Entertaining book that makes you debate with yourself. It has some very interesting plot twists. I recommend it if you're interested in topics like violence against women, feminism and morally grey characters.

4.5 stars. This is definitely my favorite of Araminta's books that I've read thus far. First, let me just say that if you haven't read any of Hall's books, she definitely does not attempt to make all of her characters like-able, and many will find their actions morally ambiguous. I LOVED the storyline - it is, quite frankly, a brilliant take on violence again women in its many permutations. I'm not going to say much more, because I don't want to ruin the experience in any way. I WILL just say that if Lennie's exhibit actually existed in real life, I would travel to experience it.

"If most men claim to be good, why are most women still afraid to walk home alone at night?

Desperate to escape the ghosts of his failed marriage, Cole upends his life. He leaves London behind for a remote stretch of coast, relishing the respite from the noise, drama, and relentless careerism that curdled his relationship and mental health. Leonora has made the same move for similar reasons. She’s living a short walk from Cole’s seaside cottage, preparing for her latest art exhibition. Although Cole still can’t figure out what went wrong with his marriage, and Leonora is having trouble acclimating to the hostile landscape, the pair forges a connection on the eroding bluff they call home.

Then two young female activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through. Cole and Leonora suddenly find themselves in the middle of a police investigation--and the resulting media firestorm when the world learns of what happened. And as the tension escalates alongside the search for the missing women, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other that well after all."

Thanks to NetGalley and Zando/Gillian Flynn books for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Men argue they are the good guys, but why are women in a constant state for fear to walk alone at night if they are such good guys?

One of the Good Guys is a thought-provoking look at gender roles and feminism at work. It broaches the use of social media for bullies who refuse to get all the facts before attacking the victim. The mystery involves two local students walking to bring awareness to violence against women and a middle-aged man who's literally believes he a good guy.

The plot is a slow-burn, eventually drawing you into the revenge storyline. Hall didn't shy away from controversial thoughts and issues. One of the Good Guys will haunt your thoughts after the last page.

Thank you Zando, Gillian Flynn Books for the complimentary copy.

One of the Good Guys explores the relationship between genders and unfolds from the viewpoint of each of the three main characters. It’s a thoughtful and provocative treatise on feminism, violence against women, social media, and good guys. An interesting read, mysterious and twisty.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an electronic ARC and the opportunity to review this book.

It doesn't take more than a few pages to realize that, of course, our narrator ISN'T, in fact, one of the good guys. This makes his sections alternately frustrating and a little schaudenfreude-y. The twists and turns were pretty surprising, though the ultimate finale wrapped up a little cleanly for me.

So many points of view including some that seemed far fetched. I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. So many important issues brought into the mix. Overall a fairly predictable outcome.

I read this in one sitting. I couldn't put it down.
The story starts with Cole who has moved to the coast to get over his breakup. The first section is told from his point of view.
The next section is told from the perspective of his ex wife. This is really effective as it gives you a good view of their relationship.
The third section of the book is something I won't say much about. You need to read it.
And, you do need to read it so that I have someone to discuss it with. It is really thought provoking and I'll certainly be thinking about it for a while.

I went into this book blind, expecting a typical thriller… however, “One of the Good Guys” was surprisingly complex! It focuses a lot on how men treat women and explores many opinions and viewpoints. The author tackles many other additional issues, but does so in a very authentic manner. This is something many cannot do! Without giving too much away myself, I would urge the reader to check trigger warnings prior to diving in. Thanks so much NetGalley and author for this ARC!

First and foremost I want to say I throughly enjoyed this book and some parts I could not put it down. This book was very thought-provoking and sometimes hard to read, but in the sense as what I was reading most times is a reality and to see it on paper is even more heartbreaking that comments such as the ones seen on the reddit fake pages on the book do happen.
The book is divided in 3 parts and they are all different, I love different POVs books and I thought the way the book was set up it made it easy to follow and engrossed me on the story. The third part of the book was presented in different mediums (WhatsApp, Reddit, news articles, etc), I did enjoy this side part to the story because it enriched the story as a whole and in my opinion made the books message so much more powerful.
This was my first book by Araminta Hall but it certainly will not be the last one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for the opportunity to review this Arc.

