Review: 'One of the Good Guys' by Araminta Hall
Pub. Date: 1/9/2024
Publisher: Zando; Gillian Flynn Books
Newly separated from his wife and desperate to escape the ghosts of his failed marriage, Cole leaves London for a fresh start in the countryside. He accepts a job as a wildlife ranger and settles into his cozy seaside cottage, relishing the respite from the noise, drama, and relentless careerism that curdled his relationship along with his mental health. Then he meets Leonora, the reclusive artist living next door, and is instantly charmed by her warm and gentle spirit.
But as the two forge a connection on the cliff’s edge they call home, two young women activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through. Cole and Leonora find themselves in the middle of a police investigation and resulting media firestorm as the world learns of what happened, and as the tension escalates, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other that well after all.
A propulsive page-turner with razor-sharp sociopolitical insight, One of the Good Guys asks: if most men claim to be good, why are most women still afraid to walk home alone at night?
The question this book asks, why most women have fear when most men claim to be good, is an incredibly important one and one I have often discussed with friends. If we all know women who have experienced sexual assault and violence, or have even experienced it ourselves, then how come we don't really know the men who do this? Not many men go around saying yes, I have intimidated women, yes I have abused women, which kind of makes sense. But it creates a pervasive sense of fear which clouds the lives of many women. Even if it is not an hourly or daily thing, I think the lives of many women, myself included, are often coloured by a knowledge we may be in danger. This is a debate which needs to be had and one in which men need to, first and foremost, take a listening role, before being the ones to jump into action. So often I have sat in a pub, train, or bus and heard a group of boys or men say absolutely disgusting things about women, with the full knowledge it would not be safe or pleasant for me to interrupt and stop them. Men should be doing this themselves. I know plenty of men who are uncomfortable with misogynistic talk and action, who would not want to engage in that behaviour themselves, but the group pressure means they do engage with it or, at the very least, do nothing to stop their male friends from behaving that way. That needs to change to create a safer environment, not just for women, but also for men themselves. This issue of fear and intimidation needs to be widely discussed, but I also think it needs to be handled with a certain amount of nuance to make sure as many people, men, women and everyone else, can be included in the conversation. While One of the Good Guys brings up many interesting points, it does lack a bit of nuance in this area, which means it runs the danger of turning some people away from an important conversation.
At the start of One of the Good Guys, Cole has left his life in London behind after everything exploded alongside his marriage. Mel, his (still) wife, hounds him about signing the papers while he tries to reconnect with himself in the isolation of the countryside. There he meets Leonora, seemingly also on the run from the stress and fakeness of busy city life. But tragedy strikes in the silent countryside when two young women, on a journey to raise awareness about violence against women, go missing and pretty quickly it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems. The novel is split into three parts. The first is from Cole's perspective and gives us a glance inside his mind as he finds his footing in the country and meets Leonora. The second is from the perspective of Mel and depicts their marriage and its downfall through her eyes. The third part is technically Leonora's, except that it is largely told through other media as well, such as podcast transcripts, social media posts, press releases, and the booklet accompanying her art show. This structure does work quite well as it gives you different point of views on the central issue of fear and violence.
The main issue, however, is that these parts do not feel well-balanced in my eyes. The central part, depicting Mel's experiences, was the most gripping for me as it really seemed Hall had found a sharp but careful nuance in depicting how Mel looses herself in the marriage and all that comes with it. Parts of it were heart-rending. The first part, focusing on Cole, was an interesting start but I think every reader will immediately pick up on the fact this man is off. While that may be the point, there is a certain lack of self-awareness in the character of Cole that means I found it hard to take his perspective seriously. (Compare to Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant, where the main male character is an ass, but kinda knows it, and is therefore conflicted to a certain extent.) The third part is also not exactly subtle or nuanced. And this is where my own conflictedness comes in. I recognise a lot of the elements Hall plays with, the fear that can grab you as you walk past a dark alley, the sudden awareness of your own physicality when men act a certain way, the struggle of finding out what you want separate from what you're told to want. All of these elements are at play in One of the Good Guys, but there is not really any space for you to sit with it, if that makes sense. The end of the book is very crowded with opinions, statements, etc. and while this is incredibly effective in showing the noise and divisiveness of discourse today, it also doesn't help you as the reader. The ending of the novel, however, in which Leonora's art show is depicted, is incredibly effective because it allows for nuance, personal experience, and meditation on the themes. I would have loved more of that. Now, One of the Good Guys runs the risk of drowning its own messages in the noise. And again, I feel kind of bad about that because the criticism seems to so closely align with what the book is arguing against.
As a thriller, One of the Good Guys is very effective, providing the reader with characters who are all darker shades of grey and plenty of twists and turns. As a book about important social issues, however, it loses potency at various points throughout the story. Araminta Hall is undoubtedly a good thriller writer and I would love to read more by her. I also think Hall undoubtedly believes strongly in the cause she is describing in the novel. Whether this format is the best way to raise awareness, I don't know. And yet, I have just spent a few hundred words talking about it and One of the Good Guys has raised important questions. So, to an extent, it does work as a conversation started.
I give this novel...
3 Universes!
I appreciated a lot of the things One of the Good Guys was trying to do. While some elements are very successful, others felt a little too unnuanced considering the potency and importance of the debate the novel is trying to have.
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