Until the sky falls down on me: ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS.

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wow, this is a rather disturbing book that left me questioning exactly what I just read!

ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS starts off fairly innocuously, with the story of Cole, who moves to the countryside after a difficult split from his wife, Melissa. Their marriage crumbled as they struggled through IVF and Melissa's focus on her work. Cole seeks the peace and quiet of his small cabin in the country, where he meets Leonora, an artist living nearby. The two forge a friendship based in shared solitude. Things become more dramatic when two young women, who are raising awareness of violence against females, come through the area and then disappear.

Cole's story begins quietly as he tells his side but then abruptly changes format, giving us snippets of various media formats covering the disappearance of the two female activists, Molly and Phoebe, along with more narrative. I found the change rather unexpected and jarring. GUYS focuses on the idea of what makes a good guy--and how society treats women. At times it's a brutal read, capturing the thoughts and ideas from all sides on how women deserve to be treated. Sometimes it's violently dark, emotional, and disturbing. As it also includes flashbacks to Cole and Mel's (failed) IVF treatments, there are lots of triggers. I appreciated the insights the author tried to share on women, consent, and male privilege. But at times, they felt overwhelming to the actual mystery. As a thriller, GUYS fell a little short, with Molly and Phoebe's disappearance and the other plot pieces seeming to be overly constructed and dramatic, but not all that thrilling (I also figured out a lot early on).

There was a lot happening here, but it didn't come together too smoothly for me. 3 stars.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Zando/Gillian Flynn Books in return for an unbiased review.

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