A Flaw in the Design is a psychological thriller I couldn't put down until the final page! I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a book to keep you up all night with a whopper of an ending.

Sypnosis:

A professor’s life is turned upside down when he takes in his charming, wildly dangerous nephew, whose wealthy parents have just died under mysterious circumstances, in this propulsive, edge-of-your-seat debut psychological thriller.

Thank you #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting premise, although I hated the narrator, which maybe was intentional on the author's part. Book was pretty good otherwise and enjoyed the speed at which the ending picked up I appreciate that in a thriller.

A Flaw in the Design follows Gil, a creative writing professor at a small, liberal arts college in Vermont. Gil lives with his wife, Molly, and their two daughters, Ingrid and Chloe.

They have a rather peaceful life; typical family stuff. That is until Gil's sister and her husband are killed in a car accident, leaving their teenage son, Matthew, an orphan. Since Gil is the boy's Godfather, and closest living relative, they agree to take him in and Matthew joins their family in Vermont.

At this point, you may be thinking things like, 'oh nooooo, what a tragedy, poor Matthew'. You also may be thinking that Gil would welcome his nephew with open arms; like, of course he would lovingly take him in. He's family. But, no, you would be wrong on all accounts. Not poor Matthew, not loving Uncle Gil, zero open arms, forget everything your instincts tell you to think.

The truth is, Gil can't stand his nephew. He thinks Matthew is a spoiled brat. Actually, it's worse than that, he thinks Matthew is evil. They have a history, going back for as long as Gil can remember he has seen a wickedness in Matthew.

After an incident at Matthew's parents Montauk estate, Gil had essentially written him off. Not just Matthew, but his sister and her husband as well. Gill called out Matthew on some unsettling behaviors and his sister refused to believe him. They didn't see much of each other after that.

Regardless, Matthew's legal team is fairly insistent, the boy needs to go live with them in Vermont. The buck stops with Gil. Speaking of bucks, now may be a good time to mention that Matthew's parents were exceedingly wealthy. We're talking tens-of-millions of dollars wealthy.

It's all Matthew's now. Through a series of Trusts, Matthew will live comfortably for the rest of his life and some of that may just trickle down to Gil and his family. A small detail the professor can't ignore.

After Matthew moves in, Gil is extremely uncomfortable. He's not being fooled by Matthew's charming ways. He knows what the boy is capable of and he's not letting down his guard for a moment. As Matthew begins to win over his wife and his daughters, Gil becomes even more desperate for people to see what he sees. It becomes a bit of an obsession.

Matthew can tell his Uncle is on the brink. He likes to push. He's happy to play with the exceedingly unnerved professor, but is it all just a game, or is Gil actually right?

This was a lot of fun to read. The tension is real. It's a true Psychological Thriller. I was impressed with the character work and the depths to which Gil's musings, suspicions and subsequent obsessions were explored.
Matthew was such an interesting character as well. Your quintessential rich bad boy, playing fast and loose with everyone around him. I loved the back-and-forth. It has a real cat-and-mouse vibe, but in an interesting way.

The further I progressed in the story, the more I started to second guess what was happening. Who really is the cat, who really is the mouse, or do we have a cat-cat situation happening? What's up, what's down?!

I made certain assumptions. I believed what the characters were telling me, but was I wrong? Was this an unreliable narrator situation? Side note, I still love an unreliable narrator. It never gets old for me.

You could cut the tension with a knife throughout this story and I loved the ending. I know the ending won't be for everyone, but for me, it left a wicked little grin on my face and nothing makes me happier than that. My only slight critique was that I felt like there were certain sections that dragged a little for me. Anything that didn't involve Matthew directly, I was sort of rushing through to get back to the present action.

With this being said, overall, I really enjoyed this. It was so well plotted and the intensity was super fun and engaging. I am definitely looking forward to picking up more from this author in the future. I walk away impressed.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Random House, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This had me at the edge of my seat. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a smart, edgy, head-spinning Psychological Thriller.

A psychological thriller that will hunt you for a while after you finish reading it.
Gill Duggan a small-town college professor in Vermont and writer is enjoying his peaceful life with wife and kids. Everything changes ones he has been notified of the accident that killed his sister and brother in law. With much apprehension he agrees to let his 17 year old nephew move in till the kid is moving on to college. As you read the book you will understand why Gill is so hesitant and as everybody seems to be so charmed by Matthew, Gill becomes more and more paranoid about the situation. The constant show of financial wealth by the nephew makes it even harder for Gill to accept his own situation. Struggling financially, a bit of a failed author and having dragged his wife away from the possibilities she might have had in New York City. Personally, I like to see a follow-up to this story.

