Good Guys

Gary Clemmons is dead. Only Jo Prescott knows how deeply his secret cruel streak ran.

A high school sports star and the son of a local evangelical pastor, Gary’s death while serving in Iraq sends shock waves through his hometown in Maine. The death of the town’s golden boy especially troubles the Prescott sisters, Georgie and Jo.

The two sisters are a study in contrast. Georgie is stagnating in her slow-paced life, where she still lives with their pious, churchgoing father. Her only escape is her secret relationship with Gary’s younger sister. Jo, on the other hand, is an aspiring journalist at an elite college, where she puts all her energy into hiding the fact that she’s struggling to fit in and make her mark while she watches her debt pile up.

When Georgie learns about deeply disturbing photos Gary took during the war, Jo is faced with the choice to keep his secrets and let him be remembered as an all-around good guy, or use what she knows to further her own ambitions.

After Jo’s brash young journalism professor pushes her to submit the story to a national magazine, the attention it receives tests everything the sisters know of the ties that bind—and the point at which they break.

Good Guys uncovers the underbelly of a small town — the darkness of patriotism and masculinity, the harm caused by religious fervor, and the ways these dynamics can destroy a family. Alternating perspectives between the sisters, this propulsive story will leave you facing truths you’d rather ignore.