Dead Beat
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Where did you do most of your reading for this one, and did you need a blanket, a lamp, or a locked door to get through the creepier pages?
Before we go deeper, tell us the moment in this book that made you exhale with relief. What was happening?
Ninth House stories live in a world where old institutions hoard power. Was there a moment in this book where that made you feel protective of Alex, and what set that off?
Alex keeps collecting people who look out for her. Which of those bonds felt the warmest to you on the page, and did it remind you of anyone who has shown up for you?
New Haven in these books is equal parts beautiful and menacing. What image from the setting stayed with you after you put the book down, and did it comfort you or unsettle you?
This series is very interested in who gets believed. Did any scene about being doubted or dismissed land close to home for you, and how did you feel reading it?
By the later stretch of this book, Alex is asked to carry a lot. Without naming what happens, how did watching her keep going affect you, and did you want her to stop?
Bardugo writes survival as something messy rather than heroic. Did this book leave you feeling hopeful for these characters, or protective and a little worried? What in the closing chapters put you there?