Happy pub day to A Flaw in the Design! This was a wild ride and it was suspenseful, but didn't read like a traditional thriller. I also despised one of the characters, but that actually made this more fun. I enjoyed!

A great psychological thriller that kept me turning page after page! A slow burn thriller, my mind kept trying to guess how it would all end up. Gil, living a quiet life in Vermont as a college professor takes in his nephew, Matthew, when Matthew's parents suddenly die in a car accident. This doesn't come easy because years ago, Gil accused Matthew of almost killing Gil's daughter in a pool accident. As the story unfolds, this books gives off an unsettling feeling and you can't wait to get to the end to see how it all turns out. Highly recommend! Thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse for providing me with an advanced reader copy!

An uncle forced to take in his orphaned nephew who he thinks tried to kill his youngest daughter several years prior. Did the boy really do that? Is he reformed? Is the uncle seeing things that aren't really there? Is the boy playing a vicious game with his uncle? This was a nice suspenseful novel but it felt a lot more like a short story with some filler added in the form of in-class essays from the nephew and then an extra chapter at the end that didn't add anything to the story. I would have preferred that time being spent on character development.

Thanks to Random House for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

A Flaw in the Design follows a family as they take in their estranged nephew after his parents die in a tragic car accident. Gil and Molly (aunt and uncle) have not had contact with Matthew, the 17 year old boy who lost his parents, since there was an accident 6 years before. Things seem to be better when Matthew begins to write stories that he shares with Gil in his creative writing class. This story was a fun read but felt repetitive for the first half. Things really pick up in the last third of the book but the beginning and middle of the book felt like a lot more telling and guessing from an unreliable narrator. I think this story could have been slightly shorter and would have made a better read overall. I think this story had an interesting premise and did make me feel unsettled throughout. I would recommend this book if you enjoy slower paced psychological thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for this read. I would suggest to go into this book know as little as possible. I felt the synopsis gave away a bit too much if you read a lot of thriller novel. The book was quite good as you get into the minds of Gil and Matthew. This book had some works that I had to look up and I enjoy learning something while I reading. The novel was fast paced and intense but some chapters were quite long but it did not make me want to quit reading as the book was interesting.

Gil is living a quiet life as a creative writing professor in a small Vermont town, when he receives some shocking news: His sister and her husband have been killed in a car accident, and their only son is coming to live with him and his family. Gil and his wife are apprehensive about taking in seventeen-year-old Matthew. Yes, he has just lost both his parents, but they haven’t seen him in seven years—and the last time the families were together, Matthew lured their young daughter into a terrifying, life-threatening situation. Since that incident, Gil has been estranged from his sister and her flashy, wealthy banker husband. The boy seems charming, smart, and completely unaffected by his parents’ deaths. Gil is surprised when Matthew signs up for his creative writing class. Then Matthew begins turning in chilling stories about the imagined deaths of Gil’s family and his own parents. Bewildered and panicked, Gil ultimately decides he must take matters into his own hands—before life imitates art.
I have mixed emotions about this book. I was frustrated that it took until chapter 6 for the author to divulge what exactly happened between Matthew and Gil's youngest daughter. It was alluded to every few pages, but the reader has no idea what exactly went on, or why Gil views Matthew as a evil. Also, and I really wanted to like at least one of the characters in the book, but Gil seemed unhinged most of the time, Matthew was a sociopath, Gil's wife Molly seemed to magically forget everything that had transpired previously with Matthew and now found him utterly charming and he could do no wrong in her eyes. The premise of the story was really fresh and unlike anything I had read before, and the author did a good job making the story come to life so you became immersed in the story.

Nathan Oates welds together family drama, suspense and academia into his latest novel, A Flaw In The Design. I was attracted to the slick, modern book cover which perfectly exemplifies the story. The characters are broken pieces of porcelain that aren't quite put together correctly.

