Blood Alley by Tom Coffey

1) The theme of confession, in both a legal and a moral sense, runs through the book. How are different types of confessions handled -- with the police, in church, and in bar-room conversations? What is the writer saying about the value of confession?

2) Grimes occasionally flashes back to his wartime service in combat in Italy, and to one incident in particular that continues to dog him. When that incident is revealed, does it change your perception of his character? Do you feel more sympathetic to him, or less?

3) It was a different time, with different sensibilities, particularly regarding racial and ethnic issues. How do the characters' prejudices affect their actions, and the course of the novel?

4) The Stork Club, New York's most famous night spot of that era, represents a type of citadel that Grimes is trying to enter. How is it conveyed that this is no mere night club, but the epitome of a certain kind of lifestyle? Is the Stork Club a place everyone should aspire to enter?

5) Grimes's family life was difficult. How do his problems and conflicts with family members affect his actions?

6) The ways in which members of the media gather and disseminate information have changed radically since the 1940s, but certain facets of the news business are durable. What aspects of the way newspapers are run, and presented, both help and hinder Grimes in his quest for the truth?

7) The New York of the 1940s was a city of widespread, almost blatant corruption. How does this corruption affect the institutions that are supposed to govern and inform the people of the city? What does this corruption do to Grimes's investigation?

8) Grimes seems to be searching for some kind of absolution, or atonement. Does he find it?