One of the Good Guys
A Page-Turning Mystery Exploring Gender, Power and the Dark Side of "Nice Guys"
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3.8 • 43 Ratings
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- £0.99
Publisher Description
'Every single woman out there needs to read this, because you either know this man, or you know a woman who knows this man' – @bookwormescapes
'Razor-sharp, spine-tinglingly convincing and unputdownable' – Lisa Jewell, author of None of This is True
'This book will hook you from the first page' – Alice Feeney, author of Beautiful Ugly
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Cole is the perfect husband: a romantic, supportive of his wife, Mel’s career, keen to be a hands-on dad, not a big drinker. A good guy.
So when Mel leaves him, he's floored. She was lucky to be with a man like him.
Craving solitude, he accepts a job on the coast and quickly settles into his new life where he meets reclusive artist Lennie.
Lennie has made the same move for similar reasons. She is living in a crumbling cottage on the edge of a nearby cliff. It’s an undeniably scary location, but sometimes you have to face your fears to get past them.
As their relationship develops, two young women go missing while on a walk protesting gendered violence, right by where Cole and Lennie live. Finding themselves at the heart of a police investigation and media frenzy, it soon becomes clear that they don’t know each other very well at all.
This is what happens when women have had enough.
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'One of the most daring and intriguing writers working today' – Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
'Groundbreaking' – Sunday Times
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Gone Girl meets Thelma & Louise meets an episode of Black Mirror, anyone? Hall’s sixth novel is relevant, resonant and quite the roller coaster. All-round nice guy Cole is devastated when his wife Mel leaves him for no apparent reason, and attempts to he heals his heartbreak by relocating from London to a remote coastal cottage, working as a wildlife ranger and going sea swimming. He soon falls for reclusive artist Lennie, a clifftop neighbour who made a similar move. When two activists on a charity walk for women’s safety go missing nearby, the couple find themselves at the centre of both a police manhunt and an intense media storm. Cole is stunned to become the prime suspect but there are several shock twists to come. This is a dark feminist fable, all wrapped up inside a suspenseful psychological thriller that switches between unreliable narrators, while using snatches of WhatsApp chats and social media exchanges to explore how true crime cases can become weaponised. Darkly frightening at times, it’s full of simmering rage about male violence, female fear and societal sexism, and a propulsive, provocative mystery will linger with you long after you’ve reached the end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this unsettling psychological suspense novel from Hall (Hidden Depths), Cole Simmonds is trying to rebuild his life after a nasty split from his wife, Mel Connelly. He leaves his office job in London to work as a wildlife ranger along the southern coast of England, where he immediately becomes enchanted with Leonora Baxter, an artist who lives in a neighboring cottage. While the two get to know each other, feminist activists Molly Patterson and Phoebe Canton, who are livestreaming their hike along the coast as part of a domestic violence fundraiser, vanish. Cole becomes the prime suspect when a strand of Molly's hair is found in his outhouse. Hall then shifts the story to Mel's perspective. Chronicling the downfall of her and Cole's marriage, Mel recounts her fertility struggles and alludes to unsettling truths about her former husband. Soon, the hikers' disappearance captures public attention, with newscasters and social media sleuths alike weighing in on Cole's involvement in Molly and Phoebe's fates. From there, Hall begins to tie each of her story threads together with a series of twists about the disappearances and Cole and Mel's marriage. Her plot and themes don't exactly break new ground, but Hall keeps things moving at a brisk clip, and the thought-provoking conclusion will prompt readers to ask difficult questions about bad male behavior. Fans of Megan Abbott will want to check this out.
Customer Reviews
Wow!!
Compelling. Outstanding