One of the Good Guys is an interesting as well as though provoking drama.

Cole has moved away from his home in London after the breakup of his marriage. While the breakup is still fresh, he tries to understand what went wrong in the marriage. He meets Lennie who lives nearby, and they develop a friendship.

Two young female activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through where Cole and Leonora live. They both become suspects in their disappearance.

I struggled with this book from the very beginning. I didn't really care about any of the characters. The story felt a bit disjointed for me. The book is mostly told from Cole and Mel's point of view, which were more of a he said she said situation. Relationships between genders are complex and tough to understand in the best of circumstances. This book felt as if it went from a drama to a political argument. The book just wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

One Of The Good Guys, by Araminta Hall

Short Take: Like ringing a doorbell with a sledgehammer.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Good morning, my beloved Nerdlings! Today’s a busy one, so I’m going to jump right in.

In One of the Good Guys, Cole (the titular Good Guy) is coming off a nasty divorce, and figuratively licking his wounds by working as a forest ranger in a tiny cliffside town in England. It’s there that he meets Leonora, a free-spirited artist who he is immediately attracted to.

However, there’s also trouble brewing in the midst of their budding romance. Two young women, walking across England to bring awareness to violence against women, disappear from their tent. Of course Cole and Leonora find themselves smack dab in the middle of everything, and of course Everyone Has Secrets and OF COURSE there’s a Shocking Twist.

But also, not really.

Duckies, this is a very hard book to review, and I think that’s probably the author’s intention. We are told over and over and over and over (and over and over and over) the many, multiple, and myriad ways that women are abused and taken advantage of by men who assume that their wants are all that matters.

And I agree, I see it all too often. Women, by and large, are living an impossible dichotomy. According to whichever flavor of misogyny someone prefers, we have both taken over everything and feminized male spaces and claimed mens’ jobs and status and destroyed masculinity, while simultaneously being the smaller, weaker, dumber sex who spend all our time on frivolous, meaningless pursuits. We are meant to be powerless, while also being held responsible for the bad behavior of whatever man is in our proximity.

Frankly, it’s exhausting, and so is this book.

I’m genuinely not sure if the constant, repetitive Battle Of The Sexes being played out among our main characters and various social media and news groups is meant to make me think, or make me angry. Mostly, it just made me sad and tired. Because it’s nothing but the worst of both sides, and endless reminders of how little most people are willing to try to understand the other side. There are plenty of men out there with ill intentions, but there are also many who are just clueless or careless or have never been taught to think about the effect of their behavior on others. There are so many men who want to do better, but are afraid to have the conversation of how to start, because women are (rightfully) angry about all of it.

It’s a systemic, societal problem that has been going on for centuries. I don’t know if there’s a solution out there, but I don’t think that the kind of discourse in this book will help in any way. Ms. Hall brings up a lot of gray areas and drowns them in black and white rhetoric.

However, lest anyone think that I’m just reacting emotionally & irrationally to criticism (as we women do, of course), there are other problems with this book. For one thing, the big reveal was entirely too easy to figure out. There was a whole thing about Cole having migraines & blackouts, mentioned many times by several characters, that just disappeared after a lot of buildup.

All that said, however, I didn’t want to put it down till I finished. I don’t know if it’s that the story was engaging enough, warts and all, or if I was just hoping for some kind of redemption, or growth, or something that never quite came.

The Nerd’s Rating: THREE HAPPY NEURONS (and some non-rabbit stew).

I have such mixed feelings about this book! So many things fit into so few pages! Truly impressed with the overall punch of this book for being so short. At times I either loved or hated most of the characters, which I guess is a sign of good character development! How the story was presented did a terrific job of highlighting how one situation can be viewed in multiple ways and at several moments in the book I thought back to events in my own life and how I've remembered them. I did struggle a bit with pacing and formatting when we got to the final third-ish of the book. There was so much bouncing around that it felt both distracting and at the same time I was wondering if I was missing something. I wish it had been a bit smoother and more consistent throughout the book. But, this is definitely a book to make you think!

One of the best thrillers I’ve read!

The book has multiple POVs, which I love, and the progression of the story is paced in a way that keeps you hooked.

An insightful (and disturbing) look at how violence against women can be perpetrated under the mask of love.

I will be reading anything that Araminta Hall publishes (I’ve previously read Our Kind of Cruelty and really enjoyed it, also).

One of the Good Guys
Araminta Hall
4 stars

Out 1/9/24

We know what the bad guys look and sound like but what about “one of the good guys”?

Cole moves to a rural cottage after splitting with his wife and meets an artist living next door. Two young women are marching to raise awareness & funds for violence against women and once they stop near Cole’s countryside, they abruptly go missing.

Three distinct POVs, jumping timelines, includes mixed media with text messages, tweets, reddit threads, etc. Engaging and uncomfortable at times, I see how this is published by Gillian Flynn’s new imprint.

