3.5 Who To Blame Stars
Oh, this has a very interesting premise. A Flaw in the Design is just that. There are two families, related but very different from each other. The status of one is high, wealthy, with a son, and set in the way society plays. The other is making a go of it, a professor at a small college with two daughters.

There is a conflict of course, and this conflict caused by the son to one of the daughters causes an estrangement. Then the unthinkable happens. The parents of the son die in a horrible car accident and the only people to take care of the 17-year-old son is the uncle who has been distant for years.

What happens next is the cat-and-mouse game all about jealousy, wealth, envy, and terror. Interesting Tale.

The Duggan family, Gil, his wife Molly and their children Chloe and Ingrid were living a quiet life in Vermont. Due to the mysterious death of his sister Sharon and her husband Niles, their family was advised that they’d have to take in their nephew Matthew until he finished the school year.
Gil and his family had not seen his sisters family since he insinuated that something tragically dangerous had happened at their home on their last visit, possibly because of Matthew. Due to this event, Gil is skeptical about having his nephew in his home. Gil, over time actually creates negative stories in his mind about Matthew and his attitude toward him declines.
Matthew is now enrolled in Gil’s Fiction Writing class. Matthew proceeds to write chilling stories about Gil’s family as well as his own parents demise. This sends Gil reeling.
A private investigator calls Gil to advise him that they may have a suspect in his sister’s case. He has also been advised not to leave the country. Also he is told that Matthew should not leave as well. As time goes on Gil’s suspicions get worse and lead to this story becoming a page turner all the way up to the ending.
A Flaw in the Design seemed more like a suspense novel to me. Although the premise and the storyline were entertaining, I did not enjoy these characters and that made the story drag a bit in the beginning for me, but after awhile it picked up at around 50-65%. I also wanted Gil to stop calling Matthew “the boy”. I’m guessing this was part of the writing style and I had to force myself to get used to this to finish the book.
I was extremely happy to find out about Gil’s past in NYC. It helped me with analysis of his character and motives.
I especially enjoyed the ending of this story. It could possibly be considered a cliff hanger, however it was a good ending just the same. I’d give this story 3.5 stars. Good Reads does not have a half star for ratings.

Have you ever felt like something was off with someone? Like there was a more sinister side to them?

When Gil’s seventeen-year-old nephew comes to live with his family, he’s apprehensive about taking him in. His sister and her husband were killed in a car accident, so naturally he feels it’s his responsibility to care for him. But the last time Gil saw Matthew was seven years ago when he was visiting his sister’s family, and Matthew had allegedly lured Gil’s daughter into a life-threatening situation.

Now Gil is trying to put the past behind him, but Matthew is showing signs that he hasn’t changed one bit. For starters, he has displayed no signs of grief since his parents’ deaths, which in and of itself is a bit of a red flag. He also submits stories to Gil’s creative writing class that are extremely unsettling and touch on matters that are a little too close to home. Gil quickly becomes unhinged by his obsession to prove that his nephew is not as charming as everyone thinks he is, and as his fear for his family’s safety grows, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

I thought this was a suspenseful and intriguing read, especially because no one seems to know the real Matthew. He lets others see what he wants them to see, and Gil is the only one that sees the little devil on his shoulder. Matthew knows he’s feeding into his uncles obsession with him, and after a while you begin to question. Who is the cat and who is the mouse in the game. The end was a bit of a shocker, though not the ending I expected. Either way, it is totally worth reading and I look forward to reading more from Nathan Oates.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing a copy of this book to review.*

I like the plot, even though I don’t love how it develops. An uncle has to take care of his nephew after his parents unexpectedly passed away. But the teenager has a not so great history with his family. He has to grieve his niece and yet at the same time accept that the boy is maybe a better person now. The first thing he does is enroll in his uncle’s fiction class. And some of the writings make the uncle wonder if he truly changed.

