Really good and entertaining. Very important topic as well. I'd highly recommend this to thriller readers and those who seek riveting psychological novels.

One of the Good Guys takes #metoo one step further and ponders the consequences of direct action advocacy. This is a slow burn psychological thriller - you know the first narrator Cole, a recent arrival to the wild English coast, may be mischaracterizing his history with women but to what extent? And where does Leonora fit in, a woman who took herself out of a horrid upbringing to make art and now living in the old coast guard house? And what is their connection to the two young women walking along the coast in a social media campaign to raise awareness of violence perpetuated against women by men? Hall dramatically ties up all these strands in ways you definitely don't expect and will leave you pondering for days. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn's dark thriller writing, which makes sense since this book is being published on her imprint Gillian Flynn Books. Trigger warnings - sexual assault and infertility. Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for this ARC.

Warning, wall of text incoming....

I asked for this ARC after seeing Gillian Flynn post a cover reveal on FB. I love Flynn's books and thought that if this was part of her imprint and she called it a twisty and propulsive psychological thriller, it would probably be right up my alley.

After the end of his marriage, Cole moves to the countryside for a change of pace, where he meets artist Leonora. They hit it off, but they are both hiding something, and Cole is still fighting with his ex wife, Mel. In the middle of all this, two young women doing a "Walk4Women" hike to raise funds for a domestic abuse organisation pass through the area and disappear. Cole was one of the last people to see them.

There were definitely parts of this book that were compulsively readable - for me that was mainly Mel's perspective (roughly the second third of the book), though overall I found it a frustrating reading experience.

The first 30+ percent of the book is seen from Cole's POV, and he just never really became believable to me as a character. Certainly I get that a person's own view of themselves is subjective, can be overly flattering, even completely out of keeping with how other people view them. But what I just didn't buy about Cole was his awareness and knowledge of women's issues. Men may acknowledge and have some understanding of these things - like how unsafe women feel walking alone at night - but absolutely not to the degree we see from Cole. I'd buy it if it was dialogue and he was trying to show women that he was understanding and sympathetic to their cause, but not as internal monologue. Men just do not think this way. Admittedly I cannot categorically state this, but it's been my experience with 40+ years on this earth.

Before I get into what I found frustrating about this book, I would like to say that I consider myself a feminist. I recognise and agree with most of the issues brought up in the story. However, I find it overwhelmingly lacking in nuance.

There may be mild spoilers ahead, but I'm not going into details of the plot.

A big part of the problem with the discussion surrounding any sociopolitical topic today - such as women's rights - is the lack of nuance, and the polarisation. If a woman raises concerns about trans people using women's public toilets, then they're a TERF and should be shunned and vilified (for clarity, this is not an opinion I hold myself - but it was the first example that came to mind as I recently had a discussion on the topic with an older female friend). While it is true that it is nobody's obligation to educate ignorant strangers on trans rights, bigotry, prejudice, etc., and it's nobody's obligation to take abuse of any kind just because someone is ignorant or even malicious, actually meeting people where they are and having an open discussion is the only way we're going to make progress. If anyone who expresses homophobic statements is immediately cancelled, the chance that they might learn and change their minds is close to nil. I admit the chance is not always good either way, but if we never try the success rate will always be zero.

The message of this book seems to lean into the "men = bad" mentality, and the idea that in our society women who speak up are vilified and men who "are trying" are hero worshipped. I'm not saying there is no truth to this, but it's certainly not that black and white, and leaning into that narrative I feel can only serve to reduce the discussion to the lowest common denominators. There was nobody in this book that had a healthy relationship with man (even in the case of Mel's friends who were only briefly mentioned, the man of the couple seemed a bit of an asshole), which feels a little ridiculous. I know there are bad men that do horrible things, and this is a real problem. I too am afraid to walk alone in the dark, get jumpy if I'm home alone at night or suspicious if a man approaches me when there's nobody else around. We as a society do need to find a way to deal with this and try to find true equality and mutual respect. But in my experience this doesn't apply to the majority of men, and the book therefore feels unbalanced.

