No Rest for the Wicked

Dolores hasn’t spoken to her father—outside of an occasional card from him—in eighteen years. Yet before his disappearance he started writing her a letter, at one point saying, “In days to come, you may learn things that will change me in your eyes forever. . . trust no one.” How does this set up the mystery to come?

Consider the following character traits: strength and vulnerability. Which character(s) do they call to mind? How are they explored in No Rest for the Wicked?

Little Horton is a fictional town that breathes all things Halloween. At one point, Dolores says, “Hating Halloween in L.A. was one thing, but here? The town mocked you with its barrels of apples, its carved pumpkins that sat at the foot of every house, every store. Garlands hugged bars and restaurants, trees dangled with string lights, plastic spiders, and cardboard witches riding broomsticks.” The town is a character of its own in the novel. Why do you think the author chose to set the novel here? How does it impact the story? Would you like to live in a town dedicated to Halloween?

Wyatt says that Senator Hawthorne reminded him of Edgar Allen Poe’s story, The Tell-Tale Heart. “Hawthorne looked like the man in Poe’s story. Cut to the bone, you know? Guilty.” What was Senator Hawthorne’s beating heart under the floorboards? But he’s not the only character haunted by the past. What other characters could remind you of Poe’s short story? Why do you think the author chose to make this connection?

What role does family play in No Rest for the Wicked?

Stray cats are everywhere in No Rest for the Wicked. They consistently pop up around characters throughout the story, they lead Kate to an important clue, and they even feature prominently on the cover. At one point, Dolores’s brother acknowledges, “Little Horton’s got a bit of a feline problem.” What do the cats symbolize?

The novel is called No Rest for the Wicked. Who are the wicked in the story? Is there one character in particular you feel is more a villain than another?

No Rest for the Wicked is a novel about wounds, ghosts, dark memories—in other words, it’s about trauma. At one point when trying to describe her reluctance to dive into her past, Dolores says, “Spiders waited their turn to crawl through the cracks, for their venom to spread from her buried traumas to her entire organism.” How did the various characters deal with their traumas over the course of the novel? How did it impact the person they were as the story came to an end?

No Rest for the Wicked has a lot of twists over the course of the novel. What were some of them? Was the one twist in particular that took you by surprise?

Little Hortoners are fascinated with the macabre, as are so many horror and mystery readers. Why do you think we are drawn to such stories?