Sinner (Hammesfahr)

The Sinner 
Petra Hammesfahr, 1999 (2017 movie tie-in)
Penguin Publishing
400 pp
ISBN-13: 9780143132851


Summary
The basis for the "instantly gripping" (Washington Post) limited series on USA starring Jessica Biel, The Sinner is an internationally bestselling psychological thriller surrounding an unexplained murder

On a sunny summer afternoon by the lake, Cora Bender stabs a complete stranger to death. Why? What would cause this quiet, kind young mother to commit such a startling act of violence in front of her family and friends?

Cora quickly confesses, and it seems like an open-and-shut case.

But the police commissioner, haunted by these unaswered questions, refuses to close the file and begins his own maverick investigation. So begins the slow unraveling of Cora’s past, a harrowing descent into the depths of her own psyche and the violent secrets buried within.

A dark, spellbinding novel where the truth is to be questioned at every turn, The Sinner is now a smash summer hit, with the TV series hailed as one of the best new shows of summer. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—May 10, 1951
• Where—Titz, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
• Education—N/A
• Awards—Crime Prize of Wiesbaden; Rhineland Literary Prize
• Currently—lives near Cologne, Germany


Hailed as Germany’s Patricia Highsmith, Petra Hammesfahr has written more than 20 crime and suspense novels, and also writes scripts for film and television. She has won numerous literary prizes, including the Crime Prize of Wiesbaden and the Rhineland Literary Prize.

Hammesfahr's early life was not an easy one. She left school at 13, was married and pregnant by 17. Her husband was an alcoholic. But those experiences she later drew upon for her fiction, a frequent theme of which is the junction of childhood innocence and adult calamity.

Hammesfahr's breakthrough novel, The Sinner, was first published in Germany in 1999, where it remained on the bestseller list for more than 15 months. It was published in England in 2007 and in the U.S. in 2010, becoming both a critical and commercial success. In 2017, the novel was adapted for a TV miniseries, starring Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman. (Adapted from the publisher and Bitter Lemon Press.)

Book Reviews
Hauntingly insightful and sensitive.
Guardian

Delightfully unsettling.
Telegraph

The best psychological suspense novel I have read all year.… [A] brilliant study of a woman driven to the edge of madness.
Sunday Telegraph

This novel by one of Germany's most successful crime writers is wonderfully written, gripping, full of psychological insight.
Literary Review

Petra Hammesfahr's The Sinner demonstrates why she is one of Germany's bestselling writers of crime and psychological thrillers. It's grim, delves deep into the human psyche, and keeps you gripped.
Times (UK)

[A] complex, disturbing, and fast-paced psychological thriller.
Booklist

Discussion Questions
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)

GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers

1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?

2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?

3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?

4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?

5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.

1. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
2. Are they plausible or implausible?
3. Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?

6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?

7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?

1. Is the conclusion probable or believable?
2. Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
3. Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
4. Perhaps it's too predictable.
5. Can you envision a different or better ending?

8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?

9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?

(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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