About the book
What could be worse than your child disappearing? An emotional, whipsmart and brilliantly clever thriller about a child’s disappearance, and the disintegration of a family in the aftermath.
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with successful fulfilling lives. A son they adore, a house on the beach, 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 just gone – the only trace left is a single black Adidas slider.
Their lives don’t fall apart immediately – while there’s still hope (and no body) they can dig deep and try to carry on. Rather it’s a process of abrasion, a wearing away of that 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, start again.
Praise for the novel
‘Heart-stopping and heart-rending, this is Liam McIlvanney’s best novel yet.’ Val McDermid
‘A masterful crime novel. Echoes of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley and that nail-biting, can’t look-away inevitability of a plot which still, somehow, manages to surprise. 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
About the author
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.
Review
This is one of those books where you pick it up to read a couple of chapters and get completely lost and lose track of time.
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are living an idyllic life, successful careers, a beloved 7 year old son Rory, a pet black lab, a house on the beach. While Sarah is working as a solicitor, Gordon is in charge of his son, but after being distracted by his academic research, realises his son is missing. He was last seen on the beach, playing with their dog, but when Bonnie the lab returns with a sandal in her mouth, Gordon and Sarah realise the worst has happened. Their son is gone.
Eventually teaming up with another father grieving for his lost son, and a former police officer, Gordon tries to uncover what happened to Rory, trying his best to keep hope alive, but all roads seem to lead to dead ends, and the frustration and hopelessness pour out of the pages.
The novel is an intense study of a family’s grief, and a father’s guilt, detailing the ends Gordon will go to to make amends for the loss of his son, and to protect his family. A mild-mannered academic, Gordon has a logical approach to his actions, and the moves he makes in the novel – while counter to his outer appearances – are completely believable and understandable for a man who wants to be a good father, but lost his only boy.
Opening with the loss of their son, Rory, the novel spans the years that follow, and the grief, loss and anger play out in full intense cinematic glory. The novel is so beautifully written, with and ended that is unexpected, and yet satisfying. An excellent read.
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