Is Cole a good guy? What does his soon to be ex Melanie think? And then there's Lennie, the artist he's just met in his "new" life by the sea. The disappearance of female hikers blows a lot of things out of the water for all three. This is very much about violence against women and misogeny but it's also about the impact of the media. To be honest, you, like me, might not like (or trust) this trio but they do make for an entertaining read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. No spoilers from me! This will please Hall's fans and new readers alike.

Ok, so One of the Good Guys was really interesting. The different POV’s created a solid flow. Once Cole’s POV was done and we began to see the other ones, I was really hoping we wouldn’t go back to him because I couldn’t stomach it. Luckily, the author made the decision not to. There were parts that I had a visceral reaction to and had to put the book down. It’s so realistic and disturbing how well the author portrayed the world. I really liked how the unreliable narrator trope is usually used in relation to women but here, it was utilized on the male character. This is definitely worth the read, although towards the end, I felt some of the epistolary parts could be shortened. Thank you to @gillianflynnofficial for letting me read this!

Synopsis:Desperate to escape the ghosts of his failed marriage, Cole upends his life. He leaves London behind for a remote stretch of coast, relishing the respite from the noise, drama, and relentless careerism that curdled his relationship and mental health. Leonora has made the same move for similar reasons. She’s living a short walk from Cole’s seaside cottage, preparing for her latest art exhibition. Though Cole still can’t figure out what went wrong with his marriage, and Leonora is having trouble acclimating to the hostile landscape, the pair forges a connection on the eroding bluff they call home.

Then, 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 the resulting media firestorm when the world learns of what happened. And as the tension escalates alongside the search for the missing women, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other that well after all.

#gillianflynnbooks #oneofthegoodguys #bookstagram #bookreview #psychologicalthriller #readersofinstagram

2.5 I really hate that this didn’t work for me because the project and topic at hand are so relevant in our current times. The first probably 1/3 was from Cole’s POV and I found this the most interesting. He was trying to make sure he came across as a good guy and a feminist, but you could tell that something just wasn’t right. This section felt most true to the genre. We then get Mel’s POV where things start to fall into place and we realize what Cole was hiding. The last section is all multimedia and this is where I felt the story really took a dive in terms of enjoyment. It was too on the nose in terms of social justice conversations and left no room for the actual story.

This book was very relevant and thought-provoking and honestly, rather uncomfortable at times. It started out strong and kept me interested and turning the pages. Cole believes himself to be "one of the good guys", but we quickly learn that people are not always who they portray themselves to be or who they thing they are. The plot unfolds and twists are revealed with different POVs and alternating timelines that include interviews, transcripts, and social media posts.

However, the story took a wrong turn where the climax should have been and ended up falling flat, leaving me with little to no satisfaction at its conclusion. The mystery took a backseat to the political commentary on how women are treated, and not a single one of these characters have redeeming qualities about them, so there really wasn't much to root for in this one. Overall, it left me feeling very underwhelmed. :-/

Thanks to Gillian Flynn Books, Zando and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“One of the good guys” by Araminta Hall is a thriller set on the coast of England. It had great potential at the beginning with the story of Lennie, a reclusive artist who encounters Cole, a recently divorced wildlife ranger and their newly forged relationship. The twists and turns veered into the ridiculousness though and I found myself rolling my eyes at the end.

Twisty. I love the cover! The realism hits close - this plot reads as a newspaper article we could easily see in our current social climate. I found myself flying through this one and read it in 2 days. I love books like this!

Well, hell. This was incredible. Thought-provoking and rage-inducing, but I like that it’s very effective at making its point but also putting the reader in the uncomfortable place of deciding if the ends justify the means.

I’d love to see this in a “real world” format like performance art (IYKYK), film, theatre, etc.

So here are my less than articulate thoughts:

- This is going to be divisive but only the ending parts really should be because whether it’s been your experience or not, yes, the world really is violent for women.

- If your experience with the world hasn’t led you to see that, I applaud you for living such a positive life. But calling this man-hating or unrealistic further perpetuates that world the rest of us live in, so please don’t.

- Of course it’s “not all men,” but if you need to remind us, maybe you’re part of the problem?

- I’m not sold on the argument by the activists that violence against women is almost solely at the hands of porn, mainly because I’ve experienced significant trauma and harm by men well before the days of the internet. I don’t disagree that porn, especially easy access to it, adds to the issue in many cases. However, I find that to be an oversimplification.

