The Missing Half

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use, addiction, and death.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did you feel about Nic’s decision to kill Jenna in the novel’s climax? Discuss your reaction to the event.

2. Choose another detective or psychological thriller novel that you have read, like Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid, or The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Discuss what specific things are found in these books that build suspense, create mystery, and create surprise for you as you read.

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Each of the characters in the novel has a history and experience that is completely unique. Which character did you sympathize with most in the novel? What about your own life experiences made you feel this way?

2. Nic and Kasey have a relationship that engenders intense loyalty on both sides. Have you had or witnessed a similar relationship? How does it reflect or diverge from Nic and Kasey’s experience? 

3. Throughout the novel, Nic’s addiction and recovery are intertwined with her grief and loss, but the novel emphasizes the completely individual nature of grief. Discuss your own experiences, or the experiences of someone close to you, with grief. How does Flowers’s representation reflect that experience? 

4. With the revelation of Kasey and Brad’s relationship, Nic’s understanding of two of the people closest to her changes fundamentally. Have you ever discovered something about a person you were close to that fundamentally changed your perspective on them?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Consider the novel’s discussion of the media’s role in shaping the representation of events. Discuss two specific real-world examples of how media, social media, or public opinion heavily affected the outcome of these events.

2. How does the novel’s setting of Mishawaka—or, more generally, small-town America—impact the characters and conflicts in the novel? How does this choice of setting feed into a larger contemporary discussion of public perception of small-town life?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Discuss Flowers’s choice to tell the story from Nic’s first-person point of view. How does this strategy shape the narrative and contribute to the thematic development of the novel? 

2. Consider Flowers’s choice to open the novel with a prologue in which the specifics of character, plot, and setting are all ambiguous. How did it affect your reading experience? Reread the Prologue now that you’ve completed the book. How does your reaction to the passage change? 

3. Discuss the interplay between the themes of trauma and grief and the role of the media in the novel. How does the media exacerbate the grief of both Nic and Jenna, both at the time of the disappearances and in hindsight? In what ways does it help?

4. As a static character, Jenna changes little throughout the novel, as she stays devoted to avenging her sister’s death. Discuss three specific moments in the novel that foreshadow Jenna’s decision to confront Kasey. Analyze and discuss what message is conveyed by Jenna’s lack of change in the novel.

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Reread the scene on Page 131, where Jenna first discovers that Kasey may have been involved in Jules’s death—when she sees the CD with the song quote. Rewrite the scene from Jenna’s point of view. Be sure to elaborate on her thoughts, feelings, and the internal conflict she faces now that she believes she can no longer trust Nic.

2. Write an epilogue to the novel that takes place five years into the future. Did Nic and Kasey get away with killing Jenna? Are they happy, or are they plagued by residual guilt? Did they reconcile their anger and feelings of abandonment toward each other? Consider these questions and more as you write your epilogue.

3. You are tasked with creating a movie based on The Missing Half. Write the script for the novel’s climax when Nic kills Jenna. Discuss what actors will play each character, the musical score, the camera angles, and how you will build the appropriate suspense and surprise in this moment.

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