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2. Red Rover continually presents scenarios in which its characters experience extreme risk. Often, they seek out these risks voluntarily, as if to supply some quality that is otherwise missing from their lives. How does the novel as a whole address the relationship between risk and personal fulfillment?

3. In his time, Charles A. Lindbergh, who makes a brief appearance in Red Rover, achieved a heroic status that is now almost beyond comprehension. More recently, his reputation has suffered because of his political isolationism and his rumored sympathies with Germany during World War II. How do the gray areas one associates with Lindbergh relate to the moral ambiguities in McNamer's novel?

4. The other historical figure whose career exerts a strong influence in Red Rover is FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. How are Hoover's values and priorities reflected in such characters as Wendell Whitcomb and Roland Taliaferro, and to what extent is he responsible for the personal tragedies that lie at the core of Red Rover?

5. Red Rover is a novel of the American West. However, the story that it tells sometimes runs contrary to some of the stereotypic images we may have regarding Western living. How does the novel either confirm or challenge accepted notions of the West?

6. Deedee Valentine, a minor character in Red Rover, never speaks in the novel. Nevertheless, McNamer is able to sketch a portrait of her that makes readers care about what becomes of her. How, with so few strokes, is McNamer able to bring Deedee to life?

7. Like Deedee, the children of previous generations in Red Rover devise amusements that expose them to unnecessary danger. How does comparing the chosen pastimes of the Tierney boys, Wendell Whitcomb, and Deedee reveal the changing nature of childhood in America?

8. Roland Taliaferro feels strong loyalty to the FBI, whereas Aidan Tierney experiences crushing disillusionment. How do the characters and experiences of these two men, as well as the circumstances of their early lives, cause them to have such disparate reactions to the Bureau?

9. Seen through the eyes of his admiring younger brother and consistently evincing idealistic values, Aidan Tierney enjoys a revered status throughout much of Red Rover. Nevertheless, does he possess character flaws? If so, what are they, and how do they contribute to his death?

10. Opal Mix, the coroner who botches her report on Aidan, is professionally incompetent and emotionally unbalanced, to say nothing of her role as an enabler for her husband's pedophilic leanings. In spite of all this, does McNamer create some degree of sympathy for her? How so?

11. Two minor characters in Red Rover die because their loved ones are unable to discern the seriousness of their conditions. What comment do you think McNamer may be making in the novel about the limits of people's abilities to understand one another's suffering?

12. At the end of Red Rover, Roland Taliaferro acts impulsively in an attempt to redeem himself for his earlier betrayal of the Tierney family. In your estimation, does he succeed or does his debt remain unpaid?

This book is on these lists:

Julier2120's Wish List by julier2120

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• January 2012 Indie Next List
• December 2011 Indie Next List
• November 2011 Indie Next List