Open Season Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Jonathan Kellerman’s 39th Alex Delaware Novel

This quiz covers the entire Open Season story, from the first body dump at Westside Acu‑Care Hospital to Cameron Flick’s arrest and suicide. Questions are drawn from the outline of the 2025 novel. Complete all 20 questions, then check your answers below.

Questions

Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)

1. Where does the first body appear in the novel?
   A) A pay parking lot in East Hollywood
   B) Westside Acu‑Care Hospital
   C) A rowboat on a Ventura lake
   D) Paul O’Brien’s apartment balcony

2. How does Detective Petra Connor link Paul O’Brien’s murder to Marissa French?
   A) She finds O’Brien’s phone call to Marissa
   B) She discovers Marissa’s ID, clothes, and purse inside O’Brien’s apartment
   C) Ballistics match O’Brien’s rifle to a previous shooting
   D) A witness sees O’Brien dump Marissa’s body

3. Which cold case does ballistics match to Paul O’Brien’s murder?
   A) The shooting of Jamarcus Parmenter
   B) The death of Leonard Wiebelhaus in Ohio
   C) The murder of Whitney Killeen
   D) The attack on Victoria Saucedo

4. What evidence does Milo Sturgis find inside Cameron Flick’s garage after his arrest?
   A) A hidden armoire full of guns and knives
   B) Marissa French’s cell phone
   C) A note confessing to all murders
   D) A .308 rifle wrapped in a garbage bag

5. How does Emmanuel Rosales die?
   A) Overdose of GHB and Valium
   B) Shot with a .308 round near the Santa Monica Freeway
   C) Stabbed in his apartment
   D) Hit‑and‑run in Culver City

6. What does Alex Delaware discover while researching Cameron Flick on social media?
   A) Flick posted threatening messages to Keisha Boykins
   B) Flick tutored three victims’ families: Keisha Boykins, Errol Moffett, and one of Jay Sterling’s twin children
   C) Flick bought a rifle from a gun show in Ohio
   D) Flick worked as a security guard at Westside Acu‑Care

7. Who tackles Cameron Flick during the arrest?
   A) Milo Sturgis
   B) Detective Sean Binchy
   C) Detective Alicia Bogomil
   D) Petra Connor

8. How does Cameron Flick die?
   A) He is shot by police during a standoff
   B) He hangs himself in his isolation cell
   C) He cuts his neck and wrists with a pen clip and overdoses on Tylenol
   D) He is killed by another inmate

Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)

1. Why does Martin Kehoe believe Paul O’Brien preyed on unconscious women?
   A) O’Brien told him directly
   B) Kehoe witnessed O’Brien carrying women out of clubs at night and suspected drugging
   C) Kehoe found date‑rape drugs in O’Brien’s apartment
   D) O’Brien bragged about it at parties

2. What is Gerald Boykins’s likely motive for hiring a hitman, according to the detectives?
   A) Revenge for a failed business deal
   B) Protecting his daughter Keisha after Jamarcus Parmenter’s threatening rap lyrics
   C) Eliminating a rival music producer
   D) Collecting insurance money

3. Why does Alex feel uneasy after Flick’s suicide?
   A) He worries his aggressive questioning caused the death
   B) He thinks Flick may have had an accomplice
   C) He failed to get a confession
   D) He believes the wrong suspect was arrested

4. What does Robin suggest as a possible motive for the killings?
   A) Greed and financial gain
   B) “Family rage” and “selfish love” from parents protecting their children
   C) Revenge for a past romantic betrayal
   D) Mental illness from a brain injury

5. Why does Milo dismiss the idea that Kiki Boykins hired a shooter?
   A) He has no direct evidence linking her to a payment
   B) Kiki Boykins has a solid alibi
   C) The theory is too speculative for a warrant
   D) Both A and C

Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17)

1. What does the repeated phrase “QED” in Flick’s computer files symbolize?
   A) Flick’s mathematical self‑justification for his murders
   B) The end of each victim’s life
   C) Flick’s desire to be recognized as a genius
   D) The completion of a proof that the victims deserved death

2. The contrast between sunny weather and the grim case at the start of the novel represents:
   A) The clash between appearance and reality
   B) The detective’s optimism
   C) The randomness of crime
   D) Los Angeles’s climate

3. What does the “hot girls list” on BeThere.com reveal about Marissa French’s vulnerability?
   A) She was desperate for social media fame
   B) She was easily manipulated by producers who promised acting roles
   C) She had no close friends to warn her about danger
   D) All of the above

4. The title “Open Season” most likely refers to:
   A) A hunting season for predators like O’Brien and Flick
   B) The time of year the murders occurred
   C) A legal term for permissible killing
   D) The beginning of a new police investigation

Synthesis (Questions 18–20)

1. How does the murder of Whitney Killeen expand the scope of the investigation beyond L.A.?
   A) It links the killings to a hired killer operating in multiple counties
   B) It reveals that Jay Sterling hired Flick from New York
   C) It proves the shooter was a former police officer
   D) It shows a pattern of killing mothers with young children

2. Which real‑world issue does the novel most directly critique?
   A) The failure of the foster care system
   B) The exploitation of vulnerable aspiring actresses by predatory men
   C) The inefficiency of federal law enforcement
   D) The dangers of social media for teenagers

3. In what way does Cameron Flick’s background mirror the “ordinary appearance of evil” theme?
   A) He lives modestly and drives a minivan
   B) His DMV photo shows a remarkably ordinary face, belying his violent nature
   C) He works as a math tutor for wealthy families
   D) Both A and B

Answer Key

Next steps:

• Read the full book summary.
• Browse questions and answers.
• Check the ending explained.