A Good Man - A Novel

Zusatztext 104512844 Informationen zum Autor Ani Katz is a writer, photographer, and teacher. She was born and raised on the South Shore of Long Island, New York, and holds an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago and a BA from Yale. She lives in Brooklyn. Klappentext "I sat down to read A Good Man and didn't move until I'd finished...I loved this book." -Caroline Kepnes, author of You A dark and gripping novel of psychological suspense about a family man driven to unspeakable acts, in the vein of The Perfect Nanny and We Need to Talk About Kevin. Thomas Martin was a devoted family man who had all the trappings of an enviable life: a beautiful wife and daughter, a well-appointed home on Long Island's north shore, a job at a prestigious Manhattan advertising firm. He was also a devoted son and brother, shielding the women in his orbit from the everyday brutalities of the world. But what happens when Thomas's fragile ego is rocked? After committing a horrific deed - that he can never undo - Thomas grapples with his sense of self. Sometimes he casts himself as a victim and, at other times, a monster. All he ever did was try to be a good man, but maybe if he tells his version of the story, he might uncover how and why things unraveled so horribly. The billy club arrived with the first shipment of Christmas presents that year, one package among several stacked on the front porch. The snow had started in the late afternoon, and by the time I got home from work the lawn was dusted with powder. The girls were still out-ballet maybe, or a violin lesson. In the hush of the early dark, I knelt and gathered the gifts in my arms, then carried them into our house. The club had made the long journey coastward from the home of an amateur craftsman in War Eagle, Arkansas, who'd advertised the club on eBay as an absolutely terrific tire and fish thumper. Carved from Ozark red cedar, the club was about the size of a T-ball bat, and it had a nice old-fashioned look to it, like something you'd hang in your study instead of your garage. Wrapped around the rich wood barrel, held in place by a rubber band, there was a sheet of paper-a letter from the seller, which I lost almost immediately. The missive must have been shuffled in with the old school flyers and grocery lists and holiday cards, tossed out with the rest of the paper ephemera that was always blanketing the kitchen counter. But I remember most of what the letter said. It was a testimony of faith, one man's deliverance from death through the power of prayer. Stricken by pancreatic cancer, the seller had given up on life, but one day his wife had dragged him to church-long-sleeved in the August heat, trying to hide the yellowing of his skin-and there in the pew he had a revelation. He saw his entire life pass before his eyes, and that's when he knew that he was being protected by a power greater than himself. He began to weep. And when he got into his car to go home, he looked down and the yellow in his skin had disappeared. A few days later, his doctor told him his tumor was gone. The seller signed off by calling me brother. He said my name was a blessing, that Thomas the apostle had doubted the Resurrection, but found his faith when he touched Christ's wounded body-a miracle! (I have seen the Caravaggio painting of the subject: old doubting Thomas, his forehead creased with awe as Christ grasps his wrist and guides his hand to his bloodless breast, one calloused finger probing the dark gap where the spear went in.) The prophet from War Eagle said that I should not doubt, that mercy was real, and my own miracle would come soon. I remember reading the letter at the kitchen island, my dog nosing at my ankles, asking for his dinner. I had switched on Met Opera Radio-as I always did the moment I got home-and while I bore witness to this stranger's supposed healing and salvation and his promise of ...

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CrimeReads 10 Novels You Should Read in January
PureWow's Most Anticipated Books of 2020

"[An] ingenious slow burn."
Entertainment Weekly "Your Complete Guide to the Season's Best Page-Turners"

"Powerful and unsettling...Produces in the reader a sense of foreboding that builds with ever-increasing intensity to the inevitable and brutal climax...[A] masterly first novel."
Publishers Weekly *starred review*

As she expertly builds a growing sense of dread, Katz creates an unsettling atmosphere of paranoia, fear, and rage, hinting at the catastrophe to come through ominous comparisons to the tragic operas Thomas loves. This is the sort of relentless novel you can't put down even when you're afraid to read what happens next. An unnerving and absorbing exploration of modern masculinity and how the seeds of violence are sown.
Kirkus Reviews

"Chillingly good...Katz has delivered a whip-smart, beautifully written meditation on marriage, masculinity and hte thin line between happiness and disaster."
Bookpage

"A mature and wicked debut...Evokes Highsmith's Ripley, or Denise Mina's The Long Drop, and heralds the entry of a fantastic new voice to the genre."
CrimeReads

"Simulataneously nightmarish and utterly compelling...A masterful, suspenseful tale told by an ultimate unreliable narrator."
Booklist *starred review*

"Sordidly gripping."
The Guardian

"A Good Man's exploration of masculinity in a world of instability makes it a timely read."
Vanity Fair

"Highly impressive...A striking modern tale of violence, sexual abuse and vindictiveness."
The Independent

Ani Katz is a brilliant writer. I sat down to read A Good Man and didn t move until I d finished it. This is a spellbinding work of psychologically potent art. I can t wait to read what she does next. I loved this book.
Caroline Kepnes, author of You

Katz draws a life in its most delicate lines, then destroys it. And this is a story you won't forget.
Nico Walker, New York Times bestselling author of Cherry

A Good Man slinks into the dark heart of a ripped-from-the-headlines crime fueled by toxic masculinity. As in Leila Slimani s The Perfect Nanny, the slow unpeeling layer by layer of the conventions of sanity left me breathless, saddened, and spooked.
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and June

A profoundly disturbing and deeply unsettling story of a man struggling to reconcile himself with the horrifying act he has committed. Katz deftly embodies her narrator, giving voice to his self-serving recreation of the past and presenting him as he sees himself: a provider, a protector, a patriarch. Richly drawn and laced through with dread, this bold novel is an unflinching examination of what it means to be a man, and how easily a man can become a monster.
Kathleen Barber, author of Are You Sleeping

"Surprising, daring, and thrilling to read."
Flynn Berry, author of Under the Harrow and A Double Life

"Gripping, sly, and ferociously intelligent. I couldn't put it down."
Jennifer duBois, author of Cartwheel and The Spectators

A Good Man will hold you in its creeping spell from the first lyrical line to the bitter, bitter end. As the narrator s tale of selfless, industrious striving on his family s behalf unravels, you ll be too caught up to look away from the ugly business of a good man bringing himself and the others around him down. Ani Katz s debut is a gorgeously written, profound examination of contemporary masculinity and its potentially lethal side effects.
Laura Sims, author of Looker

Product details

• Authors: Ani Katz
• Publisher: Penguin Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.02.2020
• EAN: 9780143134985
• ISBN: 978-0-14-313498-5
• No. of pages: 224
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 197 mm x 15 mm
• Series: 201 GRAND
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Fiction > Narrative literature > Contemporary literature (from 1945)