Putting yourself in the narrator’s shoes, how would you resolve the existential quandary he finds himself in at the novel’s end? Would you rather ignore the horrifying truth about your best friend’s death, or choose not to become friends with Josh to guarantee his well-being? What does this quandary suggest about the value of the truth and ignorance in a cold, cruel world?

Was the narrator’s mother justified in her decision to withhold the truth from her son and Josh’s family in order to preserve a sense of normalcy? Defend your answer by discussing the story from her perspective, using textual evidence.

How does Dathan Auerbach use ambiguity to heighten the terror surrounding the pen pal? Does it make the novel better to never really know who the pen pal is or what he wanted with the narrator? Why or why not?