a single shot reading group guide

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Reading Group Guide

a single

shot

A novel by

Matthew F. Jones


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An conversation withMatthew F. Jones

A Single Shot is in many ways a different breed of noir than other,

less daring works of crime ction particularly in regard to the way

the novel ends. Was choosing a fate for Moon difcult for you? Or

did it simply seem like the natural conclusion all the way through

your writing process? (Did you have this beginning in mind right

from the start?)

I had no idea how the novel would end when I began it or, in

act, until the moment it unolded while I was writing it.

Once I have the characters Im writing about in mind i.e.,

once I eel that I know them I try to think as little as pos-

sible while writing. And I never outline or plan out in

advance what will happen in a novel or to the people in it.Once Ive created the characters, the story as I see it comes

more rom them than rom me. I do my best to ollow wher-

ever they lead me and, through my own flter, accurately

record their accounts. Ive never had much luck in trying to

manipulate anything to come out a certain way in my own

lie, and doubt Id be any better at it in the lives o fctionalcharacters. Plus I cant imagine the monotony o writing


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rom an outline. I sit down to write each day with only a

vague idea o where Im headed and never knowing where

I might end up which or me makes writing more o an

adventure than a task.

What are some of your personal favorite novels, and do you see any

of their inuence in A Single Shot, looking back on it now?

Im an eclectic reader and a lover o many novels, though

two uniying elements are ound in the ones I admire most:

indelible characters whose stories are compelling because

o who they are; and a rich evocation o the particular

world they live in. In that vein, some that, in no particular

order, come readily to mind are Of Mice and Men, The Grapes

of Wrath, Flannery OConnors short stories, The Postman

Always Rings Twice, The Collector, To Kill a Mockingbird, TheSpy Who Came in from the Cold, The Sheltering Sky, Augie

Marsh, A Flag for Sunrise, The Quiet American, The Stars at

Noon, Suttree, The Killer Inside Me, The Risk Pool, The Cement

Garden, Paris Trout, The Professional, Mystic River, Afiction,

Fat City, etc.

I dont in truth see the inuence o anyone elses work inASingle Shot(or, or that matter, in any o my work except pos-

sibly in my novel Deepwater, the opening scene o which, in

retrospect, may have its inspiration in a avorite novel o mine)

any more than I think the way in which I speak is inuenced

by the voices o other people I admire or care about.

More objective readers o the work might see somethingI dont, Im not sure. It would be interesting or me to know.

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o circumstance, I wrote the opening scene to the book

and, rom there rom John walking up the mountainside

with his twelve gauge at the crack o dawn I trusted my

knowledge o him enough to ollow him into whatever he

led me to.

Daniel Woodrell, author ofWinters Bone, was kind enough to

contribute a foreword forA Single Shot. What are your thoughts on

how hes prefaced the new edition? Would you say youre as much a

fan of Woodrells work as he is of yours?

Well, Im not sure what to make o him calling me a twisted

motherucker, though in context o the rest o what he

wrote Im pretty sure he meant it as a compliment! In all

honesty, when I heard Daniel had oered to write a ore-

word toA Single ShotI was thrilled, largely because as Itold him when I thanked him ater Id read it I didnt have

to pretend I was a huge an o his work, I actually am one

and have been or a good long time. A review he wrote in

the Washington PostoA Single Shotwhen it came out in 1996

frst alerted me to his work. Not long ater that I purchased a

copy oThe Ones You Do, and rom there I was hooked andhave gone on to read all o his novels. He is one o a very ew

authors whose release o a new book is an event I eagerly

anticipate. In my mind he is the voice or that part o the

world he writes about. I I hadnt been such a recluse I would

have contacted him to thank him ater he wrote that frst

review oA Single Shot Im glad he didnt hold it againstme! And Im honored that he eels about my work the way I

do about his.


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contrast to novel writing, is very much a collaborative

endeavor. Everyone rom the director, to the producers, to

the actors, even sometimes the DP gives their input on a

script. Then theres the money people who worry, is it too

dark? Is it too graphic? Is it too anything that might nega-

tively aect their investment? So, the writer, while making

compromises, has to work hard to keep in the script the true

core and essence o his story. The only way I believe that a

novelist can do a good adaptation o his own novel is to

always bear in mind that the movie will not be the novel.

And it shouldnt be. It should be the novel seen through a di-

erent prism and experienced in a dierent medium.

Youve written six novels to date 1992s The Cooter Farm,

1994s The Elements o Hitting,1997s Blind Pursuit,1999s

Deepwater,2006s Boot Tracks, and, of course, A Single Shot.Is there a particular novel of the bunch of which you have the fondest

memories either of the writing process; how it was received by

friends, family, or more generally; or because of its association with a

particular period in your life?

Each one is special to me or a dierent reason. Im sure thissounds strange to people, but I eel in many ways as i a di-

erent person wrote each novel. I suppose thats because I was

at a dierent point in my lie during the time I was inti-

mate with each one. By that I mean while working on a

novel Im ully consumed with the particular world and peo-

ple Im writing about. Its as i youre spending a very intenseperiod o time with a group o people youve been marooned

on an island with and then theyre all rescued and go their


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separate ways into new lives. So each book, youre with a

new group o people, and even i youre on the same island

(i.e., writing about the same locale, which I oten do), its

through these new peoples eyes and perspectives. Or, looked

at in a dierent way, each book is an exploration o the same

world through a dierent writers viewpoint. The Cooter

Farm had a unique impact on me not only because it was my

frst published book (ater a long struggle) but because in the

weeks leading up to its publication my wie gave birth to our

frst and only child and shortly ater that my ather died ater

a long, excruciating illness. So, I was dealing with all these

conicting emotions. And when it came out it seemed like

hal the people in the town I grew up in saw themselves (in a

good or bad light) in it. In retrospect, I could see why some

o them thought so, though no character in it (or in any o

my novels) is based on any one particular person.

