I am not sure the fragile male dominated society is ready for this book.

Plot -
My goodness, this one was a wild ride. It starts with the POV of Theo who is newly separated from his wife Mel. Theo is a self-proclaimed "good guy,' and clearly nothing was his fault. The second part is Mel's POV where we get a clearer picture of what was going on throughout their marriage. The third part is told through mixed forms of media and lay out the media point of view of everything that is going on.

Thoughts -
People are going to have a lot of differing opinions about this book. The focus of the book is on the fear that women live in every single day and taking back just a little of control. It is hard to say which character in the book I would side with. I disliked Cole, but I also didn't agree with the actions taken against him. It was also telling that Cole didn't seem to learn his lesson in the end. Overall, I don't know how I feel about this book, but the fact that it was well written, kept me engaged, and will keep me thinking about it for a long time makes it a five star read for me.

Narration -
I really liked the narrators and the life that was brought to the characters. I will say that the third part got a little difficult to follow while listening to it because of all the mixed media. It might not be the best one to listen to unless you have to. I picked up the physical book to read the end.

Holy gaslighting! 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 so well. Each person gives a very different perspective and you truly do have to find out who is one of the good guys. I liked getting the different point of views from Cole, Leonora and Mel. It was interesting and aggravating to read the fictional social media posts as they were typical of the responses that are made in real life circumstances. This is an excellent psychological thriller that highlights the power imbalances between men and women. The audiobook is expertly narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick, Olivia Vinall and Helen Keeley. One of the Good Guys was published by Gillian Flynn Books. Thank you to @netgalley @zandroprojects @aramintahall for an early audio copy. This truly is an amazing book and I highly recommend it.

Title: One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall

Publication Date- 1/9/24
Publisher- Dreamscape Select
Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape Select for giving me an early copy of One of the Good Guys audio for review. I have been so excited to read this since a friend of mine loved it. One of the Good Guys is a literary thriller (more on that in a minute) that is sure to make you want to discuss with others. It exemplifies the “nice guy” phenomena in society that is missed by many. That’s the entire point of this story to show how much this is missed, overlooked, and made excuses for. If you are looking for your next bookclub pick this certainly should be it. This book will likely divide people, though it shouldn’t but it’s likely to provide some rich conversations and thought provoking experiments. You will be torn between morally gray characters and not know what to do with those feelings.

The warning I will give for One of the Good Guys is it’s hardly a thriller and it’s predictable. Now, don’t click off yet let me explain why this isn’t really a bad thing. If you’re coming to this book for a super thrilling experience this is not the book. If you are coming for a thought experiment and a little thrills, you’re in the right place. This is a character study and a conversation about men in society. I feel like that’s the most important part of this review.

I don’t want to say much else because I want you to go in with little expectations. So go read the book, have a good time and if you want to chat with me after you’re welcome to.

Where you can find me. You can find me on goodreads, storygraph, on booktube at Ry Reads and in the description of all of my videos are links for the above places as well as my discord which is the best place to reach me. This will be featured in my monthly wrap up video, look out for that at the end of Jan. 2024.

With Cole now separated from his wife, he's thrilled when he meets Leonora. But then the two of them become involved within a police investigation and things start to get interesting. 

You guys, this book was wild. I loved how the story was split into two parts - first we get to hear Cole's part, the second is from his wife Mel's point of view. This book was intriguing and kept me on edge throughout. I am still thinking about it now, days after finishing it. The audiobook narration was well done and was easy to follow, especially during the social media posts that were peppered throughout the book.

I'm between 3-4 stars; going with 4 because of what the author is trying to do and say with this story; it boldly states its beliefs, that's for sure

Would recommend if you love:
-multi POV
-mixed media (podcasts, social media, news stories)
-a mystery that isn't too thrilling
-FEMINISM as the defining identity of the story

While there are some thrilling moments sprinkled in, this is much more firmly in mystery territory than thriller.

The first part is all from the perspective of Cole as he tells why he moved to a small, coastal town and is separating from his wife. We get the feel, from Cole's own perspective, that is is "One of the Good Guys" and is supportive of his wife.

The next big chunk of the story is told by Mel, wife of Cole. As this is from Mel's POV we get a different perspective of the same events of her marriage to Cole. I liked that we hear from Cole first so we get an idea of who he is as a person; then to get a different view of how he acted was interesting.

Included are many mixed media forms as well: Social media posts (reddit, twitter, etc), text messages, as well as podcast and news scripts. I do like the use of mixed media here. The outright hate some men spew online is wild to me but I know it happens IRL and lends to the story and themes. Misogyny is enough to get me fired up so to shine a light on this is what tipped me from 3 to 4 stars.

This would make a good book club pick - there's a lot to talk about, on really topical issues. What is good feminism? What is a good man? What is art?

It's pretty clear from the start that Cole is not really a good guy. I wanted more from this story - somehow it just felt like it didn't go deep enough into the issues beyond a superficial take. That said, we've all known men like Cole: who consider themselves good guys or even feminists, but want to benefit from traditional femininity/gender roles all the same. Who consider themselves progressive, and might even mock the #tradwife movement... but also they totally expect you to do the cleaning, cooking, childcare. Who guilt you over your emotions, so you always have to be happy around them. Who have some 'awful woman' in their past, so you're always scared to retraumatize them by... expressing your own opinions, desires? Blech.

I don't do trigger warnings often, but infertility/IVF/domestic violence/rape feature heavily in the story, so just a heads up.

This isn't really a murder thriller and it's definitely heavy-handed in its treatment of the subject matter. The book asks 'are there good men?' and answers 'no.' This isn't an escapist read, but it is engaging and I never wanted to put it down. I would read more from the author!

Here are my quick takes:

Series or Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Thriller
Target Age Group: Adult
Cliffhanger: No

 Will I Reread: No
 Recommended For: Anyone interested in a look at modern feminism and bad relationship dynamics.

 Characters: 3/5
 Writing: 3/5
 Plot: 3/5
 Pacing: 4/5
 Unputdownability: 4/5
 Enjoyment: 3/5
 Book Cover: 5/5

Thanks, NetGalley and Gillian Flynn Books, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy.

I really loved this audiobook. I loved the different narrators along with the podcasts elements and sound effects.