postcardkillers

__** Group Rules **__

If someone doesn't complete their task, they aren't allowed to have any of the food that the other group members will be eating that week. They can have some of the food the next week if they actually complete their task. The punishment will last as long as the group member is uncooperative and if they continue to hand in incomplete work, they won't be allowed food access for the remainder of that marking period. Also, Mr. Morone will give the uncooperative group member two points off of their final book club grade for each day that they fail to do their work. It gives them all the more reason to actually do their work.

**__ Week 1 __**

 * // Pages 1 - 87, Chapters 1 - Chapter 25 //**

__** Week 1 Role Assignments **__
 * A: Lili Feinberg
 * B: Roger Kim
 * C: Kyle Cottrell
 * D: Sarah Choi


 * __ Characters __**

Jacob Kanon is the main character. He's a NYPD detective that has his career riding on finding the killer of his daughter, Kimmy. He's upset over the loss of his daughter and he is determined to avenge her death since her and her boyfriend were killed while on vacation in Europe.

Dessie Larsson is a well-educated journalist who lives in Stockholm. This is the first time that she's ever somehow been involved in a murder case. She's weak-hearted since she faints at the sight of blood.

Mac and Sylvia are the killers in the story. They send a postcard to the local newspaper when they are going to kill someone and often do it in different countries in Europe. They like to kill young couples and often make fun of Americans and Englishmen. They may have artistic tendencies because they take the process of taking pictures for the postcards and of the killings really seriously, making sure everything is in perfect position and looks nice.

//** Week 1 Part D: Summary **// - Sarah Choi

The meeting started shortly after the PV pep rally. A quick discussion verified that no one in the group brought food; the reason for this seems to be problems in clear communication. First, we tried analyzing the main characters, who were Jacob Kanon, Dessie Larsson, Mac and Sylvia. Although the background of the characters were thoroughly explained, we moved on to the questions without getting into much detail with their personalities. The plot until page 85 (~) were discussed and each member evaluated the book; the conclusion was that it wasn't a very good thriller, and the ending seemed kind of predictable.

We moved on to the questions next, which started a rather heated discussion about the reasons for the murders. Motives for murder might be of a wide range, but the agreed conclusion for this particular murder was summarized into three main reasons; superiority complex against Americans, vulnerability of young couples as victims, and (twisted and sick) artistic pursuits. The second main question was, "would you do what Jacob Kanon is doing, searching for his daughter's murderers?" Most of us thought that we would go after the killers except for one particular member. However, personally this seems like a wording problem; under the condition, "if I were Jacob Kanon, (NYPD)" I would go after my daughter's killers; however, if it was for "me," I would've probably tried to move on since as a ordinary person who just lost her daughter, I'd have no idea what to do. The last question was more of a lighter subject than the others, "if you heard about the killings, would you still go to Europe?" The mutual agreement was "yes, we would" but with "more safety measures and caution." The book club ended with a brief discussion about the 5 quotes and its importance.

//** Week 1 Part C: Questions **// - Kyle Cottrell

1. What do you think will happen by the end of the book?
 * We decided by that the end of the book, one, if not both of the killers will be caught. We believe the man will escape while the woman gets caught since it seems that the female is the one who does and wants to do the killing and the man just helps.**

2. Would you do what Jacob is doing, looking for his daughters killer?
 * Everyone except Roger would probably want the killer of their daughter found. They would do everything in their power to get the word out and enlist the help of others. Roger believes that it would be time to move on since she's gone, but we all agree that that's a rather jerky move. Bad move, Roger.**

3. Do you think there is reason the killings are happening in Europe?
 * The killings are happening in Europe because the killers are European. The killers, Mac and Sylvia, are always making fun of Americans and Englishmen, which leads us to believe that they believe they're better than them, though we don't know much about their backgrounds yet.**

4. Why do you think the killer went after young couples?
 * The killers went after young couples because they're a young couple themselves and they may have something against others that seem to live happy lives. We don't know much about their background, but from them wanting to kill people, it obviously must not have been pretty. Young couples in love are also really easy targets and because they're around the same age as themselves, it's easier to bond with them, taking them somewhere private to kill.**

