Planning the Perfect Book Club Meeting with Switchback

Guest post by author Pamela Fagin Hutchins

Switchback is a high-adrenaline mystery-adventure set in 1970s Wyoming, in the gorgeous and rugged Bighorn Mountains. Now, you may picture the 70s in the US as a time of Saturday Night Fever, wild swinger parties, and go-go boots. And it was. In other places. Not in Wyoming. Wyoming is a throwback state, and always a good twenty years behind the times, in the best possible way. This was the time of no fax, no cell phone, and MTV. The weather and terrain were tough, but the people were tougher. 

Enter Patrick Flint, an adventurous young doctor, and the family he has transplanted from the big city of Dallas, Texas: his very Southern wife Susanne, his horse and boy crazy teenage daughter Trish, and his fearless and undersized son Perry. 

Life’s about to get a little messy for the Flints.

But not for your book club. To discuss Switchback, you’ll probably want to assemble some 1970s-style snacks and drinks. I’d recommend Ritz Crackers with Snack Mate cheese in a can, Brandy Alexanders, and Ding Dongs for dessert. I’d put up a nice, scene-setting mountain picture, set the temperature in the room to a comfortable 55 degrees, and then spray each other with water misters to simulate some wet weather.

Now, you’re ready to talk about Switchback. 

Here are some discussion ideas to get you started:

1. Patrick Flint wears many hats, as most of us do. Father, husband, physician, adventurer, even dreamer. Which of them felt most real to you? Which could you identify with most?

2. Susanne Flint is struggling with Wyoming, but does this hide a bigger struggle within herself?

3. Trish Flint—ah, teenagers. How do can we reconcile her intelligence with her choices? What were you like as a teenager? If you could go back and make different choices, would you? What guidance would you give Trish or your teenage self?

4. Perry Flint is on the cusp, between childhood and growing up. At one point he is described as fighting “like a wolverine.” What role do you think physical abilities/stature play on a person’s development and personality?  

5. Is Ben Jones, the teenage kidnapper, a good guy or a bad guy in this story? What do you believe the author is trying to say about nature versus nurture? Have you known bad families with great kids or great families with troubled kids? 

6. Mystery? Thriller? Suspense? Adventure? Which genre would you classify this story under?

7. Popular fiction today is full of unlikeable protagonists, unreliable narrators, points of view of characters who commit unspeakable acts described in vivid detail, and lurid, R-rated content. Did you miss these “modern” elements? What do they add or take away from a story?

8. Patrick Flint is more of a bumbling hero than a superhero, one who makes infuriating choices that make the trouble he gets into possible. Does this make him more or less authentic to you as a reader?

9. This series is set in the 1970s, before modern technology entered our lives, yet after the advent of many modern conveniences. How is the tension level in the story impacted by (lack of) high-tech communications? Do you miss simpler days like these?

10. The author of this book grew up in Wyoming and Texas, and pulled many stories, elements, and locations directly from personal experience, like the doctor covering for the vet and the child sleeping on a horse. Were there any elements you could especially relate to from your past?

11. Thematically, what do you believe the author was trying to convey to the reader? When you’re reading a plot-based book like mystery/suspense/thriller/adventure, does theme matter to you?

12. How much of an impact does the setting of this story (Wyoming) have on the plot? The journeys of the characters? You as a reader?

13. What role does belief in a higher power play in this book? Are you comfortable with the inclusion of a character’s faith in this type of book?

And don’t worry—the Flints have another chance to get things right in the second book in the Patrick Flint series (there are currently five): Snake Oil.

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