This thriller holds up a mirror to our big ugly reality of the culture of violence in our world. It’s a deeply disturbing read because it works off our very real fear in today’s day and age.It amplifies how differently society reacts to men’s vs women’s experiences. Thought-provoking and leaves much for an ongoing discussion.

I’d picture this book suggested alongside Luckiest Girl Alive (book + movie) and Promising Young Woman (movie).

‼️ massive content warnings to check before reading!

Thank you Zando Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Ok! So this one is really different than most of my books. First of all the writing was fabulous! Totally loved it. The content was a major turn-off for me. I’m just really tired of ‘man bashing’ books. This was major overkill on this topic. Again, the writing was superb. I would definitely read this author again (although I’ll read the blurb before I engage.
Thank you NetGalley, Araminta Hall and Zando for the opportunity to read and review this book

Everyone thinks Cole is the definition of a perfect man so when his wife Mel leaves him and demands a divorce he can’t understand what he has done wrong – he is sensitive, caring, loving, and always looking out for what is best for her and their marriage. He is just not like other men.

Cole decides to change his life and moves out of the city to a cottage in a remote coastal location where he meets Lennie, a artist who is also recovering from her own personal heartbreak. Lennie is relaxed, free spirited and comfortable in her own skin and Cole decides she is much more what he needs in a partner.

The tranquillity of his new life and fledgling relationship with Lennie is interrupted though when two young girls go missing whilst they are protesting against male violence. Cole and Lennie become embroiled in the police investigation.

The story is told through multiple narratives helping the reader gain perspective from all the characters, which really develops the story. This book was thought provoking and made me rage at times, as the mother of two teenage daughters. Why aren’t women safe walking home at night alone? Is anyone really as they seem? This is a clever thriller and I think all women should read it.

Thanks to Gillian Flynn Books for gifting me this arc via NetGalley.

One of the Good Guys is one of the books coming out next week. It is a bonkers thriller about a man whose marriage fell apart so he moved to a remote seaside town outside of London when he becomes embroiled in the disappearance of two missing activist women (protesting against violence against women). This book was twisted. The most unreliable narrators, the biggest plot twists, clever use of social media, news stories and podcast clips interspersed to mix things up, and timely commentary on social issues and how society treats, supports and believes women. It definitely kept my interest until the very end and it was clever in how it all unfolded.

“Gender relations are so f*cked. I don’t know how we’re going to come back from it.”

———————-

“And I know, historically, it’s been hard to be a woman but, my god, it’s hard to be a man right now.”

———————-

OMG - I’m not sure I’ll ever stop thinking about this book. If the quotes above make you angry… read this book. I’m not sure how men will feel about it but women will love the renegade justice and unique way of presenting female fear in relation to the threat of the seemingly harmless male who is capable of great violence.

Generally, I’m not one for a heavy handed commentary, especially on evolving gender roles. But, this was so expertly done that I found myself loving it more, the more I hated the characters. At first you have no idea what is going on and have one view of each person and then the perspective changes and wow. Then I found myself debating my own thoughts and feelings as I went. What a complete mind-f*ck! This is exactly what I want in a psychological thriller. Go in blind, I promise you, it’s better that way.

Read this one if you liked The Power or The Collective.

Thanks to Gillian Flynn Books for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

I was hooked from the beginning, and I loved seeing the different POV and changing my mind on the characters as I read the book. I definitely didn't see the plot twist coming, and altough I think it might seem a bit anticlimactic to some people, I thought it was quite intersting and thought-provoking. It would probably make a great book club discussion!

This book certainly caught my attention, and I ended up reading it in big chunks, continually finding myself getting sucked into the story and needing to read more and more to see what happened next. The author paints a fantastic atmosphere, and I think the setting of the novel really contributed to that -- I found the descriptions of the cabins and the beaches to be very rich and I felt like I was there.

I also found that this is one of a small handful of thriller novels that I've genuinely been surprised by some of the twists - I normally find myself rolling my eyes at predictability, but I thought that the pacing and reveals of this book were really well done. That being said, I found the 'mystery' itself to be slightly overdone -- it falls a little too far into the girlboss 'Gone Girl' & 'Promising Young Women' genre for my taste.

Overall, though, I found this book to be a very captivating and thriller read, where the setting really thrives as does the morally grey narration.

A very interesting look into the dynamics between men and women. This book has plenty of twists and turns. I was never sure where it was going. I like books with surprises and this one didn’t disappoint.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Gillian Flynn Books, for this advanced reader's copy.

In general, this book was intriguing to me and kept me interested for the majority of it. I like how it took a spin I wasn't expecting and how we saw various, unexpected scheming from different characters.

I think it's a very direct, in your face social commentary on misogyny, women's rights, and gaslighting. I can't really put my finger on what it is that I didn't like. Perhaps it's so on the nose that it's almost a forgettable book? I don't know.

It definitely gave me a lot to think about, and not so pleasant thoughts, in regards to my own relationship with my husband in my marriage. So for that it's definitely a win.