5. If you heard about the killings, would you still go to Europe?
 * We would all probably go, but we would have our hesitations. We wouldn't trust the locals easily and we most definitely would not take any of them back to he hotel.**

//** Week 1 Part B: Quotations **// - Roger Kim

//1. “So what happened to her mother? Dessie thought,”// //2. “No, Jacob thought. Not yet. I’m not done here yet.”// //3. “’We could go home,’ Mac said. ‘we could stop this game of ours now. Quit while we’re ahead. Retire as legends.’” –p59// //4. “’The train leaves in four minutes,’ she said. ‘You. Me. We’re on it.’”// //5. “’They buy the local papers the day they decide to set to work. The paper, and the reporter, with the biggest crime news that day is the one they pick as their contact.’”//

**__ Week 2 __**

 * // Pages 88 - 170, Chapters 26 - Chapter 54 //**

__** Week 2 Role Assignments **__
 * A: Sarah Choi
 * B: Lili Feinberg
 * C: Roger Kim
 * D: Kyle Cottrell

__** Language **__

The book is more conversational than classic; the book was written at a level where readers can enjoy it without stressing over the vocabulary. The only inconvenience is all the foreign references of names and places, which are not familiar with. The makes it hard for us to relate to what happens in where. The content of the book is more for adults, however, the writing itself is more like on the Young Adult level; it doesn't require any outside knowledge.

//** Week 2 Part D: Summarizer **// - Kyle

This weeks book discussion started off like last weeks, verifying who was to bring in the food for this week. This was quickly resolved and the discussion continued on to this weeks main point, the language of the book. For every question that was brought, everyone could agree on the same answer. We thought that the book was written for an older audience but at a younger grade level. Points such as the origin of the authors were brought up, since Patterson is from the United States and Marklund is from Europe.

We then proceeded to the questions and quotes of the week. Half of the questions had to do with the murderers in the book and the other half had to do with what everyone thoughts of the book thus far. The first half of questions didn't take long to answer. As for the second half, the group got into a large discussion, and adding more questions that branched off the original. With the little time we had left in the discussion, the group quickly went through the quotes and what was the importance of the them. We only got through four of them before the period ended.

//** Week 2 Part C: Questions **// - Roger Kim

1. What do you think is specifically wrong with the minds of these killers?
 * We can't really answer this question properly because we have yet to get to know the killers properly. It's quite obvious that there is something wrong with their minds since they're murdering people, but we don't know exactly what could be their problems. Hopefully we'll find out later on in the book, preferably sometime next week because we'd all love to get more glimpses into the sick minds of the people who the book is centered around.**

2. What kind of strange partnership do you think the two killers have?
 * It's clear that they have a romantic partnership, which is probably why they chose to work together in the killings, though it seems that Sylvia is the mastermind behind the killings since she does most of the seduction and actual killing. Mac seems to be the one that is there for the ride, letting Sylvia take charge and help her when she needs it since she can't do anything herself.**

3. Jacob has been saying all along that the police need him and without him, they will fail to catch the killers. What kind of information do you think he has to be so confident in the fact that his aid is necessary?
 * Two of the killers victims was Jacob's daughter and her fiance, so he has special background information on one of the couples that was killed. He can compare to the background information of other couples and see if there are any common factors that could help find another pattern in the killings besides the obvious ones of the killers acting like tourists, them doing it at random, and always receiving a postcard before the killing happens and then a picture of the dead bodies arranged in different positions. It makes it more personal for him and gives him a bit more drive than the police, so he's more assertive with his attempts to just find the killers and get this investigation over with.**

4. Dessie is not the strongest person. She could not handle the sight of blood and had a hard time keeping her thoughts together when pressured to send a letter to the killers. How do you think this will affect the later plot? Will she break? Will she triumph and face the challenges until the end?
 * With Dessie's problems, we think that she will eventually break since she's overwhelmed, but Jacob will be there to piece her back together since it seems that he has a soft spot for her and may or may not be entertaining romantic thoughts since parts of the story make us question if he likes her or not. Eventually, once she's built up again, they'd probably have some form of a revelation or an epiphany that leads to finding the killers and being overall triumphant. No path is easy and to make a good story there has to be some personal obstacles and problems in the way.**