- Every character in this is kind of awful. But also feels authentic. I love that kind of story. However, I don’t know that it’s as easy as “this person is good” or “that person is bad,” and I feel like the ending leaves you kind of hating everyone and the world as a whole. So be prepared for a cynical ride.

- The structure of this novel is brilliant.

- I wish I could highlight so many lines.

- I think the cover might do the book a disservice. I don’t know that it captures the kind of book this is (I only requested the ARC because of the Gillian Flynn connection - and if you like GF, you’re going to enjoy this.) and I worry it may appear cute. It’s very much not cute.

Anyway, I’m angry and frustrated and also thinking about the ways the actions of certain characters were awesome but also horribly immoral, and really, you can’t get better than a book that brings up this much emotion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

This book is a roller coaster. I went into it not really knowing what to expect and that was a good thing. The first quarter of the book was a little slow. Once the narrator shifts, though, the story gets really interesting really fast.

I found One of the Good Ones to be whip smart. I don’t want to say much more so that I don’t spoil anything. This is a book that is best read with little info. It’s not a light read, and parts of it are going to be hard to read. I can’t wait for the book to release so that I can hear what others think about it. Parts of the story are told through emails, interviews, and social media posts, so I think it would be a better read in print format if that matters to you as a reader.

Big thanks to the publisher for granting me an ARC. I think readers who enjoyed Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions For You will like this one!

I was definitely intrigued by this book very early on. I felt uncomfortable and easy from very early on. The characters were just not fully trustworthy. This kept me interested and reading on - waiting for the juicy parts. We did get the juicy parts, but not in the way I expected. I was waiting for more of that psychological thriller "scare", but I never really felt it. There were important topics discussed (women and how they are treated in society) - but I also disliked most of the women in the book. At times it all felt disjointed and I was left with some questions. However, the ending did tie up all the questionable parts. Overall, an interesting read, but not necessarily a great "thriller" book.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks go to NetGalley for the early access to this book.

I was a bit disappointed by this overall but I think a lot of that was because I’d interpreted the blurb differently. I was expecting more of a You-esque book, where the guy was a fully weird creep (especially with his gaps in memory) where it was more about the woman and the general dangers of men. I do think that the story was good and definitely needs telling, but I think I because I was expecting something else, I didn’t really get into it.

I also wasn’t a massive fan of the way some of it was written. I really enjoyed all of the articles being included so you felt a part of the fall out. I didn’t however enjoy the sudden revelation about what was actually taking place. I think it was done as a plot twist but it felt like some information was missing to get there. It felt like one page we were following the story and next the news had dropped so we were watching the media coverage. It felt a bit confusing.

The idea of the book was really good and I bet it’s really good physically with the media sections too, I just think it didn’t meet what I expected of it.

𝖠𝖱𝖢 𝖱𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐：𝖮𝗇𝖾 𝖮𝖿 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖦𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝖦𝗎𝗒𝗌 𝖻𝗒 𝖠𝗋𝖺𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖺 𝖧𝖺𝗅𝗅
4☆
________

𝖠𝗎𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗋：𝖠𝗋𝖺𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖺 𝖧𝖺𝗅𝗅
𝖯𝗎𝖻𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗁𝖾𝗋：𝖹𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗈
𝖨𝗆𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗍：𝖦𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝖺𝗇 𝖥𝗅𝗒𝗇𝗇 𝖡𝗈𝗈𝗄𝗌
𝖯𝗎𝖻 𝖽𝖺𝗍𝖾: 𝖩𝖺𝗇𝗎𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝟫， 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟦

I was so excited to get this as an ARC via NetGalley. I saw the premises and knew I’d be reading this one no matter what.
The book starts off with the POV of Cole, a man who “seems” perfectly nice and in search of a partner that will return all his efforts after a failed marriage to Mel.
Next up, Mel’s POV, the story doesn’t seem to be all that Cole is claiming. In fact, it’s a lot different from her view.
The third POV is a wide variety of media and social platforms that cover events that surround Cole, Leonora, Mel and the missing girls who are protesting male violence against women.

Hall covers so many societal issues in one book. And honestly the characters, well they are unlikeable but keep you wanting more. The ending wasn’t at all what I expected but I really enjoyed how it was delivered! I can definitely see this book being a popular read next year.


✵𝖬𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝖹𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗈，𝖠𝗋𝖺𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖺 𝖧𝖺𝗅𝗅 ＆ 𝖭𝖾𝗍𝖦𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖠𝖽𝗏𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋’𝗌 𝖢𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐．✵