For those of you who are reading The Old Bridge — the second in the Joe Johnson war crimes investigation series — within book club groups and need a few questions to kick-start your discussions, here are some to get you up and running:
- The often-quoted defense of war criminals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, torture, persecution and other offenses is that they were simply following orders from political or military leaders. How much responsibility do you think individuals should take for such acts?
- In The Old Bridge, how well does Joe Johnson manage his “trilemma” of doing work that he is passionate about, looking after his two teenagers, and earning enough money to keep his family afloat?
- There is no statute of limitations on war crimes — which means criminals can be pursued and prosecuted many decades after the offense. What do you feel are the pros and cons of prosecuting people who might be very old, possibly in their 90s or 100s?
- Should Joe Johnson try and restart his relationship with his long-ago MI6 girlfriend and current colleague Jayne Robinson, with whom he occasionally flirts? Do you think she would want to and what might be the impact on their work together if that happened?
- How do you feel about the way The Old Bridge tackles the topic of revenge?
- Do you think there can ever be one party in the wrong and one in the right when it comes to conflict that is founded on sectarian, religious and tribal factors?
- How difficult do you imagine it would be for a survivor of a conflict such as the Yugoslav civil war—someone like Aisha Delić in The Old Bridge, who moved to the States—to settle in another country and carve out a new life?
- Why do you think whole populations fall in behind charismatic but often flawed leaders — such as Slobodan Milošević of Serbia or Radovan Karadžić of Bosnia — who stir up nationalistic and ethnic anger against other groups and urge them to do unspeakable things in the name of war?
- Should developed industrialized countries have some obligation to take in refugees from war zones, such as Aisha and Adela in The Old Bridge? What are the implications of refusing them entry?
- A lot of people go to the former Yugoslav countries on holiday — particularly Croatia but also Bosnia, Slovenia and others. How does knowledge about relatively recent conflict in a country influence your choices of destination?
- What do you think drives someone like Jayne Robinson to remain a single professional in a tough profession, involving a lot of travel and high-risk activity, as seen in The Old Bridge, rather than settle down and marry?
If you have other questions that come up during your discussions and which you would like to share, please email me at andrew@andrewturpin and I will add them to the list.
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Published by Andrew Turpin