5. These killers show a pattern in their murders. Why do you think they say the same lines, do the same things, and kill the same way?
 * They do everything the same way because it's sort of their signature. Well, that and the postcards. They've fallen into a comfortable routine and don't want to step out of their comfort zone. Since they keep doing the same actions they know how to not mess up and changing it up even the littlest bit may seem foreign to them since they've done the same thing for so long. If they change there's a possibility that they may miss one fingerprint that gives them away or leave one hair out of place.**

6. Do you think you can tell which pieces of the book are written by James Patterson and Liza Marklund? Why?
 * For us, we feel as if the parts written by James Patterson flow better than those written by Liza Marklund. She's a European author and has to adapt to the American way of writing, especially when partnering with such a great American writer, and her parts seem to be a bit choppy and out of place at times. In Sarah and Lili's opinions, James Patterson's parts have a wider vocabulary, but Liza Marklund's seem a bit more poetic though they lack a wide vocabulary. We also think that may be part of the reason why the chapters are literally only one to three pages long because they have to be understood by every form of reader in every country that the book would be sold in.**


 * // Week 2 Part B: Quotations //** - Lili Feinberg

//1. "The magnificent dining room with its cut-glass chandeliers, painted ceiling, and tall candles made her feel messy and clumsy, like the country bumpkin she often felt that she was since coming to Stockholm." // //2. "She had time to unlock and open the door to her apartment before she noticed the man standing watching her from the shadows." // //3. "'Kimmy dies,' he said. 'Kimmy dies over and over again, and we have to stop them.'" // //4. "He had been so proud that he'd burst into tears when the acceptance letter came - and back in those days, he hardly ever cried. Not like the present." // //5. "One slight movement of his finger and his desperate loss and longing would be over. But not yet. Not until he found her murderers." //

**__ Week 3 __**

 * // Pages 171 - 258, Chapters 55 - Chapter 86 //**

__** Week 3 Role Assignments **__
 * A: Kyle Cottrell
 * B: Sarah Choi
 * C: Lili Feinberg
 * D: Roger Kim

__** Mood/Tone **__ The book has a highly suspenseful plot and it makes reader both anxious and nervous about what will happen next. For example, things that lead up to the murders and a new postcard being sent out. When the postcard is being sent out, it does not say when they murderers will strike. Readers must keep reading to find out what will happen next, which could make them anxious about when it will happen.

//** Week 3 Part D: Summary **// - Roger Kim Well, this time we actually had some food. Kyle, in all his generosity and kindness, brought iced tea and popcorn to the meeting and I, Roger, in all of my splendor, grace, greatness, glory, wisdom, prudence, beauty, majesty, radiance, humility, and thoughtfulness, brought in one of those small bags of Doritos that I got from Joanne that fine morning. The food was excellent. It was the best we had yet considering the fact that we never had any before with the exception of maybe mooching off the food others brought. Indeed, the food was excellent. If I had to list the aspects of the period which I most fondly remember is the food. Yes, the surprise to the fact that someone brought actual food, the dining of the great meal, and the memories of the event afterwards all add up to a wonderful experience. Anyway, for the actual meeting itself, that was fine too. I have almost no doubt that everyone has read the book to at least around the required portion. I also am sure that we all fully understand the book and its plot and are all intelligent enough to have opinions on this book. Actually, not really, because we all seem to generally have the same outlook on this book. I mean, the book just doesn't really give us much to have different opinions about. A shame. Well, after the questions, the quotes were explained and after that we left. The food was good.

__** Week 3 Part C: Questions **__ - Lili Feinberg

1. Now that we are essentially half way through the book, have your opinions on it changed at all?
 * After weeks of reading, and much contemplations, the group collectively said that the book got better within a week. Lili said that after finding out more background information about the character, we would really understand the book now. Sarah said that more general information about character would the book more interesting.**

2. Do you think the romance between the two main characters is cliche or good for the book?
 * We all said that adding a romance between the two characters is cliche because there is enough drama in this book. No one wants more drama in this book.**

3. Who do you think leaked everything to the press and why? Were there motives to get Dessie fired since she wasn't necessarily well liked?
 * We believe the Swedish Head of Police leaked everything to the press. It was made clear that he does not like Jacob, having tried to get Jacob fired.**