Gil and Molly’s 17 year old nephew comes to live with them after the death of his parents. They are very apprehensive as their last interaction with him was terrifying. Gil and Molly are hopeful that in the intervening years Matthew has changed. Gil is constantly wary and keeps his attention focused on Matthew. Has Matthew really changed or has he matured into something worse? I loved the suspense and the great buildup to the end of the book. I’m a little unsure whether or not I liked the ending but overall a great read.

Special thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I really wouldn't describe this book as a thriller, more a bit of suspense. This book is about a child, Matthew, whose parents die and his uncle Gil is not so partial to taking him in because of a certain instance that happened a few years ago. And when Gil finally decides, well Matthew is the perfect guest, at first.

This hit close to home for me, do kids become how we raise them or just born bad. In my experience with my stepdaughter, she was a sweet girl and after a lot of abuse by her mother has such inner rage.

The book is a bit dark but if you like that,it's for you. 3.7 stars

This book started off very well for me. I breezed through the first half, but as it went along, I lost interest.
When Gil's sister and brother-in-law die unexpectedly, Gil's family must take in his teenage nephew. Matthew is a millionaire and possibly a murderer.
The story is from Gil's perspective, and he is a very unreliable narrator. You get bit and pieces of the past mixed in to help explain the dynamic between uncle and nephew.
I felt like a lot of the storyline didn't actually go anywhere, and the ending was very ambiguous.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Published by Random House on March 21, 2023

Some of the most intriguing crime novels are built on ambiguity. Who is the criminal? Was there even a crime? Is a seemingly villainous character the innocent victim of a false accusation? Is the accuser mistaken or malicious? Ambiguity is a page-turning force in A Flaw in the Design.

Matthew Westfallen became an orphan at 17 when his wealthy parents died in a hit-and-run accident. Their will nominated Gil and Molly Duggan to be Matthew’s guardian. Matthew’s mother, Sharon, was Gil’s sister. Gil and Molly already have two kids, Ingrid and Chloe.

Sharon married into money and, in Gil’s view, became a “vacuous shell” of her former self. Gil does not understand why she would give up the mediocre income of academia to live a “life among unctuous braggarts.” Sharon always wanted money and Gil always looked down on people who had it.

Gil and Molly haven’t had contact with Matthew’s parents in many years. Gil is less than pleased to have Matthew move from his Manhattan residence to the Duggans’ Vermont home. Six years earlier, when Matthew was a troubled child, he threw Ingrid into a swimming pool, nearly causing her to drown. Or at least that’s what Gil believes. He told Ingrid to stay away from the pool, fell asleep on a lounge chair, and was awakened by the splash. Matthew’s parents refused to believe that Matthew did anything wrong. Ingrid had no reason to lie and Matthew admitted he threw her into the pool, but his confession was sufficiently sarcastic that its accuracy was ambiguous. In Gil’s view, Matthew is a force of evil, the kind of kid who is looked upon with suspicion when the cat disappears.

Gil is a one-book writer who earns a modest living as a professor at a small college. While Gil and Molly are worried about living with Matthew, they’re also happy to have the monthly $10,000 payment that Matthew’s parents provided as a gratuity for their efforts. Matthew has his own money in a trust that comes with a generous allowance, so Gil is free to use the money to pay down the family’s debt. Declining the guardianship would cause the family to lose a welcome windfall.

Gil’s reservations seem to be misplaced. When Matthew arrives, he’s polite, engaging, quite the opposite of the arrogant brat they expected, although Gil believes that snarky judgment accompanies Matthew’s “cool New York irony.” Chloe is about Gil’s age and views him as an exciting and generous companion. At the same time, Matthew doesn’t seem to be grieving the loss of his parents. Of course, “orphan goes to live with parents and turns out to be nice” wouldn’t be much of a story, so later events give the reader (and Gil) new reasons to question Matthew’s character.

