3. What did you think about Adam and Vilmos’s friendship?
4. In the scene with Pista, the prisoner with the bloodied shirt, Adam can save his own life by condemning Pista, who he believes would soon die anyway, but he doesn’t. What is the significance of this scene?
5. How well did the author combine the mystery elements of the book with the historical setting?
6. One of the main themes of the novel is hope. Discuss the manner in which Vilmos and Adam view hope and the ways in which each of them struggles to cling to it.
7. Did reading this novel change how you view Auschwitz survivors and the things they had to do to remain alive? If so, in what way did your views change?
8. When he works on the train platform, Adam saves two boys from selection, even while he does nothing to try to save the rest. Discuss his actions, his options, and his thought process and subsequent guilt.
9. What is the true meaning of the phrase "Next Year in Jerusalem" to Adam and Vilmos? How does it connect to the meaning of this phrase for Jewish diaspora across two thousand years of exile?
10. How would you describe Adam Lapid’s character? What are his main attributes?
11. What is the significance of Gyuri’s suicide and Adam’s reaction to it? How does it connect to the rest of the novel?
12. What did you think of the relationship between Adam and Mathias?
13. Did the solution to the mystery surprise you? What did you think of the clues the author included in the plot?
14. Which scene resonated the most with you, and why?
15. If you could pick a character from the book and have a story written from their point of view, who would it be?
16. Were there any quotes or passages that stood out to you?
17. Have you read any other books in the Adam Lapid series? If so, how did The Auschwitz Detective compare?
18. What were the main themes of the book?
19. If this book were adapted into a movie, who would you cast as the lead characters?
20. If you could talk to the author, what questions would you ask him?
21. Would you recommend this book to a friend? How would you describe it when you recommended it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Dunsky lives in Israel with his wife and two sons. He enjoys reading, writing, and goofing around with his kids. He began writing in his teens, then took a break for close to twenty years, during which he worked an assortment of jobs. He is the author of the Adam Lapid mystery series and the standalone thriller The Payback Girl.