Matthew, a recently orphaned 16 year old, feels dangerous. He shows little emotion about the tragic loss of his parents. His uncle’s recollection of Matthews childhood are of a highly disturbed child and a future psychopath. His academic acumen and his situational brilliance portray him as being hundreds of times smarter than and five steps ahead of every adult in his orbit. Gil Duggan is a dull character in comparison. He is a little published author and college professor at a small rural college in Vermont. His lack of wealth and the evils of wealth seem to consume much of his thoughts. He drones on and on about the evils of wealth to the point of detracting from the so-called psychological cat-and-mouse-thriller.

Does Flaw in the Design give readers a creepy, potentially evil antagonist? Yes. Does it give readers an unreliable narrator whose grip on reality is pushed to the edge? Yes. Is the protagonist relatable, empathetic or likable? Not really, and that is my problem with this book. With an unlikable protagonist and an unbelievable antagonist, how do you stay engaged in the story?

The answer is the writing style. Oates throws in literature references that make him and his characters appear well read and intelligent. In fact, those references may inspire readers to delve into more classic reading. The nonlinear plot stays on track with a clear trajectory and crisp pace. The unpredictable journey the Duggan family takes was interesting enough to keep me turning pages of this disturbing story.

5 stars!

A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates literally took my breath away! This debut novel is an intense, touching, and sometimes dark, deep dive into family relationships, fierce fatherly love, and what motivates heroic versus sociopathic destructive behavior.
Gil Duggan is a creative writing professor at a small private college in Vermont. He is fiercely devoted to his daughters Chloe and Ingrid. He deeply loves his wife Molly, who left a burgeoning art career in NYC when they all moved to Vermont for his teaching position. She is calm and supportive of Gil, as he has experienced both highs and deep depression from his writing career and the deaths of his parents. The catalyst for this dynamic, fast-moving, present day drama is the sudden death of Gil’s sister and her wealthy husband. Gil is tasked with taking in their handsome, spoiled, 17 year-old son, Matthew, as his guardian until Matthew comes of age.
No spoilers here!! The action is propulsive as Gil deals with the new member of their household and Gil’s conflicted feelings about this boy-man. I was fully invested in Gil’s emotions, his unwavering protectiveness of his family, and his inner conflicts about doing the right thing for his family and his nephew, all the while mourning the loss of his only sibling.
My heart ached when Gil wrangled with his feelings and, at times, did some questionable things in his laser-eyed pursuit of the truth about Matthew.
All the characters were well-drawn and represented the multi-faceted moving parts in this family drama. The plot tension in the final chapters is epic, and the story kept me on the edge of my seat as it hurtled to a somewhat unexpected conclusion.
The writing is brilliant, nuanced prose that shows mature insight into the complicated family dynamics and motives of all involved, adults and children. There is much to discuss here, and I think this would be a great choice for book clubs to read.
I highly recommend this novel to readers who seek a well-written, intense, suspenseful drama with deeper character studies than the typical psychological thriller.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Nathan Oates for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What could be better than welcoming your teenaged nephew into your home after the death of his parents? Your memories of him as a troubled preteen still flood your thoughts, but you have to pray he has grown up, mellowed out, and will treat your daughters with respect.
Gil, a college professor, is surprised when he enters his writing class and sees Matthew, still in high school, enrolled in his class. A prolific writer, Matthew soons earns his place in class, but is not always the best houseguest. As Matthew starts writing eerie stories about how his parents died and the possibility of the death of Gil’s family, Gil is frightened and starts research on his own.
Is Matthew a killer? Is he planning some new murders? This story will have you guessing until the last page. You won’t want to put this book down.

Matthew once tried to kill Gil's daughter by pushing her in a pool. Since then Gil and his sister, Sharon have been estranged. Sharon and her husband are killed in an accident and Matthew comes to live with Gil and his family. Gil does not like or trust Matthew at all. However, Matthew has started to earn the trust of Gil's wife, Molly, and his two girls. Gil is working to convince everyone of Matthew's true character. Matthew realizes what Gil is doing and works to make Gil look like he is paranoid and that Matthew is innocent. This is a thriller that will keep you wondering who is right and who is wrong.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books that you can’t say much outside of the synopsis without spoiling anything. Unfortunately, there really isn’t much to spoil…

Gil and Molly get notice one day that Gil’s sister and her husband were killed in a car accident, and in their will, they ask that Gil take in their 17-year-old son, Matthew. Matthew’s parents were quite rich, and the arrangement leave Gil and Molly with quite a bit of extra money, which is one of the few reasons they said yes.