Matthew gets an advanced placement at the college where Gil teaches. He takes Gil’s fiction writing class and writes a story that suggests ways that children might die, including death by drowning. Gil is convinced that Matthew is writing about Gil’s daughters. Gil understandably loses his mind, perhaps literally. Bad things are going to happen, but will they happen to Matthew, Gil, or one of Gil’s daughters?

A Flaw in the Design is a sneaky novel. For most of the story, Matthew seems to be a prototypical kid who was “born evil,” the kind of horror novel character who will burn down his parents’ house before graduating from high school. But no bad deeds are explicitly narrated, leaving room for doubt. Did he really throw Ingrid into the pool? Was he involved in his parents’ death? Did he get Chloe drunk at a party? Is he poisoning the minds of other students against Gil? Or are Gil’s suspicions the product of an increasingly addled mind?

Perhaps Matthew is taunting Gil, revealing truths about his actions in the stories he writes for Gil’s class. Or perhaps he’s just pulling Gil’s chain. Gil seems to be the only one who recognizes that Matthew is a monster, but Gil might not be entirely stable. He follows Gil for no apparent reason. He eavesdrops on Matthew’s telephone conversations. He bases accusations on skinny evidence. He frightens students by screaming at Matthew in class. In his mind, his irrational behavior is justified. Is Matthew the bad guy or are his evil deeds a product of Gil’s imagination, compounded by Gil’s resentment of wealth? The ambiguity grows as the novel progresses.

Gil is developed in more depth than the other characters. We learn about his MFA years and failed writing career, his reactions to 9/11 and his parents’ death, his ambiguous suicide attempt, his hatred of New York and of horses (because they belong to the world of “the dilettante rich”), his love of Vermont. That character development makes it possible for a reader who will instinctively dislike Matthew to wonder if faith in Gil’s judgment is misplaced.

The story builds to a surprising ending. It is dramatic, but the drama is not overplayed. Ambiguity is not entirely resolved with evidence, but firmly planted clues will allow the reader to form conclusions about Matthew and Gil. That the reader will never know whether those conclusions are correct is a reflection of life. Nathan Oates’ reliance on ambiguity and characterization to build a clever story makes A Flaw in the Design a good choice for fans of cerebral crime fiction.

RECOMMENDED

I received an eARC of this book thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse and it published less than a month ago.

Gil is living his dream life in a small Vermont town complete with wife and two kids. Then, he receives news that his sister and brother-in-law have perished in a terrible car accident leaving their son orphaned. Seventeen year old Matthew comes to live with his uncle and family, practically an adult but still needing a few more months of parental supervision.

Only, Matthew is not your average seventeen year old…Gil is pretty sure the boy has been evil from birth, as evidenced by maliciously biting his own grandmother, Gil’s mother. Then, there’s a VERY questionable situation between Matthew and one of Gil’s daughters that drives a firm rift between Gil and his sister….both firmly supporting their own child’s account.

And now Matthew is in Gil’s house. Eating his food. Undermining Gil. And appearing yet more sociopathic…

This book was a bit freaky for me. Hence, my freaky Friday vibes. This book checks all the psychological thriller boxes and the ending is left a bit…open. I’m not sure if Oates intends to write a sequel or wants you to draw your own conclusions. 🤔

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves psychological twists and sociopath characters…climb aboard this freaky fictional ride. But, if that’s not your vibe or if you only read the occasional thriller…you could skip this one.

Well. This book has a really intriguing premise but unfortunately I just had *a lot* of problems with it. Honestly, if this hadn't been an ARC, I probably would've DNFed it. But I had a little time on my hands and nothing to do but read this book so I powered through.

So. This is *supposed* to be a game of cat and mouse between a grown man and his almost adult nephew. But only one of them was actually, well, intelligent and acted like an adult. And it wasn't the uncle. I found Gil to be REALLY annoying. This was an incredibly slow burn and at about the halfway mark, I was ready to throw Gil off of something very, very tall.

Matthew was unlikable but at least he was a more rounded character. He was also, honestly, way more intelligent than his uncle and a lot of his "taunts" were things I would've done as well. (Like writing essays about his uncles assumptions. If you want to be a paranoid, not subtle dick, I would've taken full advantage of that as well.)

