The Good Father: The stunning psychological thriller from the award-winning crime writer

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'Heart-stopping and heart-rending, this is Liam McIlvanney's best novel yet' VAL MCDERMID

WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN YOUR CHILD DISAPPEARING

Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with successful, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly and honest community in a picture-postcard town on the Ayrshire coast.

Until one day, Bonnie the lab comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone - the only trace left behind is a single black Adidas slider.

Their lives don't fall apart immediately. While there's still hope (and no body) they dig deep and try to carry on. It's a process of abrasion - a wearing away of happiness and normality; a slow degradation, a gradual breakdown - until they'll never be the people they were before. This sort of tragedy impacts a whole town. Does the community still feel the same after What are folk saying about you Who are your friends Who can you trust

When the worst thing has happened and you've lost everything, you either go under or you rebuild and start again.

'Beautifully written, this is easily one of the finest crime novels I've read in a very long time' C.M. EWAN

Reviews

Heart-stopping and heart-rending, this is Liam McIlvanney's best novel yet * VAL McDERMID *
A masterful crime novel. It's a page-turning, heartbreaking story about fatherhood with echoes of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley and that nail-biting, can't-look-away inevitability of a plot which still, somehow, manages to surprise. Beautifully written, this is easily one of the finest crime novels I've read in a very long time. * C.M. EWAN *
The Good Father is a consummate and nerve-shredding psychological thriller, beautifully written and with huge heart * DOUG JOHNSTONE *
A haunting, harrowing and utterly absorbing study of how far a father will go to protect a family indelibly stained by darkness. A masterpiece that will stay with you long after the last page * NEIL BROADFOOT *
The Good Father is a book that gets under your skin-an unforgettable mix of trauma, heartbreak and human frailty that leaves you thinking about it long after you've turned the final page. This is crime writing at its absolute finest, with McIlvanney cementing his place as one of Scotland's most essential voices. * DAVID F. ROSS *

Author Bio

Liam McIlvanney was born in Scotland and studied at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. He has written for numerous publications, including the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. His first book, Burns the Radical, won the Saltire First Book Award. His crime novels have won multiple awards, including the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize, the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, and he has also been shortlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year. He is Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He lives in Dunedin with his wife and four sons.