Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What was your initial reaction to the novel’s ending? Did it feel like a just or satisfying conclusion to you? How did it affect your overall feeling about the book?

2. How did you feel about the book’s intense focus on the two families’ perspectives? Did you find it more compelling than a traditional police procedural, or do you wish there had been more details from Matthew and Sarah Jane’s investigation? 

3. How did starting the story with Nina’s perspective shape your experience as a reader? Did knowing the truth about Simon’s abuse from the beginning make the other characters’ decisions more or less frustrating to witness?

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

1. Across the novel, Leanne transforms from a mother seeking justice to a co-conspirator who masterminds a cover-up. Can you think of a time when you felt a failed system made you consider taking matters into your own hands? 

2. Both families are driven by a fierce desire to protect their children, but they go about it in vastly different ways. Have you ever found yourself torn between the desire to protect someone you loved and your own moral code?

3. Jamie secretly maintains a multi-million-dollar, offshore bank account to protect her in the event of a divorce. Is there a time when you or someone you know took steps to prepare for a potential crisis in your own life?  

4. Grace feels torn between her own perception of Simon and her family’s growing conviction that he is dangerous. Have you ever felt torn between your personal feelings for someone and what others were saying about them? How did you navigate that conflict?

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

1. How did your awareness of the parallels between Dervla McTiernan’s narrative and the real-life Gabby Petito case affect your reading of the novel? Did this connection make the story’s events feel more or less plausible to you?

2. The events of the novel underscore the concept of “missing white woman syndrome,” where the media disproportionately focuses on cases involving young, attractive white women while ignoring similar cases involving people of color. In what ways does the novel explore or critique this phenomenon, especially considering the intense media spectacle that surrounds Nina?

3. What does the novel suggest about the challenge of finding objective truth in an age of “reputation management” and social media warfare? Where do you see similar strategies to “flood the field” with disinformation used in today’s world (151), such as in politics or celebrity scandals?

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

1. How does McTiernan’s use of multiple first-person perspectives from both the Fraser and Jordan families impact the story’s tension? Did hearing directly from characters like Rory and Jamie as they made their moral compromises make them more or less sympathetic to you?

2. Leanne and Jamie are presented as parallel mothers on opposite sides of a tragedy. In what ways do they act as foils for one another, and what do their journeys reveal about how class and social standing in the world of the novel?

3. How does the Frasers’ barn evolve as a symbol in the novel? What does its symbolic significance suggest about what the Fraser family has lost, even as they fight to survive?

4. Drawing on her legal background, McTiernan provides a critical look at how wealth impacts the justice system. How does the novel’s portrayal of legal and PR strategy compare to other legal thrillers you may have read, such as Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet or Pretty Things by Janelle Brown? 

5. In the end, the world believes Simon is a fugitive, while the reader knows the truth of his fate. What is the effect of this dramatic irony? What might the author be saying about the nature of private versus public justice?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were to write an epilogue set five years in the future, what would the Fraser family’s life look like? Do you think they could ever find peace while living with their secret, and how might it have reshaped their relationships with each other?

2. Imagine you are a filmmaker adapting What Happened to Nina? for the screen. Which scene would you consider the most important to get right to capture the heart of the story?

3. Write the transcript of an interview with one character from the book for a documentary about the case. Who would you choose? What is the one question you would be most determined to ask them?