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The Good Samaritan: A Psychological Thriller of a Professor Saving a Life, Facing His Past, and Risking Everything to Move On
A college professor is offered a chance at redemption—if he can figure out the right thing to do in this thoughtful psychological thriller from the author of The Surrogate.
Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he’s trying to cope with the disaster his life has become.
While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car’s headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. The boy is alive but unconscious, soaked to the bone and possibly hypothermic. Knowing an ambulance would take too long to reach them, Matthew impulsively puts the boy in his car, intending to get medical help.
On the way, the boy awakens and becomes agitated, begging Matthew not to take him to a hospital or to call the police. Matthew sympathizes with the panicked boy, who looks to be the same age his son would have been. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that’s happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice—risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself.
Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he’s trying to cope with the disaster his life has become.
While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car’s headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. The boy is alive but unconscious, soaked to the bone and possibly hypothermic. Knowing an ambulance would take too long to reach them, Matthew impulsively puts the boy in his car, intending to get medical help.
On the way, the boy awakens and becomes agitated, begging Matthew not to take him to a hospital or to call the police. Matthew sympathizes with the panicked boy, who looks to be the same age his son would have been. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that’s happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice—risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 4, 2024
63 people are currently reading
10240 people want to read
About the author
Toni Halleen
2 books121 followersToni Halleen worked for many years as an employment law attorney. She was born and raised in the Midwest, earned a B.A. in Women's Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota. Toni won Mentor Prize in fiction from the Loft Literary Center, and her writing has appeared in Wigleaf, Structo, Gravel, and the Star Tribune.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 180 reviews
January 5, 2025
I was excited for this book. The premise was intriguing, and I love mystery/thrillers. The characters were interesting ... at first. But as the story continued, nothing happened. No twists, no shocks, no mysteries, and no thrills. This is a family drama with a lot of emotion. I'm the wrong audience for that.
April 4, 2025
After author Toni Halleen's impressive debut, I expected THE GOOD SAMARITAN to be very, very GOOD.
It wasn't.
TWs: Toddler Death, Child Predators
The publisher's blurb positioned the book as a psychological thriller.
It wasn't.
It was a disjointed and disappointing family melodrama.
I listened to the 9.5-hour audiobook, which easily could have been a 6-hour audiobook.
I always enjoy full-cast audiobooks.
Narrators Adam Verner, Tara Sands, Carolyn Jania, and Giordan Diaz did superb jobs with the narration.
March 15, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
Full cast audio was awesome. I think this story had so much potential at the beginning. It definitely felt like a thriller in the making but the story didn’t develop at a fast pace which made it more slow burn mystery with minimal mystery. I really like the topics this author brings to the surface though and think it’s still worth reading.
Full cast audio was awesome. I think this story had so much potential at the beginning. It definitely felt like a thriller in the making but the story didn’t develop at a fast pace which made it more slow burn mystery with minimal mystery. I really like the topics this author brings to the surface though and think it’s still worth reading.
April 16, 2025
I was SO intrigued by the synopsis but NOTHING EVER HAPPENED! I read and read and refused to put it down because I just KNEW something good was coming… and it never did. 3 stars only because it did keep me hooked, but maybe I was just hooked by my expectations…
January 23, 2025
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: March 4, 2025
Toni Halleen, author of “The Surrogate”, poses a sociological question in her new novel, “The Good Samaritan”. If you found a boy, unconscious, lying at a gas station, seemingly on his own, what would you do? For sociology professor Matthew Larkin, the answer to this question and his choice will haunt him.
Matthew Larkin is on the tenure track at the local college and he loves teaching his students and posing sociological questions and theories to them. While driving one evening, he stops at a gas station and notices a young boy under a tarp, alive but unconscious, and decides to take him to a local hospital. But on route, the young boy awakens, refuses hospital care and jumps out of Matthew’s car, running into the night. Matthew thinks that that is where his involvement stops but when the police show up in the middle of a seminar, Matthew begins to wonder what happened to the boy and if the outcome was his fault?
