Summary

With flawed characters struggling to navigate challenging relationships, A Good Man serves up a thrilling psychological tale focused on buried memories.

5-STAR REVIEW: A GOOD MAN by PJ McIlvaine

The Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2023

Decades after a brutal childhood trauma, a famous novelist finds his life shattered once again, in this unsettling psychological mystery thriller.

After years of turmoil, Brooks Anderson is sober and has a stable life with his wife and two kids. He should enjoying life, but the persistent nightmares and sleepwalking tell a different story.

As hard as he’s tried, Brooks can’t run away from the defining event of his life: the senseless murders of his mother and brother during a vacation in Montauk. An eight-year-old Brooks was the sole survivor of the carnage, which left him in a catatonic state. He buried his pain and eventually overcame his demons. Or so he believed.

Now an unscrupulous journalist is threatening to write about the deaths. Fearful that the truth will be twisted to suit sordid ends, Brooks decides to write his own book, despite the grave misgivings of his agent, wife, and father.

However, when the journalist is brutally killed, Brooks finds himself in the authorities’ crosshairs. To prove his innocence and exorcise the past, he digs deeper into his psyche and that fateful summer. His relentless pursuit of the truth soon leads Brooks down a slippery slope that challenges everything—and brings him face-to-face with the real monster of Montauk . . .

The Review

At 65, Brooks Anderson has successfully shed his past drug and alcohol addictions. With a thriving career as a writer, he and his much younger third wife have two young children.

Life should be great, but there is just one problem. The murders of his mother and older brother in 1966 are about to be fodder in a sensationalistic tell-all book by a sleazy writer. To complicate matters, Brooks was there but has no memory of what happened. The solution? He decides to write his own book, hoping research will take him back to that fateful summer day.

Author PJ McIlvaine delivers a top-notch thriller with A Good Man. Alternating past and present provides an in-depth look at the Anderson family—Bernard, Shirley, Palmer, and Brooks. As Brooks delves into the investigation, he uncovers some new information.

Meanwhile, bodies are falling, including the sleazy writer. This pushes Brooks to the forefront as a suspect in the police investigation. His marriage has hit a rough patch because he and Cassie are keeping secrets from each other. All of this upheaval ramps up his anxiety and pushes him into the therapist’s chair.

Someone wants to ensure that the truth stays hidden and is killing off people who know too much, adding a sinister component. Brooks is determined to find answers, but they come from the most unlikely source.

With flawed characters struggling to navigate challenging relationships, A Good Man serves up a thrilling psychological tale focused on buried memories.Buy Links

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About The AuthorPJ McIlvaine is a prolific and creative author/screenwriter/writer/journalist.

PJ’s debut middle-grade supernatural historical mystery adventure VIOLET YORKE, GILDED GIRL: GHOSTS IN THE CLOSET (Darkstroke Books, April 2022) is about a poor little rich girl in NYC 1912 who sees ghosts.

Coming up in 2023: From Bloodhound Books, A GOOD MAN, a twisty, gritty adult contemporary psych thriller in the vein of SUCCESSION, BIG LITTLE LIES, and THE UNDOING.

THE CURIOUS CONUNDRUM OF CHARLEMAGNE CROSSE (Orange Blossom Books), is a young adult alternate history set in Victorian London.

PJ’s debut picture book LITTLE LENA AND THE BIG TABLE (June 2019, Big Belly Book Co.), with illustrations by Leila Nabih, is about a determined little girl tired of eating with her annoying cousins at the kid’s table, only to discover that the big table isn’t much better. She has another picture book, DRAGON ROAR (MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing, October 2021) artwork by Logan Rogers, about a lonely, sick dragon who has lost his mighty roar, and the brave village girl who helps him find it again.

PJ is also a co-host and founding member of #PBPitch, the premiere Twitter pitch party for picture book creators.

PJ has been published in numerous outlets including The New York Times and Newsday, and is a regular contributor for The Children’s Book Insider newsletter (paid firewall), writing about the path to publication and interviews with established and debut kid lit authors.

PJ lives on Eastern Long Island with her family and furbaby Luna.

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REVIEW AUTHOR

Amy Wilson
Amy Wilson
My name is Amy W., and I am a book addict. I will never forget the day I came home from junior high school to find my mom waiting for me with one of the Harlequin novels from my stash. As she was gearing up for the "you shouldn't be reading this" lecture, I told her the characters get married in the end. I'm just glad she didn't find the Bertrice Small book hidden in my closet. I have diverse reading tastes, evident by the wide array of genres on my Kindle. As I made the transition to an e-reader, I found myself worrying that something could happen to it. As a result, I am now the proud owner of four Kindles -- all different kinds, but plenty of back-ups! "Fifty Shades of Grey" gets high marks on my favorites list -- not for character development or dialogue (definitely not!), but because it blazed new ground for those of us who believe provocative fiction is more than just an explicit cover. Sylvia Day, Lexie Blake, and Kristin Hannah are some of my favorite authors. Speaking of diverse tastes, I also enjoy Dean Koontz, Iris Johansen, and J.A. Konrath. I’m always ready to discover new-to-me authors, especially when I toss in a palate cleanser that is much different than what I would normally read. Give me something with a well-defined storyline, add some suspense (or spice), and I am a happy reader. Give me a happily ever after, and I am downright giddy.

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With flawed characters struggling to navigate challenging relationships, A Good Man serves up a thrilling psychological tale focused on buried memories.5-STAR REVIEW: A GOOD MAN by PJ McIlvaine