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Paul Allen, a successful doctor happily re-married with twin ten-year-old boys, has his life turned upside down when Daniel, his son from his first marriage, is arrested for gunning down a popular presidential candidate. THE GOOD FATHER tells the story of Paul's search for answers through an investigation of Daniel's life, particularly the year or so leading up to the shooting. Allen initially hopes to establish his son's innocence, but then must try to understand how his son could have come to be involved in something so appalling. THE GOOD FATHER is a well-paced and exciting story, a drama of psychology rather than action. The shooting is revealed in the first few pages, but Daniel's experiences and thoughts leading up to the event are revealed only piece by piece. A picture of increasing dissociation and weirdness is convincingly developed, building up the tension as the story moves to its inexorable conclusion. In parallel, we learn of his father's research and moves after the event to both protect his family from the universal hatred directed at them, and to do what he can for the son to whom - it seems - he has not given enough in the past. This tale is also engrossing, the anguish of immersion in such a tragedy generating strong emotions, ever underpinned by bewilderment and guilt. The story is particularly interesting for the insight that it gives into real high-profile shootings in US that inevitably come to mind given the fictional events described. Interspersed with the narrative are brief sketches of several such incidents and the young men indicted - Sirhan Sirhan, John Hinkley, Timothy McVeigh, Charles Whitman, and others. While Hawley doesn't draw any hard conclusions, the details he gives suggest a basic similarity between the perpetrators, obsessively preoccupied and apparently lacking some kind of vital connection to the rest of humanity, with thought processes that progressively move further and further away from what might be termed 'sane'. Difficulty in forming relationships with others plays a part, and underlying this family breakdown, but why these specific few should have been particularly susceptible is not clear. One aspect of the book that strikes a UK resident particularly is the ease with which firearms can be acquired in the US, and the sheer number of weapons in circulation. Whether we are talking about attacks on politicians, robberies or personal disputes, the addition of guns to the mix inevitably means more deaths. Americans appear to pay a very high price for the right to bear arms. § Chris Roberts is a retired manager of shopping centres in Hong Kong, and now lives in Bristol, primarily reading.
Reviewed by Chris Roberts, March 2012
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