“Samaritan” has several characters that take the lead; Matthew, of course, Matthew’s daughter, Claire, the young boy, Seaver and the social worker, Kira. Each character is connected through their relationship (however short) with Matthew, but they are each dealing with their own personal conflicts and traumas, which helps readers build a bond with them all. As a reader in the social work profession, I connected most with Kira, but all of Halleen’s characters have some level of relatability.
The choices Matthew made were not necessarily the most common (or even the correct) one, but he had his reasons, which Halleen crafted believably. Young Claire is connected to Matthew, obviously, and to Kira as her social worker, but her plot line did not seem to intertwine in any specific way until the end, when her experiences help spawn the creation of a new project that Kira helms. Even without the connection, Claire’s plot line was relevant, emotional and powerful and, it should be noted, consider this a trigger warning for sexual assault and harassment with Claire’s character.
Halleen wrapped the storylines cohesively and I thoroughly enjoyed the outcome. Although there were some aspects that were predictable (such as Kira and Matthew’s relationship at the end), the characters were relatable, the storyline was well-developed and engaging and the premise was thought-provoking. What would you do in this situation? Whether you agreed with Matthew or not, “Samaritan” is one heck of a good read and I am excited to read Halleen’s next work.
Expected publication date: March 4, 2025
Toni Halleen, author of “The Surrogate”, poses a sociological question in her new novel, “The Good Samaritan”. If you found a boy, unconscious, lying at a gas station, seemingly on his own, what would you do? For sociology professor Matthew Larkin, the answer to this question and his choice will haunt him.
Matthew Larkin is on the tenure track at the local college and he loves teaching his students and posing sociological questions and theories to them. While driving one evening, he stops at a gas station and notices a young boy under a tarp, alive but unconscious, and decides to take him to a local hospital. But on route, the young boy awakens, refuses hospital care and jumps out of Matthew’s car, running into the night. Matthew thinks that that is where his involvement stops but when the police show up in the middle of a seminar, Matthew begins to wonder what happened to the boy and if the outcome was his fault?
“Samaritan” has several characters that take the lead; Matthew, of course, Matthew’s daughter, Claire, the young boy, Seaver and the social worker, Kira. Each character is connected through their relationship (however short) with Matthew, but they are each dealing with their own personal conflicts and traumas, which helps readers build a bond with them all. As a reader in the social work profession, I connected most with Kira, but all of Halleen’s characters have some level of relatability.
The choices Matthew made were not necessarily the most common (or even the correct) one, but he had his reasons, which Halleen crafted believably. Young Claire is connected to Matthew, obviously, and to Kira as her social worker, but her plot line did not seem to intertwine in any specific way until the end, when her experiences help spawn the creation of a new project that Kira helms. Even without the connection, Claire’s plot line was relevant, emotional and powerful and, it should be noted, consider this a trigger warning for sexual assault and harassment with Claire’s character.
Halleen wrapped the storylines cohesively and I thoroughly enjoyed the outcome. Although there were some aspects that were predictable (such as Kira and Matthew’s relationship at the end), the characters were relatable, the storyline was well-developed and engaging and the premise was thought-provoking. What would you do in this situation? Whether you agreed with Matthew or not, “Samaritan” is one heck of a good read and I am excited to read Halleen’s next work.
March 3, 2025
The Good Samaritan by Toni Halleen
What I thought was going to be a psychological thriller turned out to be a slow burn drama.
Matthew loses his son by unfortunate events. He will later, make a decision that will change everything. While I did enjoy the story, the pacing was just too slow for my liking. However, if you enjoy slow burns with thought-provoking themes, definitely give this one a try.
Publication 3/4/2025
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What I thought was going to be a psychological thriller turned out to be a slow burn drama.
Matthew loses his son by unfortunate events. He will later, make a decision that will change everything. While I did enjoy the story, the pacing was just too slow for my liking. However, if you enjoy slow burns with thought-provoking themes, definitely give this one a try.
Publication 3/4/2025
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 29, 2024
This book was so good. It was set in the 1990’s so it was before technology was what it is now. This book hits on all the subjects grief, sexual assault, divorce, foster care. It was slow at first but the more you read the better it gets. I would be interested in a follow up book that tells how Claire is doing in college, how Seaver is doing who he is living with if his mom ever got her act together. Does Matthew ever get tenure.
