavesi is a fiendishly good, deliberate, and entertaining writer who augments his whimsical-macabre narrative with wordplay, amusingly barbed exchanges, and menacing figurative language." —Kirkus