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Who makes us what we become?
Dr Paul Allen is a well-respected man. He lives a happy, comfortable life with his second wife and their family. Until the night when a knock at the door blows his world apart: a hugely popular presidential candidate has been shot, and they say the young man who pulled the trigger is Paul’s son.
Daniel, the only child from his first, failed marriage, was always a good kid and Paul is convinced his quiet boy is not capable of murder.
Overwhelmed by a vortex of feelings, Paul embarks on a mission to understand what happened and why. Following the trail of his son’s journey across America, he is forced to re-examine his life as a husband and a parent, and every decision he ever made.
What follows is a powerfully emotional and suspense-filled quest that keeps you guessing to the very end.
‘Monsters don’t just become monsters, after all.’
(P)2012 Random House Audio
Dr Paul Allen is a well-respected man. He lives a happy, comfortable life with his second wife and their family. Until the night when a knock at the door blows his world apart: a hugely popular presidential candidate has been shot, and they say the young man who pulled the trigger is Paul’s son.
Daniel, the only child from his first, failed marriage, was always a good kid and Paul is convinced his quiet boy is not capable of murder.
Overwhelmed by a vortex of feelings, Paul embarks on a mission to understand what happened and why. Following the trail of his son’s journey across America, he is forced to re-examine his life as a husband and a parent, and every decision he ever made.
What follows is a powerfully emotional and suspense-filled quest that keeps you guessing to the very end.
‘Monsters don’t just become monsters, after all.’
(P)2012 Random House Audio
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Reviews
Brilliant and heartbreaking, The Good Father is a thriller, a mystery and above all else a savagely contemporary, hugely important story . . . it will haunt the reader for a long time.
It is rare that a novel so considered is also so gripping. Intense and utterly humane, THE GOOD FATHER is a book, the moment you finish it, you just know you will want to read again. A tremendous achievement.
Riveting, moving, unique. This novel deserves to become a classic.
I read THE GOOD FATHER into the small hours. It is that rare gem: a genuine literary thriller, as deep as it is wide. A beautiful, moving and important novel.
An unblinking look at the ills of modern America, and a conclusion: love might address them in a way that wealth cannot.
This debut . . . explodes like a hand grenade with a force that drives the breath from your body. But, like every great story, it starts from a simple premise - what if your son assassinated a presidential candidate in the United States? Could you believe it? Would you blame yourself? . . . This isn't only a forensic examination of modern fatherhood; it's also a brutal attack on U.S. gun culture, and a reflection on the country's appetite for assassination. Haunting, terrible and yet utterly real, it's superbly written with a marvellous feel for the American landscape and its soul. It's also a tantalising thriller.
Noah Hawley's flawless writing and staggeringly impressive narrative authority make THE GOOD FATHER so harrowingly plausible . . . a memorable, moving and unputdownable masterpiece.
To what extent can a father's actions mess up his child's life? How responsible is a parent when their child does something really wrong? These are the questions posed by the American author Noah Hawley's gripping new novel, THE GOOD FATHER, and perhaps it is because these questions feel particularly relevant now that the novel has struck such a chord.
THE GOOD FATHER packs [a] considerable emotional punch. Not as a harrowing investigation of evil, a critique of gun violence in America or a guide to good parenting, but as an account of a father finally accepting his child, for better or worse, until death do them part. Male readers: get your hankies at the ready.
Timely and unsettling . . . [a] curious but beguiling mixture of fact and fiction
Gripping . . . echoes Don DeLillo
An agonizing but irresistible look into the souls of a killer and a man who always thought he was a good, or good enough, father.
Tackles the theme of parental soul-searching in the face of a child's arrest for a criminal . . . a powerful narrative that builds relentlessly to a stunning emotional climax.
An exploration of the anxieties and challenges of parenthood, the flimsy grasp we have on our pasts when it most counts, and, ultimately, the extent to which our characters and fates are shaped by nature, nurture and chance . . . Family, the book seems to be saying, never breaks down completely, no matter how neglected or strained. Paul's instinctive willingness to take on the world for his son, at all costs, is a moving evocation of the bonds of blood . . . the prose has all the qualities of modern literary classic.
Ostensibly a crime thriller, in American screenwriter Noah Hawley's hands it plays out more as a meditation on fatherhood with a subplot that brilliantly subverts the romance of the American road trip . . . sure to be a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
With nimble prose and acute psychological insight, Hawley traces Allen's guilt-racked quest to prove his son's innocence. The result is a moving family saga that explores the intriguing notion of a statue of limitations on parental responsibility.
With great skill, Hawley renders Dr. Allen's treacherous emotional geography, from his shock and guilt to his growing sense tha the knows far less about his son than he thought . . .
Noah Hawley taps into Lionel Shriver and Jared Lee Loughner for THE GOOD FATHER, which tracks a man's descent into the mind of his son, arrested for killing a presidential front-runner.
A heartfelt and beautifully written novel . . . Comparisons with We Need To Talk About Kevin will be inevitable as THE GOOD FATHER deals with a parent trying to comprehend how their child could have become a killer. Written from the point of view of a father questioning his parenting skills. Noah Hawley gives the age old question of nature versus nurture a fresh angle. This is a novel about family, love and the decisions we make. Well written, thrilling and compelling. I highly recommend it.
A gripping and poignant novel that chimes with We Need to Talk About Kevin and Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. The Good Father is a clever dissection of American gun culture, and what it means to love and trust someone. The perfect reading group book.
A thriller, a drama, a search for sanity in an insane situation; you absolutely must read this book.