I do think a good point is made here and there, like how women are not allowed to be people but have to be good/pure or evil. And it does bring up how society is polarised by social media statements because you have to be brief and you have to go to extremes or exaggerate to be heard, but I feel the book suffers from the same problem even though it has hundreds of pages in which to make its point.

The last 30-35% of the book is choppy, as we jump between various perspectives and social media platforms. This gives the feeling of following a real case and the comments and articles are mostly believable. (Except the author doesn't seem to know how Reddit works. You can't have apostrophes in usernames and subreddit names, and the sub is r/amitheasshole not r/aita - the author uses the correct sub the first time and the incorrect one the second. Another reviewer mentions that you cannot use ampersands in hashtags, which I will take their word for, but in that case it could also be considered user error as the word "and" is used by other accounts.) However, this is not really what I'm looking for in a work of fiction - at least not one that doesn't consistently seek to emulate the true crime formula.

I loved the idea of Leonora's exhibition as described towards the end of the book. It sounds utterly terrifying, in a good way. And there were certainly good points and good bits - it was easy and quick to read, it just ultimately wasn't satisfying as a work of fiction.

That being said, it certainly engaged me - I had a lot to say on the topic - so for that: 3+.

This book has a lot of different interesting aspects to it, but it's just too political and too "over the top" for me. Overly dramatic. Personally as a female, I haven't felt fear 24/7, there's a lot of exaggeration.

The first 1/3 of the book is entirely from Cole's perspective. As a character, Cole seems way too knowledgeable about female safety and double standards, which doesn't seem that realistic to me. By around the 30% mark I was feeling like the story was dragging a bit and was hoping it would pick up (it did!).

The 2nd 1/3 is his wife Mel's perspective, and the last 1/3 is a mix between Lennie and various social media sites. The most interesting was the first two thirds, because it was really well written how Cole and Mel went through the same events, but felt completely differently and had completely different reactions.

This is one of the books where reader's will probably hate every character and that is the intention. It will make you ask some difficult questions you might not want to know the answers to but thought provoking nonetheless. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn.

I saw @thegillianflynn post about this book One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall yesterday on Instagram and I immediately requested an #arc through #netgalley. I was so excited when I was selected today! I absolutely devoured the book. It's a thriller based on the English coast (aren't all good thrillers based there??) I loved the build up, and the fact it was based on Cole being "a good guy." The narrative of male violence on women was very thought provoking and enraging. Definitely recommend if your reading mood is down with the patriarchy.

I loved Araminta Hall’s novel Our Kind of Cruelty, so I was really stoked about the opportunity to read One of the Good Guys.

What. A. Book! I thought I knew where this story was going—turns out I had NO IDEA, and was in for QUITE a ride!

This novel wasn’t what I was expecting—but in a good way. This twisty-turny story is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. It’s an excellent feminist novel that will leave you with a lot to think about once you finish the story.

It’s fitting that One of the Good Guys is being published under Gillian Flynn’s imprint—this novel definitely has Gone Girl vibes!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

One of the Good Guys
Araminta Hall

Having been a fan of Ms Hall since 2020 and having had the privilege of interviewing her for my website, reading this book was a no-brainer. It could not get in my hot little hands quick enough.

One of the Good Guys is something special, one of the best I’ve read in Ms Halls literary catalogue. We meet Cole, who leaves his failed marriage to reboot life, have a fresh start in the country. He finds himself a seaside cottage and a job that’s as far away from the bustle of the city as he can get. Cole encounters Leonora, a reclusive artist and finds what he believes to be a kindred spirit, someone he can relate to. Two female gender violence activists that disappear in the area bring Cole and Leonora together in a frenzy that neither saw coming. A police investigation and media firestorm ensues, Cole and Leonora realising how little they may know of each other. What happened to the activists? Who is Leonora? Where does Coles estranged wife fit in?

