Books
Book Club Kit: One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall
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Please be aware going into this post that it is for people who have read the book and therefore contains some spoilers.
About the book
Publisher: Gillian Flynn Books
Genre: Thriller
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-10 : 1638931550
ISBN-13 : 978-1638931553
ASIN : B0BVDQ2DK4
Published: January 2024
Book Covers
Book synopsis for One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall
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.
About the Author
Author Interviews and guest posts
"When I started writing One of the Good Guys I kept a little strip of paper pinned above my desk. It read: women have had enough and it made me brave. I didn’t want my book to have any female victims in it, I didn’t want anyone to be saved. But to do this I realised I needed to flip the idea of the thriller on its head." - Read the full interview at Writing.ie
"...when I started writing One of the Good Guys, that I wanted to flip the narrative. I didn’t want small wins. The novel’s set up feels like a familiar thriller – a woman living on the edge of a cliff in a ramshackle cottage, a man who seems too good to be true moving in nearby and two young women going missing on a walk as they pass through the treacherous landscape. But once I’d done that I wanted to make sure that nothing felt familiar." Read the full post at Culture Fly
"For me every character needs to have shades of everything to make them work as fully rounded, believable individuals – the truth is we all have moments of victimhood in us, we’ve all felt defeated at times, which is why the idea is still so potent." Read the full interview at Muddy Stilettos
Book Reviews
"Well, this book certainly makes you think. It’s one of those books that poses some very important questions and will encourage discussion amongst those who have read it. It is very current and very relevant, a very complex book that takes a look at the modern world, where women’s safety is very firmly on the agenda, and the abuse and violence experienced by women is put very definitely under the spotlight. But it’s also a book that is as clever as it is complex and I really rather liked it." Read the full review at Jen Med's Book Reviews
"Overall, this is definitely a worthwhile novel, but I think my enjoyment of it was very much enhanced by the audio performance which really blew me away. Highly recommend listening to it!" - Read the full review at That Publishing Blog
"Deeply unsettling but totally brilliant, One of the Good Guys is a book that demands to be read. Desperation, depravity, danger, dark deeds and disturbed relationships saturate the page of this powerful and all-too familiar tale." - Read the full review at Emma’s Biblio Treasures
"Hall writes well and keeps you guessing as you read, your opinion of the characters (who you will love to hate) wavering at times until you start doubting yourself, until you reach the end and make your final decision." - Read the full review at Paradise is a Library
Discussion Questions
Do you think Cole was a good guy or a bad guy? Why?
Why do you think it took Mel so long to see what Cole was doing to her?
Was destroying the embryos the right thing to do?
Why do you think Cole believed he was doing nothing wrong?
Is silence consent?
Was Laura right to accuse Cole after so any years? Do you think there is a time limit on calling rape?
How much do you think Cole's parents were to blame for his behaviour?
Were Lennie, Mel, and the girls wrong to stage the disappearance of the girls?
Do you think Cole will ever become a father and if so, what sort of father do you think he will be?
How much do you think social media and the media in general manipulate stories to sway public opinion?
Do you agree that the media was only interested in the story because the girls were thought to be kidnapped? Why was the walk not enough to get attention for their cause?
Do you think that there was media attention because the girls were young, attractive and white? Would it have been different if they were older or a different race?
Quotes from One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall
...asked if I wanted to think about anti-depressants, which I actually found more depressing than the headaches. I hate the way we’re always encouraged to think of a chemical, rather than a lifestyle, solution.
But it’s always that way, isn’t it? Men are expected to be the ones to leave. As if men don’t have an inner life or as much of an emotional connection to spaces and things as women do. Which means , when it comes down to the messy process of splitting up, it’s the women who get to be coddled and cared for, even if they’re the one who’s fucked it up.
I could tell by the way she was shouting that she was annoyed. Marriage does that to a person. It gives you a superhuman ability to detect moods from the slightest movement or sound.
Men like Cole believe they’re right because society has told them that they are their whole lives.
Life is very fragile, but it doesn’t do you any favors thinking that way.
There’s no let up when you’re a woman, whether that’s in the public eye or waiting at the school gates. You can never do anything right. You’re judged for what you say, and even what you don’t say, but never actually heard . So, in the end, you either break or you think fuck it, I might as well just be the person I want to be.
kelly: Well, it ticks a lot of boxes—they’re young, pretty, and, let’s be honest, middle-class white women. Those types of women always get way more coverage than poorer women or women of color, which is a subject we absolutely have to address in our society. We don’t expect bad things to happen to women like Molly and Phoebe and, when they do, there’s a certain element of thrill. We almost forget that real people are involved.
Men are allowed to act, but women, it seems, should only react.
there is so much to fear as a woman, but what people think of you shouldn’t be one of them.
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