April 13, 2025
This story is set in 1992, when a sociology professor named Matthew Larkin is driving from Minneapolis back to his home in Northwood. After getting caught in a hail storm, he pulls off the road to wait for it to pass - and that’s when he sees it: a tarp in front of a feed store, covering what looks to be a small body. He gets out of his car, removes the tarp and finds a preteen boy, unconscious and hypothermic. Being a Good Samaritan, he carries the boy to his car to warm him up and take him to the hospital, but the child soon wakes up and jumps out of the car, running away.
Throughout the book we get to know a lot of characters (maybe too many?), like Matthew’s daughter Claire, his ex-wife Tammy, a social worker named Kira, and others who are all connected in one way or another. It turns out the boy was a foster child who ran away, but why? Where did he go? Will Matthew lose the tenure he was about to get after technically kidnapping a child and not calling the police because he was drunk when this all happened? When the police and social workers get involved, Matthew is terrified of losing his shot at tenure - and his daughter.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but there is also something about it that felt haphazard. As I mentioned, there may have been too many characters, and sometimes the links between them felt very tenuous. Claire was a compelling character, but trying to connect her heartbreaking story with the rest of the book seemed like a grasp. I love the idea of this book, but there was too much filler, in my opinion. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining and quick read that ended neatly, which is why I’m rounding up on my 3.5 star rating.
(Thank you to HarperCollins, Toni Halleen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)
Throughout the book we get to know a lot of characters (maybe too many?), like Matthew’s daughter Claire, his ex-wife Tammy, a social worker named Kira, and others who are all connected in one way or another. It turns out the boy was a foster child who ran away, but why? Where did he go? Will Matthew lose the tenure he was about to get after technically kidnapping a child and not calling the police because he was drunk when this all happened? When the police and social workers get involved, Matthew is terrified of losing his shot at tenure - and his daughter.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but there is also something about it that felt haphazard. As I mentioned, there may have been too many characters, and sometimes the links between them felt very tenuous. Claire was a compelling character, but trying to connect her heartbreaking story with the rest of the book seemed like a grasp. I love the idea of this book, but there was too much filler, in my opinion. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining and quick read that ended neatly, which is why I’m rounding up on my 3.5 star rating.
(Thank you to HarperCollins, Toni Halleen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)
January 25, 2025
Thank you, NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this early access book. My only regret about this book is not reading it sooner. It’s been on my NetGalley shelf for awhile. I wouldn’t classify this book as a thriller. It was a really well written story that I couldn’t get enough of. It was insanely good and I especially loved the happy ending. Highly recommend getting your hands on this one when it releases to the public!
December 14, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Good Samaritan
Brace yourself, “The Good Samaritan” is where grief, abuse, trauma, and addiction collide!
A few different stories intertwined with a bit of an edge, family drama and real life hardships, I found myself to be invested in each of the characters. Tugging at my heartstrings throughout, so many emotions reached the surface; sadness, anger, frustration, hope, and much more.
Personally, I didn’t quite gain the traction of a psychological thriller but I was eager to unravel the mystery.
The Good Samaritan
Brace yourself, “The Good Samaritan” is where grief, abuse, trauma, and addiction collide!
A few different stories intertwined with a bit of an edge, family drama and real life hardships, I found myself to be invested in each of the characters. Tugging at my heartstrings throughout, so many emotions reached the surface; sadness, anger, frustration, hope, and much more.
Personally, I didn’t quite gain the traction of a psychological thriller but I was eager to unravel the mystery.
December 1, 2024
Thank you for the opportunity to preview The Good Samaritan. This is a very interesting read. Told in 1992 before cell phones and the technology boom, this book took me back in time (in a good) way.
A man is traveling home and he finds a young boy on the verge of death. What does he do. Does he call the cops, walk away, or take him to the hospital. He makes his choice but things don’t go well and soon he finds out that this good deed may not turn out well.
Each chapter introduces a character and their relationship with each other. How they interact with each other and how their relationships are connected is what makes this book so compelling.
Very good 4 stars
A man is traveling home and he finds a young boy on the verge of death. What does he do. Does he call the cops, walk away, or take him to the hospital. He makes his choice but things don’t go well and soon he finds out that this good deed may not turn out well.