4. What do you think of the development that Sylvia and Mac are twins? Does it throw off the flow of the story?
 * It was a great twist, but it made everyone uncomfortable. They are both very touchy-feely and act as if they are in love. This is something that siblings should not do.**

5. What evidence do you think the investigators overlooked that proves Mac and Sylvia are the killers instead of it being a hunch?
 * There was a lot of the stuff that police could have done to stop this from happening. For example, the police would have stopped them if they looked at the security cameras.**

// 1. "He had a very expressive face. When he got angry, his face turned black with rage, when he was happy, he glowed like a woodstove, and when he wasn't sure of something, like now, his face looked like a big question mark." // // 2. "'Shit, I didn't know you were a communist.'...'And I didn't know you were a facist.'" // // 3. "'So this is a date, is it?' he asked, his eyes twinkling. 'That's interesting.'" // // 4. "Jacob studied their dead bodies with detached concentration. There was no room for anything else, not here, not right now. Sorrow and grief for their wasted lives could come later, at night in his terrible prison cell in the hostel, when it was darkest and the alcohol in the bottle was running out." // // 5. "Of course it does, Jacob said, wiping his chin with the back of his hand. 'I was just thinking about how sick these murders are. But it wont help the dutch couple if I faint from low blood sugar.'" //
 * // Week 3 Part B: Quotations //** - Sarah Choi

**__ Week 4 __**

 * // Pages 259 - 344, Chapters 87 - Chapter 114 //**

__** Week 4 Role Assignments **__
 * A: Roger Kim
 * B: Kyle Cottrell
 * C: Sarah Choi
 * D: Lili Feinberg

__** Themes and Imagery **__ 1. Loneliness 2. Family ties aren't easily broken. 3. Don't trust strangers even if they are hot.

1. The gun that the main character carried around. 2. The postcards sent to the newspaper. 3. The art in the pictures.

//** Week 4 Part D: Summary **// - Lili Feinberg

We started off the meeting by eating the snack brought in by Sarah. We had coke and cupcakes and they were delicious. Rohger led the group greatly and luckily didn't get away with revealing any of the book this week. He made sure that we were sure of our discussions in themes and imagery because the book is so confusing. We then set up our weeks wikispace, putting all of the questions and quotes for this week onto it before we engaged in our heated discussion. We debated over questions until everyone was swayed and the answers that we posted were seemingly unanimous. Sarah's questions proved to be great discussion starters. After that, we moved onto discussing Kyle's quotes and the significance that they had with the progression of the book. It seemed that the last quote was everyone's favorite because it summed up pieces of the book as well as holding a lot of emotion in such a simple sentence.

Once we finished discussing the quotes, we decided to check out the topic for next week so we could all be prepared for what is to come. When we saw that it would be discussing how we liked the book and if we would ever recommend it, we all simultaneously laughed. A huge bashing of the book should probably be expected next week since none of us has truly enjoyed reading it yet, nor is it well written. It's as if they put James Patterson's name on it to sell and the European author wrote basically the entire book. I have read some of his other stuff and this just doesn't live up to them. Next week will certainly be an interesting one.

//** Week 4 Part C: Questions **// - Sarah Choi

1. Why do you think the killers exposed themselves so boldly? Do you think it would be worth the risk?
 * We think that they exposed themselves so boldly because they must have a masterminded plan behind it. They're very sly and they seem to have everything that they do planned out, so this must be a part of a plan that they have to somehow escape or to at least escape with the least amount of consequences possible.**

2. Do you think the lawyer knew who Sylvia and Mac were?
 * It is a lawyer's job to know who they are defending, so we all unanimously agreed that she must know who Sylvia and Mac really were. She'd be a pretty horrible and incompetent lawyer if she didn't know the background of the people she was defending.**

3. Why do you think the killers hired a copyright lawyer?
 * We think that they hired a copyright lawyer to go along with a future plan or to have something to do with getting credit for their creative ideas when killing others since they are so artistically inclined.**

4. Did knowing the background of Sylvia and Mac change any way you saw them?
 * We haven't really learned anything new about Sylvia and Mac that we didn't know last year. We just know that they got kicked out of UCLA and that they have a heavy attraction to each other, though they are siblings. Once we learned that they are, in fact, siblings, we were all slightly disgusted and our minds immediately thought that that specific twist in the book was sick. The background of both of their characters can easily be called into question because at the moment, their lives just seem really stupid.**

