The Introverted Bookworm

Title: One of the Good Guys

Author: Araminta Hall

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Cole, a man in his early forties, has recently separated from his demanding wife, Mel, and moved to the South Coast to start a new life working as a ranger. When he meets free-spirited artist, Lennie, who is staying in a coastguard’s cottage nearby, Cole is immediately smitten, and a friendship begins to blossom between them.

However, when two young women disappear during a sponsored walk for a domestic abuse charity, Cole becomes a suspect, and his nice-guy demeanour is called into question. Who is lying, and is Cole really responsible for the girls’ disappearance?

This is a compelling thriller, which has many structural techniques that keep the reader guessing right until the very end. For the first third of the story, we are immersed in Cole’s perspective. Through his eyes, we are won over by his sensitivity, vulnerability, and sadness – particularly over his ex-wife’s insistence to destroy the three embryos that are being kept on ice during their divorce. However, there are two sides to every story, and, in One of the Good Guys, we hear many different points of view.

Controversial artist Lennie’s first-person narrative sheds new light on Cole’s character (as well as her own), and what is clever here is the way in which the author uses social media, television, podcasts, media, and other forms of communication, to drive the plot onwards and gradually build up tension. As with all thrillers, there is a shocking twist at the end of the book, which left me feeling somewhat conflicted. Male violence, along with the (often subtler) coercive forms this takes, is a key theme in this book.

All in all, One of the Good Guys is a twisty, immersive thriller – intoxicating, thoughtful, and, at times, shocking. It certainly kept me hooked. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy psychological thrillers with a feminist theme.