The Overnight Guest

What role does gender play in The Overnight Guest? How are gender roles reinforced or rejected? What is the intersection between age and gender?

Both Ethan and Jackson suffer severe scrutiny because of their possible involvement in the crime. Compare and contrast Ethan and Jackson, both as characters and as suspects. What do they have, or not have, that differentiates them from Randy Cutter, the actual culprit?

How is parenthood depicted in the novel? Is there a difference between how motherhood and fatherhood are shown? Based on these depictions, what argument is Gudenkauf making about parenthood?