5. What do you think will happen to the killers? Would they get caught? Or be obscured by the copycats?
 * We think that the killers will go to jail and won't be obscured by the copycats since they confessed to their crimes. Also, going off of the prediction that we made in a prior week, we think that one of the killers will die, which will kill the other one inside since they're so tightly bound together. They not only have the bond of a set of siblings, but they are also in love. It's a twisted thing.**

//** Week 4 Part B: Quotations **// - Kyle Cottrell

//1. "The newsroom was empty, deserted as though a bomb had gone off inside."// //2. "Jacob thought back to the video from the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, how the couple had help on to each other."// //3. "A sharp smell of coffee, a smell he hadn't woken up for the past six months."// //4. "There was still a pattern here. It just changed slightly."// //5. "To be or not to be. As if you chose whether to die or live."//

**__ Week 5 __**

 * // Pages 345 - 420, Chapters 115 - Chapter 140 //**

__** Week 5 Role Assignments **__
 * A: Lili Feinberg
 * B: Roger Kim
 * C: Kyle Cottrell
 * D: Sarah Choi


 * __ Final Reflection __**

There was no moral or ultimate message in the text, but we could say something along the lines of "love always triumphs" because of Jacob and Dessie's relationship. However, that aspect of the book was overpowered by our disgust for the horrible writing and the immoral killers. We could say some morals of the book are things that we were disgusted by, an example would be, "incest is bad." If we want to get even deeper into the book, Roger noted that they've sort have committed every sin in the book; incest, sex before marriage, murder, judging, lying, and stealing. Maybe there's an even deeper meaning to the book that we didn't catch because we all disliked it greatly and just wanted to be rid of it, but we're not that worried about it. The book wasn't the least bit enjoyable and because of that, it didn't even inspire us to get into deeper discussion.

We most definitely would not recommend this piece of text to peers. To start off, it's horribly written and choppy at times, lacking the simple flow that a published writer should have established by now. We all have read other pieces of work that belong to James Patterson and we feel like his female co-writer from Europe wrote a great majority, if not all, of this book and he just put hit name on it to sell. On top of being horribly written, it absolutely sucks at keeping ones attention. And to top it off, there's just too many pieces of the book that us, as readers, felt uncomfortable reading since they weren't mentioned in the review. We had no warning. Two of the four main characters, Mac and Sylvia, are incestuous murderers. That right there is enough to creep us out and it was an unneeded, twisted, and slightly repulsive plot twist. Also, there was too much sex. The four of us are all mature and can handle reading things like that, but when it comes out of nowhere, just for the sake of filling up some pages, it's highly annoying and inappropriate. None of us really wanted to flip the page to see what would happen next.

The overall idea of this book, a murder mystery novel, was executed terribly. The plot had too many twists that turned off the reader, and you just can't respect a book that isn't written well. Compared to other James Patterson books, this book was absolutely atrocious. Also, compared to other murder mystery novels, this book could have had a more organized plot. The entire idea of the postcard killers was well thought out, but all the unecesarry details made the book annoying. It got off track way too much, and if they leaved stupid details out, such as Jacob and Dessie's relationship and the incestuous relationship between the killers, the book would have been way better.

This book should obviously not be considered for the school curriculum because of points we've elaborated on before. We believe that few students would actually enjoy reading the book and it would be awkward reading about incestuous relationships on a school curriculum. We found it awkward reading this book because none of us support incest, so imagine how it would be in an entire classroom or grade. Also, many students lack the maturity to get through a more graphic scene without snickering like a toddler, so we have no clue how they'd be able to handle rather surprising ones. This just is one of those books that shouldn't be recommended anywhere and James Patterson really disappointed us.

The term "quickly forgotten" is an understatement for this book. It most definitely will not remembered and will never compare to a book that is considered to be an all time classic. It probably won't even be known for more then 5 years, and that may be being generous. I would have never known about this book if I wasn't on amazon and normally books by such an amazing and world renowned author are highly recognized when they are released.