Each chapter introduces a character and their relationship with each other. How they interact with each other and how their relationships are connected is what makes this book so compelling.
Very good 4 stars
March 5, 2025
I loved this author’s book The Surrogate, so I was ecstatic to be approved for her sophomore book The Good Samaritan! This book covers heavy topics: grief, foster care, divorce, sexual assault, runaways, alcohol abuse….but Toni does so in a tasteful way. I was invested in the characters and worried about Seaver. I wish there were more foster parents like the ones taking care of Seaver. This is not a thriller, but rather a domestic drama maybe?
✔️Minnesota setting
✔️1990’s timeline
✔️multiple POV
✔️slow burn
✔️what would you do scenarios
✔️Minnesota setting
✔️1990’s timeline
✔️multiple POV
✔️slow burn
✔️what would you do scenarios
March 17, 2025
The Good Samaritan is not a thriller. So, if you are expecting something fast paced and/or action packed you will be disappointed. However, if you love psychological drama and great character development you will love this intense psychological family drama which covers about as many topics as there are characters. Grief, guilt, alcoholism, teen insecurity, sexual assault are all part of this beautifully written story about a father who has to finally figure out who he is after the tragic death of his young son 8 years earlier.
April 10, 2025
Two books back to back where nothing happens and I'm bored to tears.. watching paint dry would be more interesting.
January 6, 2025
This story was not what I expected, but I enjoyed it. Grief is a main theme, as well as other societal issues - alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, runaways, foster care, and case workers. The characters are all flawed and often make bad choices. But their intentions are for the right reasons. Just as in real life, once grief was dealt with head on life became better. Makes you think about what a "good samaritan" really means.
dnf
August 30, 2025I got to 36% before calling it quits. The female MCs—the teenager and social worker were interesting and I liked their narratives—but the Matthew was so awful I couldn’t take it. His decision making was equivalent to choices a teenager would make and after reading the synopsis I expected the child he found to be a little kid, not a bratty preteen.
March 28, 2025
The Good Samaritan grabbed me from the get go. I was immediately intrigued and completely captivated by the writing. I loved the multi POVs, am was never quite sure where the story is going. It did fizzle a bit in the end for me and I did want to feel more about everything that happened to the characters.
December 26, 2024
I wasn't sure what kind of book I was getting into when I got this book. I was thinking more suspense and thriller. It's definitely not that, but so much more. There's a lot of grief, assault, and drama in this book that kept me reading. I'm really happy the way it ended though. I'm glad Matthew and Claire have a better father/daughter relationship. It was a happy ending where certain characters found peace and happiness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2025
2⭐️ - such a weird book…and I thought it would be one of those “weird” ones that would end up paying off by finishing it but, nope. I’d definitely skip this one!
March 5, 2025
The cover of THE GOOD SAMARITAN by Toni Halleen is a bit deceiving. In my opinion, it gives off dark and seedy thriller vibes, but I’d describe it as a mysterious neighborhood drama. I absolutely loved the author’s previous novel, THE SURROGATE so I jumped at the chance to participate in the book tour for her latest.
QUICK SYNOPSIS:
“𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯—𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦.”
The novel follows Matthew, a college professor, Claire, his teenage daughter, Seaver, a young runaway in foster care, and a social worker named Kira. With each new chapter, the perspectives alternate, and Halleen expertly weaves all four storylines together. All four characters were impeccably crafted. I was extremely intrigued by them all, and 100% invested in each of their individual narratives, yet Claire was definitely my favorite. As a mother to a teenage girl, I found myself looking forward to her chapters the most.
READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:
- Multiple POVs
- Minnesota setting
- Family drama
- Reflections on loss and grief
- Slow-burning mysteries
- 1990s timeline
- Well-developed characters
- Marriage and divorce
- Foster care/social work storylines
- High school life and challenges
Redemption, loss, grief, and forgiveness are the main themes of this novel, yet it also includes some triggering subject matter like sexual assault, addiction, and the loss of a child. It was a bit heavier than I was expecting, but the author handled it all with care.
4/5 solid stars for THE GOOD SAMARITAN! It’s out now! Highly recommend!
QUICK SYNOPSIS:
“𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯—𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦.”
