Thank you NetGalley for allowing me an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I did not finish this book, in fact I maybe read a quarter of it. There are so many good books out there that there is no reason to finish a book that is only so so.

Hero school teacher, perfect father, is accused by teenage girls of improper behavior, astounding everyone. Youngest child, as the date changes to be her 17th birthday, is a classmate of these girls. She is so shook that she spends the night at her boyfriend's house (huh?) instead of staying home to support the family. Lawyer son returns home to take care of the mess and is furious with her for leaving/lack of support, so he leaves and drives to see his first gay boyfriend, though they split many years ago on bad terms. Again, huh?

At that point I closed the book and felt it was not going to be a book I cared to finish. Of course later, I needed to know how it ended so I read the last few pages. I was glad I didn't waste any more time on it.

From the description of this book, I obviously knew this was going to be about how someone's crime affects others, particularly family members. However, when the book opened with a school shooter, I thought that would be the crime - to my surprise it was something completely different and years later.

This is an interesting and well-written book about crime from an unusual perspective. At turns suspenseful, frustrating, and shocking, the story also alternates perspectives pacing. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a rather off-beat modern crime book from a human interest perspective.

I didn't like the story or the writing. Left me cringing in parts....

If these are THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE...no thank you. Couldn't get into the story, left the father's fate hanging while everyone was, for want of a better word, whining about how the situation would effect them while offering no support to the father. That and the amount of f* bombs made the book unpleasant for me to attempt to finish reading.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

This is a book about rape culture, but unlike many books about rape culture, it doesn't focus on the victims, nor does it focus on the accused. Instead, it's an exploration of how people on the periphery of an accusation are affected, and I appreciated reading this less common perspective on this oft-discussed topic.

A timely book that deals with the "rape culture" in America, The Best Kind of People takes a close look at those (not so) indirectly affected when accusations are made. This book focuses on the family of the accused and how it affects their day to day life as well as their relationship to each other and those to whom they share a close bond. The book hooked me from the very beginning and would be a 5 star read. However the ending seemed rushed and not nearly as well executed as the rest of the book. The ending was just a little too neat for my taste - although I do admit to being surprised which is always a good thing.

Zoe Whithall is an established and respected poet and novelist. She is considered one of the top Canadian writers who won the 2008 Dayne Ogilvie Prize. So why did I dislike this novel so much?

The novel asks the question, what would you do if you found out that your husband, or father is not the beloved person you thought? The husband and father is charged with sexual misconduct against several teenage girls at the high school where he teaches and annually wins the best teacher award and where his daughter is an honors student. The author certainly took on an ambitious topic, and I have learned it took her six years to write this novel, but after the first few chapters there is no meat.

His adult gay son was once bullied, as a student, at the same school, yet somehow it is never mentioned why this wonderful dad and teacher had not even a hint of an idea that this was happening to his son. The wife/mother had my pity at first then her unhappiness was written over and over again until it became ad nauseam. I wanted to slap her to wake up. The teenage daughter, had some depth simply because she was a teenager self medicating in her confusion. And, don’t even start me on the ending, which you will simply have to read yourself to make your own judgments’. I’m simply not sure what all the hype is about.

Good read. This one really makes you think about human nature.

Touching with all the feelings you could imagine. Highly recommend!!!

This is one of those books that you just do not want to come to an end. George Woodbury is the town hero and Teacher of the Year for several years running. when his daughter, Sadie, was in elementary school, George tackled a school shooter before anyone was harmed. His family helped build the community. He is an attentive husband and a caring father. Is he also a pedophile? When Sadie is 17, her father, who also teaches at her elite prep school, is accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with some younger girls. suddenly, Sadie becomes a pariah at her own school and her family is hounded by the media at every turn. Her mother, Joan, feels trapped in a nightmare. Can these allegations be true or are these girls just overreacting to innocuous expressions of concern from their teacher? While George is imprisoned awaiting trial, Sadie and Joan struggle to figure out who George really is and whether the allegations can possibly be true. This is a nuanced story, told from several characters' points of view. It made me ponder my own propensity to believe the worst when I hear of an educator accused of being a sexual predator. The characters are richly layered and very believable. Although Whittall makes some mistakes in her portrayal of the legal system, she does so to make the story more interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will go back and read some of her earlier works.

