Split Screen Book Club Questions
by Lee Goldberg
These questions assume everyone has finished the book and contain spoilers, including the ending.
Split Screen gives book clubs plenty to argue about because its mysteries are tangled up with loyalty, ambition, media spin, and the price of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. The characters rarely make clean choices, so readers can disagree about motives and consequences without needing to solve every clue the same way.
Use these questions to steer a relaxed conversation, not to quiz anyone. Pick a handful that match your group's interests, or work through them by topic. Let people share where they landed and where the story kept them guessing.
Eve's Choices and Family Loyalty
- 1.Eve agrees to Gifford's publicity deal after he threatens Duncan's arrest, pension, and medical benefits and invokes Gracie's cancer. Did you agree with her choice to make videos and accept Erin Casey's ride-along to protect Duncan?
- 2.The shooter yells 'Die, Ronin, die,' and everyone initially believes Eve was the target, but Eve later concludes Erin Casey was the intended target because Ragat Omarov wanted to stop her from testifying. Did the staged misdirection work on you, and how did Eve's guilt over Erin taking three bullets meant for her shape your view of her?
- 3.Eve illegally places a tracker on Lauren's car, disguises herself as a gas company worker, and pressures Stan Garvey to keep working Bespoke parties as her eyes on Lauren. Did you agree with Eve's choices as Lauren's half sister, or did she cross a line she should not have crossed?
- 4.Lauren claims she was making a podcast exposing Itzik Halevi's operation and says she loved Cindy Epson like a sister, but Eve accuses her of using the tracker and Eve's fame. Did Lauren's final explanation make her a seeker of justice for Cindy or an opportunist exploiting a death, and did your opinion change after the cover story was accepted?
- 5.Vince Nyby defends profiting from Lauren's podcast and Eve's celebrity, and Jen emerges from Vince's bedroom saying he has asked her to marry him. How did you react to Eve's confrontation with Vince, and did Jen's defense of the relationship justify her choices?
- 6.Eve tries to avoid a relationship conversation with Daniel, is dumped, then calls Corey Chen because she does not want to be alone. Later she admits to Lisa that she needs help and considers seeing Carly Walker. How did this thread affect your understanding of Eve's work obsession and her capacity for intimacy?
Death, Motive, and Investigations
- 7.Juliette Winter's death initially looks like a possible overdose, and Eve warns against walking into an unexplained death with your own explanation. How did Emilia Lopez's tox-screen finding of two lethal intramuscular ketamine injections change your reading of the case, and did the early assumptions about Juliette's tabloid history mislead anyone?
- 8.Georgina Sabella confesses after Eve Mirandizes her and says Juliette had been killing herself for years and that someone else would have given the shots. How sympathetic did you find Georgina, and did her explanation make Juliette's death feel more like a murder, an assisted death, or something in between?
- 9.Dr. Ted Hoffman is revealed to have killed Ryan Massey with a bat and framed Mira Jurek and Toby Keeling to prevent a ketamine scandal from destroying the clinic. Was Burnside right to refuse to free Toby and Mira even after learning they did not kill Massey, because Toby had confessed to attacking Massey and Mira was ready to testify falsely?
- 10.Hank Ketchel's staged rescue and the burns on his face, chest, and arms are explained by Sharpe's scorch marks and the melted pump-sprayer tubing, and his motive turns out to be jealousy over Amy Ketchel and Eddie Clayton. Were the clues fair, and did Sharpe's warning about cognitive bias make you reconsider how the other investigators dismissed Eve's sabotage theory?
Media, Image, and Institutional Power
- 11.Duncan takes the shot that kills Ketchel and is then offered the captaincy by Gifford, while Eve tells him not to take the job for her. What do you think Duncan should do, and how did his partnership with Eve affect your view of his possible promotion?
- 12.Gifford builds his image through ads, Eve's 'Justice will be served' video, and the release of the explosion video, while Eve posts her own video over the dead plumber and says she did it to make discipline politically difficult. Did Eve's use of media empower her or compromise her, and did Gifford's publicity strategy make the department look better or worse?
- 13.Captain Beatie tells Eve she will use Eve's fast case closures and says fighting Eve is a career killer, then is promoted to full captain of the West Hollywood station. Did Beatie's ambition and final promotion feel earned, and what did her departure say about the station's institutional politics?
Grief, Relationships, and the Ending
- 14.Tom Ross tells Eve about 'the trap' of happiness and letting one's guard down after Eddie Clayton's death, and later Lisa says she refused Tom's ER proposal because it was the wrong moment. How did grief and fear shape the Tom-Lisa storyline, and did Eve's advice to Tom feel true to what she has learned?
- 15.The book ends with Duncan alone in the captain's office, Eve resolving that justice will be served, and Walker assigned to split his time between Eve and Sharpe. Did the ending satisfy you, and which unresolved thread—Duncan's decision, Lauren and Vince's podcast scheme, or Eve's new partnership with Walker—are you most interested in seeing play out?