Leonard strives for realism in all of his novels, but Killshot, to a much greater degree than others, seems journalistic in style and form. This has led to comparisons between it and books about criminals by such writers as Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. An initial focus upon Leonard's techniques in this novel, specifically how he heightens the realism, will lead logically to an examination of other aspects of it.

1. How does the first murder in Killshot, that of an old Mafia don, presage what is to come in the novel?

2. What is the effect of Leonard's alternating domestic scenes with those involving the villains?

3. How important thematically and for character development is Degas's visit to Canada and the general focus upon his Indian background?

4. Are the pair of villains in this book, Degas and Nix, related to any previous villainous partnership in Leonard?

5. Domestic scenes...