This could've been an excellent bit of suspense but unfortunately Gil was just not written in a way to make that believable. So instead this just felt like a slow build... to nothing.

The two twists at the end also felt tacked on just to *have* a twist. The first one I've seen in other books and I've hated it every single time. It does possibly explain why Gil comes across as he does but it also felt like a cheap way to cover up some not great writing. And the second twist was better but it felt more like a beginning than an ending.

So. Overall I just did not enjoy this. It had the makings of a great little thriller but, unfortunately, I just don't think the execution was there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review!

A Flaw In The Design had a really interesting storyline and I found myself really intrigued on where this story would go! The narrator was a little shifty and had me questioning everything. I loved how it all came together! I read this book in a day and look forward to reading more from this author!

Was definitely not expecting to love this one as much as I did, so I’m pleasantly surprised! This is an amazing dark academia/domestic thriller— the cat-&-mouse game Gil and Matthew is so intense, and the tension remains high throughout the entirety of the novel & long after it ends. Wonderful debut, I would highly recommend & will for sure be checking out his work in the future!

A taut story rife with uncertainty and doubt.
Gil is a struggling writer and also a professor of creative writing at the local college. Although the money is tight, he, his wife and two teen daughters are living a fairly comfortable life. When his sister and brother-in-law are killed in an accident that may or may not have been planned, his now orphaned nephew, Matthew, comes to live with his family. Something happened, or not, in the past though that made Gil and his wife leery of their troubled nephews actions. Matthew is sweet, charming and intelligent but seems indifferent to his parents passing. Matthew quickly gets in his aunt's and cousins good graces but Gil can't let what he believed to have happened when his girls were younger, go. If Gil is right, the lives of his family might be in danger or could it be that he has let his imagination get away from him? I was on the fence about what to believe right up to the final chapters and conclusion.

This one is really well written. The author does a great job of building suspense while leaving just enough doubt to make you wonder if Gil is right or not. While there is an ending to the book it is left up to your imagination as to what happens next in the story. I for one wouldn't mind a sequel.


Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the early copy to read, review and enjoy.

This novel is about an uncle who takes in his teenaged nephew after the teenagers parents die in a hit and run accident. The book is keeps you guessing as to what is really going on until the bitter end. While the story doesn't track The Talented Mr. Ripley, the narration reminded me of Ripley.

This was a phenomenal read. I think it was more literary fiction with a strong undercurrent of suspense than it was a true thriller, but other than that, not a single complaint about this brilliantly written novel. The writing was amazing. So beautiful without being overwrought. It moved a little slowly in the first half but I barely noticed as I was so taken in by the complex unfolding of the characters’ backstory. And that ending is BEGGING for a sequel. Just like me.

Matthew is sent to live with his uncle, Gil, after his parents die in an accident. There is an incident that occurred when Matthew was younger that really left Gil and his family uncomfortable being around Matthew. So when he comes to live with them, there is major tension. The incident is slowly revealed over the course of the book.

The pace was fast and I needed to know what the outcome was going to be and definitely did not see that ending coming!

My biggest issue was that Gil was quite annoying and neurotic. I am sure I would be too if in the same situation, but it made for a somewhat unpleasant reading experience.

Originally published in the Erie Reader:

Gil’s life has been idyllic for more than a decade: after making the move from New York City to the countryside of Vermont and becoming an English professor at a local college, he now lives a peaceful life with his wife and two daughters – until his nephew comes to stay. In Nathan Oates’ A Flaw in the Design, fiction and fact blur together to create a suspenseful mystery where not everything is as it seems.

When Gil’s estranged sister and brother-in-law die in a mysterious accident, Gil is surprised to find that they’ve left guardianship of their teenaged son Matthew to him, as the falling out between himself and his sister involved the sinister actions of the boy against one of Gil’s daughters seven years ago.