One big reason the boy’s uncle doesn’t want to take him in is because Matthew almost killed one of their daughters on a family vacation seven years prior. Everyone assumed that it was an accident, but Gil has always seen an edge, a hint of danger in Matthew’s eyes, and he believes it was no accident.

So they take Matthew in, and he gets along great … with everybody but Gil. Gil is a creative writing professor, and Matthew signed up for his class. You get a couple “book within a book” chapters out of this, but you’ll be left wondering what his writing means. Does he write things for shock value, or to cleanse his soul?

This book was pretty middle-of-the-road for me. I thought the writing was good and the characters were decent, but there was just something missing. It wasn’t very exciting, and the ending left a few questions. Three stars for this one that just didn’t hit the way I wanted it to.

(Thank you to Random House, Nathan Oates and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on March 21, 2023.)

What would you do if your nephew tried to kill one of your children but ends up living with your family due to the untimely death of his parents? Herein lies the dilemma of Gil and Matthew. Told mostly from Gil's point of view, he is an unreliable narrator with some pathology but is he right? Told unsparingly and bluntly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC!

Thank you to Random House for the ARC - Out 21 March

A man’s sister is killed. His family is forced to take in their newly orphaned cousin. Who is a millionaire. And a hottie. And…maybe a murderous psychopath?

Psychological thrillers can be pretty hit or miss for me, which leads me to rarely pick up the genre unless something really gripping comes my way. This new release from Oates was a great bite-sized reminder of how transporting unreliable narrators and spoiled rich con-men can be when I give them the chance.


Read If You
Want a thriller you can read in one-sitting
Are waiting for Timothee Chalamet to have his ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’ moment
Ever had a professor become UNHINGED during a class

A Flaw In The Design is an absolute thriller on so many levels! With psychological twists and turns and characters who somehow grab your heart and then break it, the story is filled with one shocking revelation after another in a gripping story which will carry you through to the last page.

Gil and his wife Molly are hesitatingly awaiting the arrival of Gil’s nephew, Matthew. Gil’s late sister and brother-in-law, who died in a tragic car accident in New York City had made Gil the guardian of Matthew. Since he is seventeen, he is coming to live with Gil, his wife and their two girls in Vermont until he goes off to college next year.

But the last time Gil’s family had actually seen Matthew was many years prior he tried to hurt one of his girls, allegedly. This heinous act caused a terrible rift between himself and his sister with Gil begging her to get Matthew help.

So as Gil waits for Matthew’s plane to land, he can’t help but feel this is a bad idea. Certainly, Matthew is much older than he was when the incident occurred, but he can’t help but feel a lack of trust in the boy and have a great deal of fear in being able to protect his own family. Although Matthew became very wealthy when his parents died, and Gil will be paid generously monthly for taking Matthew in, something still does not feel right about the situation.

Seriously, what could go wrong? He would only be at their house a few short months before he heads to college and be on his own.

When Matthew arrives, he seems to fit right into the family. As a matter of fact, Molly and the girls are taken with his charm. No mention is made about what happened. Gil’s senses are heightened to make sure Matthew is not being sneaky. Gil also finds out Matthew who is still in high school will be in his writing workshop at the college he works at for credits toward his degree.

Then Gil starts to see a few flaws in Matthew’s personality. He notices he’s beginning to go outside to make secret cell phone calls. He notices a difference in the way he is behaving in front of his daughters and especially his wife Molly. Everything in him feels Matthew is hiding something. But what could it be? When he mentions this to Molly, she seems to think it’s Gil’s imagination.

Through more snooping, Gil discovers perhaps Matthew is not the saint he is trying to portray, but the bad seed he had seemed. And then Matthew writes a story in the workshop which stuns and confirms Gil’s worst fears. It’s all been an act. But when Gil confronts Matthew, he is able to turn the tables and make Gil look like the bad person.

It is now up to Gil to find a way to prove Matthew is vey dangerous. He must be stopped before he can do any more harm than he already has. Because he will.

A Flaw In The Design is a fitting title, because in reality we all have flaws. Some more dangerous than others. The story reads like being on a roller coaster. There were so many emotions along the way. So much fear for the characters which we wanted to be protected. The ending? Well…flawless!

Thank you #NetGalley #RandomHouse #NathanOates #AFlawInTheDesign for the advanced copy.

