The Good Father

By NOAH HAWLEY

Published by Hachette NZ in TPB / RRP $36.99

Who makes us the people we become?

Dr Paul Allen is a highly respected rheumatologist living in a comfortable suburb with his second wife and their two young boys. But then one evening America is rocked by the shooting of a charismatic Presidential candidate and the young man arrested for the crime is Danny, the child of Allen's first marriage –  news which sends the family down a harrowing path of no return.

Almost overwhelmed by a vortex of feelings – guilt, anger, incredulity, love – Allen embarks on a mission to understand what happened and why. Even if he is the only man in the world who believes in Danny's innocence, he is determined to prove it. At the same time, he is forced to look back at the past, and Danny's childhood.

Following the trail of his son's fatal last journey across America, Allen's quest is both a suspenseful drama and a searing meditation on conspiracy theory, gun culture, marriage and parenthood.

If the child you loved committed a terrible crime, who would you blame? How can we understand the random, pointless violence that rips apart our otherwise comfortable western lives? Dr Paul Allen needs answers and his search takes him all over America, until he arrives at the place he always knew he would have to look: himself.

About the Author

Noah Hawley created and ran the ABC television shows The Unusuals and My Generation, and wrote the film Lies & Alibis. Noah's short fiction has appeared in the Paris Review. He currently splits his time between Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX, where he lives with his wife and daughter.