**//Week 5 Part C: Questions//** - Kyle Cottrell

1. What happened to Jacob at the end of the book?
 * Jacob was shot by Mac, but somehow survived in a little hospital. Eventually Dessie and him got together and moved in with each other back in America. We didn't really like the ending because Jacob spent the entire book worrying about Kimmy, but once both the killers were dead, it's like he forgot about her. There wasn't really much compassion and the ending didn't live up to our expectations.**

2. What was Sylvia and Mac's plan?
 * Their plan was to train others to kill like them because they believed that if you can kill in an artistic way, you're absolutely divine. They even had a society set up for things like that. They wanted people around the world to be like them, and that's why there were so many copy-cat killers. They were trying to "graduate" from their online institute.**

3. Looking back at this book, does this change your view on Europe's government (police)?
 * We feel as if the government in this book isn't the best. The police were a bit bitter and didn't care about rescuing the people they were supposed to protect since they were more concerned with keeping up their image. It seemed like they didn't put much effort into the case and Dessie and Jacob were the only two that took the investigation seriously. If that is truly what a European government is like, we all think it's disappointing and sad.**

4. What precautions do you think people should take if you are in Europe at the time of a murder epidemic?
 * There shouldn't be much precautions. If there were any precautions it's don't trust complete strangers, but people shouldn't be even going to Europe at the time of a murder epidemic. You can watch your back all you want, but you can't control what will happen. Expect the unexpected.**

5. What do you think is James Patterson's reason for writing this book? (Psychoanalytic Criticism)
 * Kyle has the theory that he got the idea about the government from the Amanda Knox trial that has been going on for a few years. At the murder scene the government didn't treat the evidence well and they didn't help to prove if she's the murderer or not. The book has a highly similar plot in that aspect. However, some of the aforementioned parts of the book completely throw it off course. **

6. Do you agree or disagree with the new reviews posted on amazon? **We should have been warned by the very few reviews that were posted up when we first picked the book, but they were in such little quantity that we didn't think much about it. However, we just checked the website, and now it's loaded with reviews of people that liked, if not loved, the book. Some of them even gave it four stars. All we can say is, "what's wrong with these people?"**

7. What do you think about the reason that the killers got kicked out of college?
 * The killers got kicked out of college because they were caught engaging in incestuous acts in a display case in the main hall. We think this reason is a bit stupid because in the beginning of the book, they made it seem like they got kicked out of college for doing something truly insane, like killing on campus. We weren't expecting this, and though we support the decision of kicking someone out for doing that, we were expecting the reason they got kicked out to be much better. However, Roger likes how they got kicked out because it surprised him. It seems that he was the only one that liked the reasoning behind them getting kicked out of college because, in his opinion, surprises make the book better.**


 * // Week 5 Part D: Summary //** - Sarah Choi

The meeting started with excitement as we registered that this was our last book club for the "Post Card Killers." Although it was a 1 hour period and we had plenty of time for discussion, we couldn't wait to bash on the various aspects of the book, thus ending our last book club meeting with swiftness. Out of all the meetings, today seems like the most enthusiastic one of all; the book was really not the best reading material at all. All four of us agreed that the overall storyline was obvious, except for the occasional twists (that we thought was pointless and sick). The ending was not satisfactory. Period. How annoying it was that Jacob just moved on from his dead daughter just because the killers were dead and he had a new girlfriend (whom, by the way, was deeply involved with the case). Also, the romance in the story was very distracting and, again, pointless, considering the fact that the book was supposed to be a "thriller." It was also mentioned that although the storyline was (aside from being annoying and disturbing) not that bad, the weak characterization and the story-telling aspect led to an epic writing failure. Two of the members added an opinion as readers of James Patterson's other previous works, saying that they were so much more better and thus the reason why "the Postcard Killers" was such a disappointment. After the plentiful and pleasant bashing and criticizing of the book, the book club ended with a mutual agreement to not ever read another James Patterson's book for our book club. The End.


 * // Week 5 Part B: Quotations //** - Roger Kim

// 1. “The Rudolphs were here.” // // 2. “Some one yelled, 'Madman!' at him. That was correct.” // // 3. “It was a carving knife, maybe a butcher's knife.” // // 4. “For a moment he imagined it was Kimmy standing there with the knife to her throat. He couldn't let her die.” // // 5. “From this angle, Sylvia's dead eyes seemed to be watching him.” //