The novel follows Matthew, a college professor, Claire, his teenage daughter, Seaver, a young runaway in foster care, and a social worker named Kira. With each new chapter, the perspectives alternate, and Halleen expertly weaves all four storylines together. All four characters were impeccably crafted. I was extremely intrigued by them all, and 100% invested in each of their individual narratives, yet Claire was definitely my favorite. As a mother to a teenage girl, I found myself looking forward to her chapters the most.
READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:
- Multiple POVs
- Minnesota setting
- Family drama
- Reflections on loss and grief
- Slow-burning mysteries
- 1990s timeline
- Well-developed characters
- Marriage and divorce
- Foster care/social work storylines
- High school life and challenges
Redemption, loss, grief, and forgiveness are the main themes of this novel, yet it also includes some triggering subject matter like sexual assault, addiction, and the loss of a child. It was a bit heavier than I was expecting, but the author handled it all with care.
4/5 solid stars for THE GOOD SAMARITAN! It’s out now! Highly recommend!
July 14, 2025
This was marketed as a thriller, and it started off that way. It was really strong, and I was vested. It quickly turned into a family drama, and while it was still a good read, I was not able to make the mind shift from a thriller. I liked it overall, but I wished my expectations had been set for a drama rather than a thriller.
Thank you to Harper and Bibliolifestyle for the gifted copy to review.
Thank you to Harper and Bibliolifestyle for the gifted copy to review.
January 12, 2025
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley
This story was a great look into different family dynamics and the secrets we hold. Each character has their own share of struggles they are going through. It seems everyone’s story unfolds after an event takes place.
It was a good read. Left you wanting to continue reading to find the end result in everyone’s story.
This story was a great look into different family dynamics and the secrets we hold. Each character has their own share of struggles they are going through. It seems everyone’s story unfolds after an event takes place.
It was a good read. Left you wanting to continue reading to find the end result in everyone’s story.
March 25, 2025
Great book. A page turner and great storyline!
Read
December 3, 2024Unfortunately, this was a DNF. I didn't find our mystery intriguing and found our unusual young man extremely unpleasant. I wasn't really interested in what he was hiding from. I was marginally curious about whatever might happen with bagel boy, but not enough to continue. Not, unfortunately, for me.
March 18, 2025
Meh. The main character was unbelievably dumb and made stupid decisions that could have been catastrophic. BUT, there were a couple of subplots that kept me reading til the end. I would only recommend this book if you’re bored and have nothing else to read. It’s not terrible, but definitely not the best book I’ve read.
March 6, 2025
ARC review • out now!
a college professor has a chance for redemption when he stumbles upon a small child alone during a storm
this book has alllllll the 1990’s nostalgia you could possibly need! Set in Minnesota - multiple POV including Matthew the professor - Seaver, the young boy he finds - his high school age daughter Claire - and the social worker Kira.
All of their stories are intricately tied together, and it was a really good book to fly through.
The ending was a bit underwhelming to me, but there wasn’t really any other way to tie it up. I personally love the last few paragraphs to make you rethink the entire book - but this was still a very well put together thriller that I enjoyed.
4⭐️
Thanks so much to Harper Perennial for my gifted ARC
#harperperennialpartner
a college professor has a chance for redemption when he stumbles upon a small child alone during a storm
this book has alllllll the 1990’s nostalgia you could possibly need! Set in Minnesota - multiple POV including Matthew the professor - Seaver, the young boy he finds - his high school age daughter Claire - and the social worker Kira.
All of their stories are intricately tied together, and it was a really good book to fly through.
The ending was a bit underwhelming to me, but there wasn’t really any other way to tie it up. I personally love the last few paragraphs to make you rethink the entire book - but this was still a very well put together thriller that I enjoyed.
4⭐️
Thanks so much to Harper Perennial for my gifted ARC
#harperperennialpartner
April 13, 2025
Honestly, the cover and the blurb on the back made the book sound like it was gonna be a thriller, maybe a little creepy. It was very disappointing. A little boring and definitely not a thriller or creepy.
June 26, 2025
4.5 stars!
I initially let this book slip through my fingers as an ARC, so I patiently bided my time before diving in.
Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is struggling after a series of personal tragedies, including the death of his son and subsequent divorce. He finds a rare tenure-track position at a small college in Minnesota. One gloomy Sunday evening, he encounters a young boy outside in a hailstorm who is unconscious and likely hypothermic. Matthew decides to help the boy instead of waiting for an ambulance. The boy awakens and pleads not to be taken to the hospital or police, which prompts Matthew to make a risky decision. This choice reflects his longing for redemption and a chance to confront his past and find forgiveness.
The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives: Matthew, Kira, Seaver, and Claire. What truly captivated me about this story was how a single action by one character ignited a chain reaction. One seemingly simple good deed brought together a web of individuals who, unbeknownst to them, were all interconnected. The brilliance of this plot twist didn’t fully unravel until later, and I found myself utterly engrossed. I struggled to put the book down, as I was drawn deeper into its intricate layers.
I love clever plots that require you to pay attention, think critically, and perhaps glean some wisdom from the subtext. The actions of one character set off another chain reaction, profoundly impacting the lives of everyone involved. This is a meticulously crafted narrative, executed with finesse!
I’ve come across some mixed reviews, and I understand that juggling multiple points of view can sometimes lead to confusion. If that’s a concern, I highly recommend giving the audiobook a shot. The narrators did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life, capturing the emotions the author intended to convey.
If you enjoy clever storytelling that illustrates how one simple act can unravel an entirely different narrative, this book is definitely worth your time. While the pace may be slow, the intrigue and suspense will keep you on your toes. So, whether you choose the book or the audiobook, don’t miss out on this delightful read!
I initially let this book slip through my fingers as an ARC, so I patiently bided my time before diving in.
Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is struggling after a series of personal tragedies, including the death of his son and subsequent divorce. He finds a rare tenure-track position at a small college in Minnesota. One gloomy Sunday evening, he encounters a young boy outside in a hailstorm who is unconscious and likely hypothermic. Matthew decides to help the boy instead of waiting for an ambulance. The boy awakens and pleads not to be taken to the hospital or police, which prompts Matthew to make a risky decision. This choice reflects his longing for redemption and a chance to confront his past and find forgiveness.
The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives: Matthew, Kira, Seaver, and Claire. What truly captivated me about this story was how a single action by one character ignited a chain reaction. One seemingly simple good deed brought together a web of individuals who, unbeknownst to them, were all interconnected. The brilliance of this plot twist didn’t fully unravel until later, and I found myself utterly engrossed. I struggled to put the book down, as I was drawn deeper into its intricate layers.
I love clever plots that require you to pay attention, think critically, and perhaps glean some wisdom from the subtext. The actions of one character set off another chain reaction, profoundly impacting the lives of everyone involved. This is a meticulously crafted narrative, executed with finesse!
I’ve come across some mixed reviews, and I understand that juggling multiple points of view can sometimes lead to confusion. If that’s a concern, I highly recommend giving the audiobook a shot. The narrators did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life, capturing the emotions the author intended to convey.
If you enjoy clever storytelling that illustrates how one simple act can unravel an entirely different narrative, this book is definitely worth your time. While the pace may be slow, the intrigue and suspense will keep you on your toes. So, whether you choose the book or the audiobook, don’t miss out on this delightful read!
March 10, 2025
Matthew is a sociology professor on his way to tenure when he is drinking one night and finds someone on a porch. He doesn’t want to call the police because he’d been drinking but didn’t want to leave the boy either. He decides to take the boy to the hospital but the boy wakes up and takes off. Matthew is left wondering what to do to help the boy and also not hurt his chances at tenure.
There are other POVs in the book and their main link is to Matthew. I found the story very interesting and enjoyed how the writer crafted the characters reactions to situations. A quick and enjoyable read that you won’t want to put down!
There are other POVs in the book and their main link is to Matthew. I found the story very interesting and enjoyed how the writer crafted the characters reactions to situations. A quick and enjoyable read that you won’t want to put down!
April 25, 2025
I kept rolling my eyes at the main character and hoping he would make better decisions, which means that the characters were written so well that I felt like I had a real connection to them!! The story itself starts off intense and doesn't let up, and the shocking reveals kept me hooked throughout the book. I really liked this book and would highly recommend it!
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