10. Consider the role of female characters in the story. How are they marginalized? How are they heroes? Consider Ali, Enid, Sister Anselm, Governor Dunham, and The Brought Back Girls in your response.
11. Is the death of Richard Lowell justified? Do you think that Ali made the ethical decision in the moment she decided to shoot him in the back? Why or why not?
12. Do you agree with Ali that the operation led by Governor Dunham “had ended in disaster”? Do you think there can ever be a happy ending when family members are involved lies and betrayal?
13. In the end, to whom or what do you think the title Cold Betrayal refers? Who has been betrayed? Who has not?
A Conversation with J.A. Jance
What inspired you to set part of the novel in a cult like The Family? Did you have to research any real cults in order to better understand how a cult like The Family may have functioned?
I set this story in a cult in America, but the kind of marginalization the women in The Family suffer is emblematic of similar treatment in cultures around the world. I think this is something that merits serious discussion. And no, I didn’t need to research cults to know about this.
The situation with Betsy Peterson seems a commentary on our society’s tendency to dismiss the aging. Would you agree that Betsy presents an alternative point of view to this commonly held belief?
Yes, I think it’s easy to dismiss “older people.” I think there was far more life in Betsy than the people around her wanted to believe.
Suspense Magazine has referred to your Ali Reynolds series as full of “red herrings.” Do you plan these red herrings to keep readers in suspense, or is the process of writing one of discovery for you alongside the reader?
I have never knowingly installed a “red herring” in any of my books. So yes, in my case the process of discovery is the same for the writer as it is for the reader.
Do you think that Ali Reynolds has changed over the course of these novels? Now that she is married to B., do you think her character has a different point of view?
Yes. She learned to trust again. And she has found a worthy partner. I think both those things make her more capable and more interesting.
Do you agree that Sister Anselm was perhaps unethical in her decision to allow David Upton to visit Enid’s bedside alone? What is it about David’s character that made him so instantly likeable?
I guess Sister Anselm trusted him because I did. I see David Upton as the Good Samaritan. He’s all about looking out for others rather than himself—including going to collect the two Brought Back Girls.
Discuss the role of women in Cold Betrayal. For you, are the differences between the women in The Family and Ali, for example, significant? Or do you see them as more alike than dissimilar?
Ali knows how to negotiate the modern world. The women from The Family have untold learning to do in order to catch up. I’m glad there is a whole cadre of caring women prepared to help them do just that.
In addition to the Ali Reynolds series, you’ve written the J.P. Beaumont series and the Joanna Brady series. What is it that attracts you to writing about the same set of characters? Do you come to know them better with each novel?
I’ve come to know these people so well that writing a book about them is like receiving a holiday family update in an annual Christmas letter.
When you write, do you picture a particular kind of reader? Do you write for a certain audience, or does an imagined reader not play a role in your writing process? Would you classify your novels as female-centric, male-centric, or more universal?
I wrote the Walker novels in hopes of making the Desert People and their environs come alive for the lady in upstate New York who would never travel to the Arizona desert, but most of the time I’m thinking about the story rather than potential readers. And yes, I see them as more universal.
Can we expect Ali Reynolds and Sister Anselm to team up again in the near future?
I can’t imagine that they won’t.
What advice do you have for aspiring young writers?
You can’t be a writer without first being a reader!
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Cold Betrayal is part of the Ali Reynolds series. Read another book in the series, such as Moving Target or Left for Dead. Compare and contrast the novels. Which characters appear in both novels? Which characters are new? In each, does Ali Reynolds come out as the hero? Is her character different in Cold Betrayal now that she is married to B.? Why or why not?
2. The Family presents a portrait of a troubled cult where the men are not only encouraged to take many wives, but are also the only members taught to read and write, as well as the only ones permitted to vote. Of course, not all groups that practice polygamy treat women as terribly as The Family in Cold Betrayal. Have a movie night with your Book Club and watch HBO’s original television series Big Love (2006–2011). Discuss the ethical and moral dilemmas of polygamy, considering carefully the gray areas between right and wrong. In what ways are the characters in the television show similar to the wives in Enid’s “family”? In what ways are they different? Had Enid’s family been more like the family in Big Love, do you think she would have escaped?
3. Family betrayal is perhaps the most painful kind of betrayal, and the characters in Cold Betrayal understand this all too well. Over a potluck dinner, consider the ways in which the definition of “family” changed throughout the course of the novel. In the end, did the characters find new families, people in their lives they could rely on more than the ones with whom they share DNA? Share a time with your group when you or someone you know has been betrayed, either by a family member or a close friend. What about that experience hurt so badly? What took you by surprise? Did you learn anything from that experience? Would you characterize your experience as a “cold” betrayal, or was it warm, or even scalding? Do you think the characters in the novel learned any lessons, and if so, what were they?
About the Author
Photograph by Mary Ann Halpin Studios
J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, as well as four interrelated Southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Brisbee, Arizona, Jance and her husband live in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona. Visit her online at JAJance.com.