Now seemingly changed, Matthew shows little of the boy he used to be, instead putting forth a persona of ease and charm, lulling those around him into a false sense of security. Gil, however, still harbors some guilt as well as anger toward the boy, not forgetting the day in which he put his daughter’s life in danger.

Although he hopes to put the past behind them, Gil starts to suspect the boy of having ulterior motives when he enrolls in one of his uncle’s creative writing classes and begins turning in sinister stories with details that are too close for comfort. When it seems that things may progress further, Gil feels he must take matters into his own hands in order to protect himself and his family, and expose the truth about his nephew.

While unreliable narrators are often used in the suspense genre, in this case it is up to the reader to determine how much or how little stock to put in each of the characters Oates uses in his novel. Through the use of third-person narration throughout, though the focus tends to be on Gil’s perspective, Oates carefully crafts a mind-bending thought puzzle, leading readers down a rabbit hole of paranoia surrounding Gil and Matthew.

Written in compulsive prose and with the makings of a one-session read, Nathan Oates’ A Flaw in the Design will keep gears turning and minds thinking up until the very end.

Great first read for me from this Author. A total psychological thriller from beginning to end.
Main protagonist- Gil and his family take in his nephew, and let the obsession begin. A cat and mouse scenario ensues that definitely keeps the reader on the alert. I look forward to reading more from this Author.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and the Author dor an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gil is a creative writing professor in a small Vermont town, enjoying life with his wife and daughter. He'd been estranged from his sister and her wealthy husband after their son lured his daughter into a dangerous situation. After Gil's sister and her husband are killed in an accident, however, seventeen year old Matthew must come to live with Gil and his family. Matthew seems unaffected by the deaths, and soon enrolls in Gil's class. He writes stories about the deaths of Gil's family and his own parents, terrifying Gil. He's unwilling to simply let something terrible happen, and will take matters into his own hands.

From the start, Gil was suspicious of Matthew and read ulterior motives into every gesture, silence and statement. We learn that it's based on eleven year old Matthew mocking him and pushing Gil's youngest daughter into a pool when she couldn't swim. Now he's seventeen, taller and stronger than Gil, richer and more charming, not showing any grief outwardly. It sets Gil on edge, so when Matthew writes the short story with deaths to characters that look like Gil's daughters, he freaks out. His paranoia is really uncomfortable to read, and his life with that level of agitation must be terrible to live through. He certainly never seems happy, and that carries through every scene.

I find Gil so unpleasant to read that I could only read for up to twenty minutes or so at a time. The flashes of "evil Matthew" are interspersed through the text, and Gil certainly comes across as jealous of him and the way he grew up. I kept reading to find out if Matthew was truly evil, or if Gil had so much prejudice that he was incapable of seeing any positive behavior. It felt like he had pushed Matthew into that villain box from the start, and refused to let him out. Gil became obsessive with it, and I was more and more disconnected from him even as the plot progressed. As much as they bait each other, Gil is a grown man who should know better. This is the literary equivalent of rubbernecking: it's an awful situation that is still compelling, so you can't look away. The book is brilliantly written, and the ending is not what I had predicted at all. If you like stories with unreliable and unpleasant narrators, this is an excellent example.

A Flaw In the Design was such an out of the ordinary read. Just based on the synopsis, I was immediately intrigued and couldn’t wait to read it. Gil and his wife and two daughters are about to take in Gil’s nephew, whose parents have just died. Gil is grappling with his grief for losing his estranged sister, while also struggling with his jealousy of the entitled and rich and simultaneous distrust for his nephew based on an incident that happened years ago between his nephew and one of his daughters. The entire time I was reading, I disliked Gil and was disappointed that it seemed to be just another unreliable narrator story. When I got to the last 25%, I just kept flipping pages as the twist was so, well, twisty! I did not anticipate the ending, and the sort of cliffhanger at the end had me wondering what exactly I just read. Overall, I enjoyed the story and would recommend giving it a try.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.