I loved this book. This was a 36-hour read. So, so good. The characters were beautifully written, well rounded and with substance. They were relatable which added to the ease of the read. The plot was unpredictable, not what I saw coming at all.

I can sum this book up in three words. Here and now. We dive into violence, feminism, how women feel unheard in certain situations, how assumptions are made, social media, general media, the impacts of both of these, and much more.

This book made me look inwards at myself; examine how I’d react in this plot. When a book does that, it’s a winner. Ms Hall has taken this book with her plot and characters, asked a multitude of questions, demonstrated the impact of media and social media and gifted us a great read.

After reading this author’s book Our Kind of Cruelty, I was happy to receive an advance copy of One of the Good Guys. Most men think they are good guys, but as the blurb from the publisher asks, “Then why are women still afraid to walk home alone at night?” Good question.

Cole is separated from his wife and has moved to a seaside town in England. Leonora has a tragic past and is living in a remote cottage there as well. Shortly after they meet and become friends two women traveling alone on an activist campaign go missing. Not only do Cole and Leonora not really know each other, but the reader doesn’t know who to believe. I love novels where I have to figure out who isn’t telling the truth or has a a skewed version of the facts. Araminta Hall does this well. I liked getting the different point of views from Cole, Leonora and Mel. It was interesting and aggravating to read the social media responses as it’s sadly typical of what is said in real life in response to these circumstances. This is a very good psychological thriller about the power imbalances between men and women. One of the Good Guys was published by Gillian Flynn Books. Thank you to @netgalley @zandroprojects @aramintahall for an early digital copy.

What does it mean to be "One of the good guys?

In this scorching contemporary thriller we meet Cole, a forlorn but earnest man doing his best to recover from a heartbreaking split.. He has rented a small cottage in a tiny little town to get away from London. When he meets Lennie, he is almost starved for a bit of attention and happy to make a friend. As the two get to know each other, Cole's ex contacts him and there seems to be more to Cole than meets the eye. With two young activists in the background raising awareness regarding the safety of women things begin to heat up. In true Araminta Hall fashion we come across twist upon twist leading us to the original question - What does it Mean to be one of the Good Guys?

Very unique story, the beginning was slow but the middle and end were well worth the wait! #Zando #GillianFlynnBooks #Oneofthegoodguys #aramintahall

I love how Araminta Hall hates “the good guys” even more than I do. Another takedown of love and marriage, up there with her earlier best.

Title: A Decent Read, but Lacking the Wow Factor

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I recently finished reading "One of the Good Guys" by Araminta Hall, and while it had its moments, I can't help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the overall experience. The novel delves into complex themes and explores the darker side of human nature, but it didn't quite reach the level of greatness I was hoping for.

The story follows Cole and Leonara, each with their own secrets and desires. The author skillfully weaves their narratives together, creating a web of intrigue and suspense. The pacing is generally well-maintained, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.

What I appreciated most about the book was the author's ability to delve deep into the psyche of the characters. Their internal struggles and conflicting emotions were portrayed with authenticity, making them relatable and human. The exploration of morality and the blurred lines between good and evil were thought-provoking and added depth to the story.

However, despite these strengths, "One of the Good Guys" fell short in a few key areas. Firstly, the plot felt somewhat predictable. While there were a few surprises along the way, I found myself anticipating many of the twists before they happened. This lack of originality diminished the impact of certain plot developments.

Overall, "One of the Good Guys" is a decent read that explores compelling themes and characters. It had its moments of intrigue and introspection, but it lacked the element of surprise and the emotional resonance I look for in a truly remarkable novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gillian Flynn Books for the ARC. I found this book while going through the new releases section. Not ususally my genre, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I found the opening act of the book very in sync with the title. A bit further on, I realized why. Trying not to spoil it for others.

The concept was interesting, and executed fairly well. This is definitely a far cry from my usual cup of tea and I think the book's descripion could be reworded, but I can see that they got where they were going [ I did read it after all lol ]. My expectations based on the description and the actual book I read were very different.