The Good Father

Brilliant and heartbreaking, THE GOOD FATHER is a thriller, a mystery and above all else a savagely contemporary, hugely important story . . . it will haunt the reader for a long time.

It is rare that a novel so considered is also so gripping. Intense and utterly humane, THE GOOD FATHER is a book, the moment you finish it, you just know you will want to read again. A tremendous achievement.

Riveting, moving, unique. This novel deserves to become a classic.

I read THE GOOD FATHER into the small hours. It is that rare gem: a genuine literary thriller, as deep as it is wide. A beautiful, moving and important novel.

An unblinking look at the ills of modern America, and a conclusion: love might address them in a way that wealth cannot.

An examination of conspiracy theories and political assassinations.

Discovering a way to be the good father in this context requires great imagination, and Hawley has written a convincing novel about the disturbing endurance of parental responsibility.

Noah Hawley's flawless writing and staggeringly impressive narrative authority make THE GOOD FATHER so harrowingly plausible . . . a memorable, moving and unputdownable masterpiece.

To what extent can a father's actions mess up his child's life? How responsible is a parent when their child does something really wrong? These are the questions posed by the American author Noah Hawley's gripping new novel, THE GOOD FATHER, and perhaps it is because these questions feel particularly relevant now that the novel has struck such a chord.

This debut . . . explodes like a hand grenade with a force that drives the breath from your body. But, like every great story, it starts from a simple premise - what if your son assassinated a presidential candidate in the United States? Could you believe it? Would you blame yourself? . . . This isn't only a forensic examination of modern fatherhood; it's also a brutal attack on U.S. gun culture, and a reflection on the country's appetite for assassination. Haunting, terrible and yet utterly real, it's superbly written with a marvellous feel for the American landscape and its soul. It's also a tantalising thriller.

THE GOOD FATHER packs [a] considerable emotional punch. Not as a harrowing investigation of evil, a critique of gun violence in America or a guide to good parenting, but as an account of a father finally accepting his child, for better or worse, until death do them part. Male readers: get your hankies at the ready.

This is something different: edgy and confrontational in its treatment of the devastating effects of America's gun culture but shot through with real emotional heft and featuring characters it is impossible not to care about . . . powerful, involving and full of provocative invective.

Timely and unsettling . . . [a] curious but beguiling mixture of fact and fiction

Gripping . . . echoes Don DeLillo

An agonizing but irresistible look into the souls of a killer and a man who always thought he was a good, or good enough, father.

Tackles the theme of parental soul-searching in the face of a child's arrest for a criminal . . . a powerful narrative that builds relentlessly to a stunning emotional climax.

An exploration of the anxieties and challenges of parenthood, the flimsy grasp we have on our pasts when it most counts, and, ultimately, the extent to which our characters and fates are shaped by nature, nurture and chance . . . Family, the book seems to be saying, never breaks down completely, no matter how neglected or strained. Paul's instinctive willingness to take on the world for his son, at all costs, is a moving evocation of the bonds of blood . . . the prose has all the qualities of modern literary classic.

Ostensibly a crime thriller, in American screenwriter Noah Hawley's hands it plays out more as a meditation on fatherhood with a subplot that brilliantly subverts the romance of the American road trip . . . sure to be a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

With nimble prose and acute psychological insight, Hawley traces Allen's guilt-racked quest to prove his son's innocence. The result is a moving family saga that explores the intriguing notion of a statue of limitations on parental responsibility.

Noah Hawley taps into Lionel Shriver and Jared Lee Loughner for THE GOOD FATHER, which tracks a man's descent into the mind of his son, arrested for killing a presidential front-runner.

With great skill, Hawley renders Dr. Allen's treacherous emotional geography, from his shock and guilt to his growing sense tha the knows far less about his son than he thought . . .

A heartfelt and beautifully written novel . . . Comparisons with We Need To Talk About Kevin will be inevitable as THE GOOD FATHER deals with a parent trying to comprehend how their child could have become a killer. Written from the point of view of a father questioning his parenting skills. Noah Hawley gives the age old question of nature versus nurture a fresh angle. This is a novel about family, love and the decisions we make. Well written, thrilling and compelling. I highly recommend it.

A gripping and poignant novel that chimes with We Need to Talk About Kevin and Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. The Good Father is a clever dissection of American gun culture, and what it means to love and trust someone. The perfect reading group book.

A solid, gripping story that is as clever as it is bold, stripping down the paternal relationship to uncover the complex people beneath.

This emotionally fraught and acutely perceptive novel questions the concept of nurturing and how children of seemingly bright, caring parents can grow up and go seriously off the rails. There's a very big moment in this novel, and it delivers.

A thriller, a drama, a search for sanity in an insane situation; you absolutely must read this book.

A compelling and compassionate book

This book will hold your heart and mind in a vise and not release them, even when the last page becomes a memory . . . and believe me, that last page will become a searing, vivid memory . . . Hawley's research is faultless and detailed. He shows us the mind of a father trying to prevent himself from falling into an abyss, a mind that tries to survive by relating the horror back to something familiar: his experience in medicine. The author also manages an interesting transformation. The more that the Doctor frays at the edges, the more humane (and, for me, likeable) he becomes. It's as if, when everything that we know and believe in is stripped from us, the only thing that remains and develops is our humanity . . . THE GOOD FATHER is an excellent thriller, but more than that, it's a study of how well we know our children, how well our children understand us and, most importantly, the butterfly effect of a single word, action or event. This is the sort of novel that could encourage the examination of our interaction with children and that can't be a bad thing.

Heartbreaking.

What sets it apart is the way it manages to be both a thriller and also an exploration of a father's unconditional love for his son. What Noah Hawley then produces is a brilliantly-written thrilling whodunnit full of conspiracy theories and red herrings that has at its heart one thing: the love between father and son. Pick up THE GOOD FATHER and you won't be able to put it down.