Quiz Hard to Kill James Patterson & Mike Lupica

Hard to Kill: Full-Book Quiz (20 Questions)

This quiz spans the entire novel Hard to Kill by James Patterson. Complete all 20 questions, then check your answers with the detailed answer key below.

Questions

Plot and Sequence

  1. In Chapter 1, where does Jane Smith accompany Jimmy Cunniff?

    • A) Nassau County Courthouse
    • B) Suffolk County Jail
    • C) Southampton Police Station
    • D) Meier Clinic

  2. What does Jane see on her way out of the courthouse in Chapter 2?

    • A) Rob Jacobson's new lawyer
    • B) Nick Morelli making a shooting gesture
    • C) Dr. Ben Kalinsky waiting for her
    • D) Edmund McKenzie in a hoodie

  3. In Chapter 44, when Jimmy is ambushed by a female shooter while tailing Dave Wolk, how does he survive the car being driven at him?

    • (Short answer: what action does he take?)

  4. In Chapter 100, why does Nick Morelli tell Jane he cannot kill her?

    • (Short answer: what reason does he give?)

  5. Whom does Jane shoot during the showdown at the Walking Dunes in Chapter 112?

    • A) Eddie McKenzie
    • B) Anthony Licata
    • C) Nick Morelli
    • D) Eric Jacobson

  6. What medical news does Jane's sister Brigid share in Chapter 35?

    • (Short answer)

  7. Where is Dave Wolk's body found in Chapter 67?

    • (Short answer)

  8. At the end of Chapter 29, which two people are murdered?

    • A) Claire Jacobson and her son Eric
    • B) Elise Parsons and her daughter
    • C) Rob Jacobson and his son
    • D) Ben Kalinsky and Sam Wylie

Character Motivation

  1. Why does Jane agree to defend Rob Jacobson again, even though she suspects he sent a killer after her?

    • (Short answer: what does she admit to Jimmy?)

  2. In Chapter 56, why does Jane decide to break up with Dr. Ben Kalinsky?

    • (Short answer)

  3. Why does Jimmy Cunniff refuse to stop investigating even after Jane asks him to?

    • A) He wants to get revenge for his partner's murder
    • B) He needs the media attention
    • C) He believes Jane is wrong about the case
    • D) He wants to prove he is smarter than the mob

  4. In Chapter 100, what does Morelli say is the reason his boss has ordered him not to kill Jane?

    • (Short answer: who is the favor for?)

  5. Why does Jane change her mind about quitting the case after meeting Judge Kane in Chapter 71?

    • (Short answer: what memory influences her?)

Theme and Symbol

  1. In Chapter 79, what does the hummingbird feeder symbolize for Jane?

    • (Short answer)

  2. What do Jane's recurring dreams of her mother surrounded by hummingbirds represent?

    • (Short answer)

  3. The Walking Dunes setting in Chapters 110-112 functions as a symbol of what?

    • (Short answer)

  4. What is the meaning of the threatening note reading “Undivided” that is left on Jane’s ex-husband Martin?

    • (Short answer)

Synthesis

  1. How are the deaths of Elise Parsons and her daughter linked to the larger conspiracy surrounding Rob Jacobson?

    • (Short answer)

  2. In what way does Jane’s battle with cancer parallel her legal fight to defend Rob Jacobson?

    • (Short answer)

  3. Why does the author repeatedly refer to Jane as “Jane Effing Smith” throughout the novel?

    • (Short answer)

Answer Key

Plot and Sequence

  1. A) Nassau County Courthouse – In Chapter 1, defense attorney Jane Smith goes with Jimmy Cunniff to the Nassau County Courthouse to watch former client Rob Jacobson turn himself in for a triple homicide.

  2. B) Nick Morelli making a shooting gesture – As Jane leaves the courthouse in Chapter 2, she sees a man in a hoodie staring at her and making a shooting motion; she recognizes him as Nick Morelli, the missing witness from the first trial.

  3. He dives under his Jetta. – In Chapter 44, when Wolk drives his Corolla straight at Jimmy’s car, Jimmy dives under the Jetta, letting the car pass over him, then crawls out and continues the fight.

  4. His boss owes a favor to Jane’s father. – In Chapter 100, Morelli says his boss has ordered him not to kill Jane because he owes a favor to her father, Jack Smith.

  5. B) Anthony Licata – In Chapter 112, Jane shoots Licata twice in the chest after he misses his shots at her, and he dies on the dunes.

  6. Her non-Hodgkin lymphoma has returned in refractory form. – Brigid informs Jane in Chapter 35 that her cancer has recurred and she is flying back to the Meier Clinic in Switzerland for treatment.

  7. On Montauk beach with a single bullet wound to the forehead. – In Chapter 67, Jimmy arrives at the scene where Dave Wolk’s body has been discovered, executed with one shot to the forehead.

  8. B) Elise Parsons and her daughter – In Chapter 28, Jimmy calls Jane with news of two new bodies: Elise Parsons and her daughter, each shot twice in the head.

Character Motivation

  1. She misses the thrill of the courtroom and feels alive when she is fighting a case. – In Chapter 3, Jane admits to Jimmy that standing outside the courthouse made her feel like her old self, and in later chapters she cannot resist the pull of the fight.

  2. She believes her presence puts Ben in danger and wants to protect him. – In Chapter 56, after Ben is attacked, Jane decides she must break up with him to keep him safe from the people targeting her.

  3. A) He wants to get revenge for his partner's murder – In Chapter 101, Jimmy tells Jane that the same people who killed his partner Mickey Dunne are behind the current threats, and he refuses to stop until he gets justice.

  4. The favor is owed to her father, Jack Smith. – Morelli explicitly says in Chapter 100 that his boss is keeping Jane alive because he owes a favor to her father.

  5. She recalls her father’s lesson about never quitting. – In Chapter 71, as she is about to withdraw from the case, Jane remembers her father’s advice and decides she cannot quit.

Theme and Symbol

  1. Hope, resilience, and a connection to her mother’s memory. – In Chapter 79, Jane cleans and rehangs the hummingbird feeder her father made; she hopes the birds will return as a sign that there is still hope in her life.

  2. Her longing for maternal comfort, the desire to survive, and the memory of happier times. – The dreams show her mother happy among hummingbirds, offering Jane a brief escape from her grim reality and reinforcing her will to live.

  3. Instability, danger, and the shifting nature of truth. – The Walking Dunes are described as migrating parabolic sand dunes; characters are ambushed there, and the landscape itself becomes a trap, symbolising how the case keeps shifting and nothing is solid.

  4. It means she is being forced to give “undivided” attention; it is a threat that she and those close to her are being watched and cornered. – The note is left on Martin after he is drugged by Licata’s men, warning Jane to focus on the case and stop investigating.

Synthesis

  1. They are connected through Claire Jacobson’s blue Bentley, which was seen cruising the neighborhood on the nights of the murders, and through Carl Parsons’ illegal gambling debts to mob bookie Artie Shore, which tie into the larger network of blackmail and cover-ups. – Chapters 31 and 34 show the Bentley and the gambling link.

  2. Both battles require relentless defiance, refusing to give up despite overwhelming odds, and a refusal to be seen as a victim. – Jane treats her cancer remission and her legal victory as fights to be won on her own terms; in Chapter 114 she says the adrenaline of court makes her feel stronger than chemo.

  3. It reinforces her tough, unapologetic identity and her refusal to be diminished by cancer, threats, or the male-dominated world around her. – The phrase becomes a battle cry, showing that she owns her strength and will not be shamed or broken.