It's a book for a teen audience and above. I think the social commentary can get many thinking about crucial questions.

I found this book a bit hard to review because I am not sure I agree with the manner the woman played him. But it made interesting reading. It did bring problems to light as why do woman so often feel like they are the ones at fault? Why do they bend to the extreme to accommodate a husband? Why do they keep making excuses for the treatment they receive? Mental abuse can often be more damaging to a person than physical abuse. In the meanwhile, the husband keeps thinking he is the greatest good guy ever. I hope you take the time to read the book with all the twist and turns it will make you wonder who is the bad person here?

Newly separated from his wife , Cole leaves London for a fresh start in the countryside. He accepts a job as a wildlife ranger and settles into his cozy seaside cottage. When he meets Leonora, the reclusive artist living next door, he is instantly charmed by her warm and gentle spirit. But as the two forge a connection on the cliff’s edge they call home, two young women activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through. Cole and Leonora find themselves in the middle of a police investigation and resulting media firestorm as the world learns of what happened, and as the tension escalates, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other that well after all.

The first half of the book is told in Cole's POV, and then the second half switches to his ex-wife's POV. Scattered throughout are social media posts about the women activists. Needless to say, there are always two sides to every story, and and this is no exception. When you read Cole's version of events he looks like a harmless, misunderstood man who loved his wife dearly and just wanted to be married with children. When you hear her version, you see a very different side of Cole, a much darker side and it is hard to reconcile the two. The nastiness of the social media posts, while integral to the story, left me feeling icky. Unfortunately, that is the way so many men view and treat women, but it was still uncomfortable to read.

One of The Good Guys is a thought provoking thriller that makes one question their own views on gender roles, feminism, violence against women, the pitfalls of social media, and the idea that a man is one of the good ones if he helps with basic household/family life. I loved all the POVs and how it all tied up neatly in the end. I also enjoyed the rugged, isolated English coast and cottage setting. Some of the topics were complex particularly the idea of why do women still have to be fearful when walking alone if there are so many ‘good guys’. I did enjoy Hall’s character development particularly Cole who was a fascinating person who in his gaslighting, twisted mind saw himself as a victim and just one of the good guys. The art exhibit was such an interesting spin on violence against women and the patriarchy.

I rate this revenge tale 4 out of 5.

Trigger warnings- gaslighting, rape, fertility issues

Thanks to NetGalley and Zando Gillian Flynn Books for this eARC that will be published January 9 2024.

I was so excited when I was approved for this! But so let down when I began reading it. The first things that was troublesome for me, was the way it was set up, it would have “one of the good guys (page number)” in random places of reading.

I wasn’t a fan with how much this book jumped around. Just the first chapter confused me so much with how there was no solid information that was being given to you. It took me a hot minute to realize the narrator was a male.

Just right off the bat I was no vibing with this book. It was just not a good fit for me.

When I saw Gillian Flynn was starting a publishing imprint, I was so stoked! I have been dying to read more books by her and this is the next best thing. I requested this immediately and couldn’t read it fast enough. I will say this book caught me a little off guard. The first half was ok, started off good, then was kinda fizzing out before the twist comes in. But you don’t really know exactly what the twist it. Then the format is unconventional with emails, news clipping and social media posts. The premise seemed a little far fetched and unbelievable. I really don’t think it’s like anything I’ve ever read, so for that reason I look forward to seeing what this author comes out with next. I could see this book having a lot of mixed reviews. Either people loving it or hating it. I’m somewhere in the middle!

3.5 upped to 4
I like the first part of the story, the complex and toxic relationships and the flawed characters.
I wasn't a fan of the second part as I found it a bit predictable.
It's a good book even if I liked but not loved it
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thought provoking mystery dealing with the safety of women and the myth of the so called "nice guy" Part one starts with the first person narrative of Cole who has taken a new job as a wildlife ranger and moved into a small cottage in the south of England. Cole and his wife Mel are separated, and he is upset at her not wanting to continue IVF treatments and her fast paced lifestyle. At first we really like Cole but as his thoughts and actions reveal more we see the layers of the nice guy peeling away to reveal someone else. Cole meets an artist named Lennie (Leonora) who is taking a breather in a small coast guard cottage before an upcoming art show in London. At the same time, two young women are on a charity walk to raise money for an organization that promotes awareness of safety for women. The women end up in the same small town as Cole and Lennie and disappear.

Part two of the book shows us the story of Cole's wife Mel. I thought Mel was a great character and I particularly liked the discussion about men being praised for making any efforts at home care and parenting while women are criticized for everything they do. We also read a number of media and social media pieces with various people's viewpoints on women's safety and the missing women. The third section ties everything together and while there were no surprises, I did appreciate the discussion of this very important subject and loved the description of the art exhibit on women and their fears. I would have rated this five stars but both Lennie and Cole didn't quite feel like real people at times and more like stand ins for stereotypes. Thank you to Gillian Flynn books and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.