Publication Date: March 21, 2023

Gil, a creative writing professor at Essex University in a lovely, quiet town in Vermont where he is living part of the American dream which he has always wanted with his beautiful and selfless wife along with their two daughters who Gil simply adores. The only things missing in Gil's life are the books he was supposed to have written alhthough he keeps working on and the never-ending need for more financial support due to the countless bills that continue to accumulate as the girl's keep getting older and the salary for a professor just isn't enough for the cost of living in today's world. Granted, they are not poor by any means but they just can't seem to get ahead of their many debts yet Gil is very happy and content with his beautiful family and home life and he's a smart man to recognize his many blessings. One afternoon Gil receives a call that shatters his existence informing him that his millionaire sister and brother-in-law have tragically died in a car accident that leaves him the sole legal guardian of their seventeen year old son, Matthew, along with an insurmountable amount of money paid to them as caregivers until Matthew has graduated college. Shocked to his core, Gil is beside himself with grief, fury and frustration over the news that Matthew will be living in his home with his family. Gil had not seen his sister (Sharon) and her family in over six years, not since the bitter fight over Gil accusing Matthew of intentionally causing harm (where she almost died) to his five-year old innocent daughter. Matthew had always been a spoiled, belligerent child who was quite toxic to be around but Sharon endlessly excused his behavior causing the boy to feel more entitled to his disregard of right and wrong.

At seventeen, Matthew is the picture of a well-bred, mannerly, handsome and highly intelligent young man that any person would be glad to know. How can this be the same child whom Gil had been harboring many grudges against? Is this even possible? Sure, people can change but there is absolutely not one particle of the boy bully who tore apart Gil's relationship with his sister. Now, Gil questions himself over and over about the wrongness of the boy then and now. Was Gil mistaken over Matthew's intent years ago and only saw the events in black & white where he exaggerated the terrifying event at that time because it was his own little daughter who was hurt and he couldn't see past his own feelings instead of recognizing that Matt was also only a child at the time and maybe Gil had been completely mistaken because of his own protective nature and fierce love of his precious child being injured. Can Gil objectively welcome this boy-man into being a part of their family or will the monetary payout be the only reason to take Matt in since all of their financial difficulties could be resolved almost overnight. With this type of thinking what does this make of Gil as an upstanding and conscientious person? Is Gil any better now than what he imagined Matthew to be all those years ago? Time will tell since Gil's family opens up to Matt and welcomes him into their hearts and lives. Although silent, Gil refuses to let go of the past and the grudge grows heavier with each day that passes even though Matt passes each and every test of being trustworthy. Gil is obsessed with trying to trap Matthew into a lie and now he causing rifts and imbalances within his own family that is now starting to grow out of control and alienating the ones closest to his heart. What does Gill want to prove? As the days turn into weeks Gil's obsession never ends and Matt seems to be tuned in but what does that mean? The family home has turned into a simmering pot of tension, suppressed negative feelings, a sense of claustrophobia threatening to boil over into a burning abyss that no-one could have imagined leaving behind scars and heartbreak which cannot be healed once the damage takes place.

An intriguing and frightening look into the mind of a husband and father obsessed with being correct about a child he had once deemed as evil growing up into a seemingly wholesome and upstanding young man. I think this would be a great book for a group discussion read to seek out many different variables against Gil versus Matthew. There are so many intricate dynamics working beneath the surface that one may not be aware of at first so don't read too quickly or you may miss some of the psychological nuances that seem simple at first but will carry heavyweight factors that aren't clearly seen. The storytelling and writing are so good. I cannot imagine how earth shattering it would be to be caught up in any type of obsession. This book shows how it can truly knock a man off his rocker but then you have to wonder what if the man was right to worry so and be crazed about all the what if's? The last quarter of the book was quite the cat chasing the mouse leading to a stunning climax that really bowled me over (in the best way). A truly great (head shrinker) psychological mystery following the path of what lies at the end of the Obsessive Brick Road.

I want to thank the publisher "Random House Publishing Group - Random House" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC which was a giftted book from the publisher in response to my request and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this novel a rating of 4 SIMMERING AND OBSESSIVE 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

This one is probably closer to a 3.5 for me. I feel like the build up was really good and the whole time it could have gone one of two ways - usually I can see it coming but this time it kept me guessing which I enjoyed. But the ending didn't tie things up enough for me and I wanted more. But it's definitely a page turner and I enjoyed it.