George Woodbury is a beloved teacher at an elite prep school who is accused of rape by a student. This novel explores the response and processing of this event by the other members of the Woodbury family. A timely topic, the novel starts out strong, but doesn't quite seem to deliver as the story unfolds. The characters did not evoke empathy for me which took away from the story.

The Best Kind of People covers the story of a family impacted by charges against one of them, atrocious charges, and how they try to cope in the months preceding the trial. Four people are thrown out of the context of their lives never envisioning anything this horrific could happen to them.
The father, George Woodbury, is accused of sexual misconduct with four minors and attempted rape of a minor while on a class skiing trip with the school where he teaches. The mother, Joan, is stunned beyond belief as she would never ever have thought anything like this was possible with George. Daughter Sadie does not know what to do. She is a senior at George’s school-a star student and very involved in school activities. Andrew is the oldest child and lives in New York, far away from the stifling community of his parents. He is shocked beyond all reason by the charges and needs to cling to the notion that his father is innocent.
As these lives unravel, each must battle their way back to a new sense of normalcy, one that includes the possibility that George is guilty, no matter how much he says he is innocent. Sadie becomes more and more into marijuana as an escape and envisions herself in love with an older man. Andrew’s relationship with his partner begins to come undone. Joan finds solace in a support group for women in her situation.
If there is resolution, it is in each person finding what they really need in order to cope.

This novel seemed like a Jodi Picoult, Karin Slaughter wannabe....and not quite making it. I didn't care much about the characters because they weren't terribly well-developed and were quite shallow. The content is important but execution of the idea was weak

This book is about family, relationships and loyalty! It is told from the point of view of several characters and how they feel about what is going on. George, the husband. Father, teacher is accused of sexual assault on several students! His son, wife, and daughter, have to decide to believe him or his accusers. It seems like the whole town bans together against the family. The daughters boyfriends "stepfather" writes a book about the whole thing. I enjoyed this book, it keeps you guessing what happens next

This is a provocative and poignant story about an American marriage and family, when the father/husband is arrested.It is also a picture of modern-day suburbia. The plot is well-paced and characters realistically portrayed. I could not put this novel down.

Initially this had me hook, line and sinker in the beginning chapters, but this emotionally charged story of George Woodbury who was once hailed the town hero for stopping a school shooter became a bit tedious towards the later part of the book. George Woodbury, his wife Joan and their two children, grown son Andrew and teenager Sadie have lived a privileged life in a small town called Avalon Hills. They have an idyllic life in a generations old family home until one day allegations of sexual misconduct arise against well respected teacher George. What happens throughout the book is the emotional toll these allegations take on the family, testing their loyalties and what they believe. while I found the subject sensitive I didn't feel anything much for the characters of this family like mainly Joan his wife who struggled with the backlash in the community or for their youngest daughter Sadie with her constant quoting of statistics that unnerved me. As the book progressed towards the end that left me a bit surprised, the actual ending fell a little flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC for an honest review

I loved the book up until the end. I loved the plot, the characters, the writing and the pacing.. All that said I do look forward to reading more from this author. The end to me felt rushed and not realistic. Trust me when I tell you that I wasn't expecting that ending. I don't give out spoilers but the book is good enough to read and you can experience it yourself and see what you think of the ending.

Tough subject and unsatisfying ending - though not unrealistic. Interesting POV.

Other than the ending, which felt contrived, I was very engaged with this book and the conflicts that the major characters were going through. It feels as if it is inspired by many true events, which all great fiction should be!