Good Guys
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jan 20, 2026
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The Boat People comes a page-turning moral drama about money, the dark side of philanthropy, and what happens when you try to change the world for all the wrong reasons.
"The easiest choices are the ones you make for other people."
Claire Talbot is the publicist at Children of the World, an international aid charity. Morally burnt out after decades working in reputation management, Claire is relieved to finally use her PR skills for good. Too bad the organization is on the verge of bankruptcy. In a last-ditch effort to keep them afloat, Claire arranges for an A-list actress to volunteer at one of their overseas orphanages. When the actress decides to adopt a baby and promises a massive donation, it seems as if Claire has single-handedly saved the day. But after a journalist digs into their operations and reveals a shocking crime, Claire and her colleagues must reckon with their complicity and all the ways their work abroad has harmed the very people they set out to save.
Moving between Children of the World’s headquarters in Toronto and their compound in Central America, Good Guys charts the charity’s rise and fall. Scathing yet compassionate, the novel is a thought-provoking exploration of power, philanthropy, and the lengths we go to for redemption. Emotionally engrossing, tightly paced, and sharply observed, it ultimately asks: Is it possible to do good in an imperfect world?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This morally charged drama takes a clear-eyed look at power, money, and the uneasy line between helping and harming. Veteran publicist Claire Talbot has spent her career polishing the images of people she no longer believes in, so taking a job at an underfunded children’s aid organization feels like a chance at redemption. She sets up an attention-grabbing visit to one of the charity’s sites by the hot young actress Dallas Hayden, designed to attract cameras and donors. But the great publicity takes an unexpected turn when Dallas’ impulsive philanthropic gesture uncovers uncomfortable truths about the program, forcing Claire and her colleagues to confront whether they’re genuinely doing the right thing. Author Sharon Bala writes about flawed people with real empathy—but without letting them off the hook. Good Guys reads like a thriller with real philosophical tension, showing how good intentions can curdle once money and personal ambition enter the picture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bala delves into the messy workings of international philanthropy in her thoughtful follow-up to The Boat People. When Children of the World, a struggling nonprofit founded by an aging rock star, hires seasoned PR professional Clare Talbot to revive its fortunes, she invites Hollywood actor Dallas Hayden to visit their clinic in the Latin American country of Santa Rosa. Dallas's immediate bond with Maria, an ill child from a near-destitute family, prompts her to aggressively pursue adoption—never mind Maria's loving family—and pledge a hefty donation to Children of the World. Moral queasiness aside, Clare accepts the apparent victory. Then the story gets picked up by tenacious freelance journalist Emmanuelle Clemmons, who digs into both the details of Maria's adoption and the operations of Children of the World, unearthing a string of unsavory practices that force Clare to reckon with her dreams of "doing good." Bala's blackly comic tale rotates through a kaleidoscopic cast of narrators, each of whom believes themselves to be the hero in their own story. With a satirical eye that never tips into cynicism, Bala delivers a quietly profound, thriller-adjacent dissection of global inequality that bruises even as it entertains.