Have any of your working experiences had an inuence in the events

depicted in A Single Shot?

Well, I grew up working on dairy and horse arms and did so

or many years, so I have a very close understanding o thatway o lie. And or a ew years I practiced law in the rural

upstate New York town I grew up in, which is very much

the town I modeled the town in a A Single Shot ater. A

small-town lawyer specializing in criminal and amily law

cant but help, to a certain extent, to have their fnger on the

pulse o the community or be attuned to the intimate detailso his or her clients lives. And being a criminal deense


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lawyer there, and in a larger city or a time I learned a

lot about criminals. And I learned the dierence between

people who choose, as a way o lie, to be criminals (and

how they think or look at the world) and people (such as, in

my view, John Moon) who are basically good people who

or a myriad o reasons end up committing criminal acts.

In giving interviews or answering questions in front of readers, are you

surprised by the frequency of any of the topics that come up both

about your work in general andA Single Shot in particular?

Otentimes a reader will wonder i I intended a specifc pas-

sage or event in one o my novels to have a particular symbolic

meaning theyve attributed to it. Usually, once its pointed out

to me, I see exactly why they would think so. But those sorts

o thoughts never cross my mind when Im writing; all Im

thinking about is creating the best story I can. In relation toA

Single Shot, Im probably asked most oten about the ending,

and why I chose the one I did. And my answer always is, I

didnt choose it, the writing o it did and sometimes I wish

it had come out a dierent way or John.

What would you have done in Moons shoes? Would you have fol-

lowed the same path as Moon throughout the course ofA Single

Shots events?

Thats the question hopeully every reader o the book asks

or will ask o him- or hersel. What would he or she havedone had it been them? And I dont think that any o us can do


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my nightstand right now are two books Im a ways into:

James M. Cains Mildred Pierce (it doesnt, in my opinion,

measure up to Postman, but ew novels do) and The Snow

Leopard(a great piece o nature writing by Peter Matthiessen

about a trip he took into the Himalayas in the 1970s in search

o the elusive snow leopard, but that is about so much more

than that).


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Questions and topics

or discussion

1. John Moon does much o what he does inA Single Shot

because o a sense o obligation either to the girl he

has killed, or to his wie and young son. Do you fnd

Moon to be a moral man? I so, why? I no, why not?

2. Is there anything about Moons decisions or behavior that, i

done dierently, might change the way you eel about him?

3. Do you think its okay or Moon to poach game when

destitute and desperately in need o ood to live on?

4. Moon is presented with a long series o difcult deci-

sions throughoutA Single Shot whether to ollow the

deer he has been illegally hunting into the woods,

whether to fre into the brush, what to do with the

body o the girl he has killed, what to do with the money

that could change his lie, and how to make thingsright once they begin to go horribly wrong. ReadingA

Single Shot, were there any particular decisions that

struck you as oolish or poorly thought out? I so, do you

understand Moons reasons or acting the way he did

regardless?

5. I you were in Moons shoes, do you think you wouldhave acted dierently? I so, where and when in the story?

I not, how does this aect your reading o the novel?


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6. Given the same skill set as Moon, would you have taken

the shot against Waylon that saved Abbie rom death,

torture, or disfgurement? I so, why? I no, why not?

7. Is Moon a better man or having pulled the trigger and

killed Waylon? Is this death more excusable than the one

that opens the novel? Why or why not?

8. Does Moons success at saving Abbie justiy the risk he

took in fring his weapon?

9. Did the ending oA Single Shotsurprise you? I so, why?

I not, why not?

10. Is Moon right to turn down Nobies oer to work or

him? Clearly the decision has to do with pride, as the land

he would be working used to belong to the Moon house-

hold. Does this decision to turn away money honorably

earned aect your opinion o how Moon handles the

money he has unlawully obtained? What would you do?

11. WhenA Single Shotbegins, Moon and his wie, Moira,

have already separated, though we experience snippets

o their time together in Moons many vivid ashbacks.

Its clear that Moon cares deeply or Moira, even though

she wishes to end their marriage. Do you accept Moons

reasoning or why she wants to leave him? Is she right toseek a divorce? Who do you sympathize with more,

Moon or Moira?

12. When Moon holds his little boy seemingly or the frst

time ater he has broken into Moiras apartment, he dis-

covers he is less capable o comorting the child than the

babysitter who has made a wreck o the place and inviteda man over as Moons child sleeps in the next room. Do

you think this is evidence enough to show whether

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Moon would have made a good ather to his son? Do

you think Moon, like his ather beore him, would have

been viewed as a disappointment to the generation he

raises?

13. Daggard Pitt, Moons lawyer, appears at frst to be on

Moons side. Later, Moon fnds out he has been repre-

senting the interests o the thieves who have come ater

Moon at the same time. Do you fnd this to be moral

behavior? How much does Pitts job as deender o the

accused aect how you view the nature o his decisions?

14. What do you make o the many hallucinations Moon

experiences o the woman he has killed? Particularly, do

you fnd the sexual nature o many o them to be

expected? What reason, subconsciously or consciously,

do you think Moon has or giving the dead girl a per-

sonality and thoughts o her own, despite having never

met the girl beore her death?

15. To what extent is Moons assertion that the bad thing

he reers to in his letters was nobodys ault accurate? Is

Moon culpable? Who in the novel is most culpable?

Who is least culpable?

16. A Single Shothas something in common with the plot oa Greek tragedy. Do you consider Moon to have a tragic

aw? I so, what is it?

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