Book Review: “One of the Good Guys” by Araminta Hall
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One of the writers that I keep an eye out for is Araminta Hall. She’s simply an author who knows how to write a crackling good thriller. Her earlier novel, Our Kind of Cruelty, was a shocking indictment of male violence against women and stalking. It was a memorable book for me. I was less enthusiastic about her follow-up, Imperfect Women. However, part of me wants to reread that book at some point to see if my opinion might have changed as I’ve grown as a reader. This brings us to her forthcoming novel, One of the Good Guys. In some ways, it’s a cross between the two books listed previously in this review and winds up being a bit of an odd duck as a result. While the book starts out being told from the viewpoint of a man who has just separated from his wife, even though he seemed to be compassionate toward her on the surface, it devolves into a series of interview transcripts and social media texts. As a result, it is a readable but lopsided work that is viewed through a feminist lens. While One of the Goody Guys is an exciting read — and therefore recommendable — by its ending, you do get the sense that the book is preaching to the reader and is saying things that seem obvious to anyone who has paid any attention to gender politics. It’s all stuff you won’t already know. Still, One of the Good Guys at least is commendable in what it’s trying to do, albeit less subtly than Our Kind of Cruelty before it.
As noted earlier, the book starts off being told from the viewpoint of a man named Cole, who has just moved to the southeast coast of England to get a fresh start after separating from his wife of seven years. He seems like a good bloke on the surface, but as he comes to have relations with another woman on the coast, something seems a little “off” about him in how he views women. For one thing, he refuses to sign the paperwork that would result in the destruction of three embryos he and his wife have on ice as part of a series of IVF treatments yet undergone. Cole has the delusion that his soon-to-be ex-wife can still get impregnated with them so they can start a family, forgetting that she no longer wants anything to do with him. Against this backdrop, two young women in their early 20s are backpacking along the coast trying to raise awareness for violence against women, and Cole has a negative interaction with them. When they go missing, Cole suddenly is thrust into the limelight as someone who may or may not be a suspect in their disappearance. Thus, this book asks, can it be possible for someone who seems okay on the surface to be a bad man and a human being deeply underneath? You’ll need to read this book to judge.
It saddens me that books like this one need to still be written, though I’m something of a realist and realize that most problems between the sexes in life are not going to be ever solved and that men and women will probably never live happily ever after in some kind of utopian state. Still, One of the Good Guys is one of those novels that tells and tells and tells readers how louche men can get. I kind of feel sorry for the author that she has mined a career out of this topicality because it is becoming apparent that this is a topic that she is riled up about. I don’t want to say that I think Hall hates men, because I don’t know enough about her to form any sort of conclusion, but reading her books can make the reader sometimes feel that way. In this case, right from the get-go, readers are talked down to and are lectured about how men are violent underneath their steely surfaces and are all unwilling to give up any power in the patriarchy. It’s a thorny thing to write about as a man when reviewing a work such as this because I don’t want to give the impression that I, myself, am a misogynist. I hope I’m not! Still, One of the Good Guys starts intriguingly with just the right amount of perspective (after an opening bit that involves a screed against men, naturally), as Cole emerges as a conflicted character. I do think the novel would have been stronger if the entire thing were written from his viewpoint, but Hall has a bit of an agenda here to turn the spotlight away from him to show how women in his orbit are poorly treated strictly from their point of view.
If I can say anything about this book that might be more on the negative side — it’s that the ending is a bit of an April Fool’s joke that undermines the credibility of the whole thing. In some ways, it’s like a more feminine version of Two Nights in Lisbon, another novel that goes through the hoops to showcase male misbehaviour — although as written by a man. Still, One of the Good Guys is immensely readable and enjoyable, even if you might find yourself either disagreeing with the author on some things or crossing your legs and regretting that you were born a man (if you are a man reading this book). Even though Hall and I probably wouldn’t see eye to eye on some things, I do agree with her assertion in the book that pornography needs to be blocked if it isn’t outright banned. I have seen for myself how hard-core porn has influenced warping one’s mind. That said, I wish books like this were more concerned about getting both men and women together to reach a consensus on problems facing them, rather than getting a talking down to about how the justice system and power structures are against women. Overall, I did like and enjoy One of the Good Guys and thought it did have worthwhile things to say, even if you’ve heard it all before. I just wished this novel did less talking to the reader and more showing how troubling the battle of the sexes really can be from time to time. After all, nobody likes a lecture, even when it is as entertaining as this.
Araminta Hall’s One of the Good Guys will be published by Gillian Flynn Books on January 9, 2024.
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Get in touch: zacharyhoule@rogers.com
