For the Woodbury family life is full and fulfilling. Joan and George have been married for many years and have successfully raised their two children. One is already in a successful career in NYC and their youngest Sadie, is a popular high school student. Everything is going according to plan until one evening two officers appear at their doorstep and arrest George.

The popular high school science teacher even had become somewhat of a mythic hero as he had saved his daughter and other customers in a bank hold-up years ago but not even that can save him from the stares and withdrawal from friends when it is announced that he’s been accused of sexual misconduct with students.

The family is in shock understandably and the story proceeds as George is awaiting trial. While Sadie tries to go back to school and resume her daily life, Joan is determined to find a reason as to why George could have done what he is accused of. Is he ill, how will they move on? Meanwhile Andrew returns home to help his parents but also finds it difficult to assimilate what has happened.

There are those in the community that are quick to assume the worst and if there are any who support George, then others think they are against the victims. The strength in this novel is having alternating viewpoints from Joan, Andrew and Sadie. While the biggest downfall for me was not enough from George, the accused.

This novel was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and as I read it during so many of the sexual misconduct scandals that dominated the discussion at the end of 2017, it definitely felt like a very timely and important read. While it was not one of my favorite reads of 2017, it was a good read and I think this is an author to watch.

I was disappointed in this book. I thought it had a good beginning with an interesting story line, and I was anxious to see where it lead. Sadly, from my point of view it went nowhere that I wanted to go.
This book seemed to have a lot of filler stuff like extra characters that were not relevant and even distracting as well as repetitive scenes and confusing directions. It was like meandering down dead end streets looking for an unknown destination. I got tired and bored, but I still held out hope of an ending that would bring everything together.
That was my biggest disappointment. The ending was abrupt-sometimes that works well, but in this case it didn't work at all for me. Perhaps I missed something, but I didn't connect with this story or the author's direction. I am more than happy to leave this book and head into a new read.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

This book was well-written and kept my interest well for the first half, but it began to feel like a bit flat, like it was going nowhere in the second half. I like the premise, just began to feel a bit boring.

In all honesty, I did not love this book. I won't publish my negative review on Amazon or Goodreads and I really appreciate being given an advance title but I thought this book was very depressing, but I sort of hung on and kept reading hoping that there would be some redemption or uplifting turn towards the end that I could at least carry away with me. Perhaps the author thought they provided that but I didn't see it and found myself feeling horrified and stressed out by the end, as I had felt during the reading.

I do think that the author did a good job pointing out that we are all flawed, as you see when even the most sympathetic of the characters (the daughter) wants to cheat on her boyfriend with his step-father figure. But, I needed more of a lesson or uplifting moment to make me enjoy the book.

Thank you again for the advance read.

Zoe Whittall nailed the characters in The Best Kind of People. George Woodbury was a wealthy man who was a pillar in his community and considered a hero until he was accused of unthinkable crimes. The community either rallied or shunned the members of his family after his arrest. The complexity and interaction between all of the characters throughout the book were very realistic and created a lot of twists and turns right up to the end. It definitely makes you second guess if you really know the people around you.

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All Opinions are my Own.

George Woodbury had it all. Professor at a prestigious prep school; wife; family; friends. He was a pillar of society. Teacher of the Year recipient. Then one day he is accused of sexual assault of a student. The author goes through the perspective of each family member as they await trial. The author really did a great job and I felt like this was very relatable to all of the cases of assault they are coming out now. This was all the perspective of the family of the accused though and not the victims.

Ballantine Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Best Kind of People. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

George Woodbury, local hero and popular science teacher at a nearby prep school, lives with his wife and children in a Connecticut suburb. Their world is rocked one evening by George's sudden arrest, accused by several teenage girls of unwanted sexual advances. As the town is polarized as to George's innocence or guilt, how will his wife Joan, teenage daughter Sadie, and adult son Andrew handle the fallout? What happens when they learn that someone close to them has betrayed them all?

Echoing certain sentiments in today's society, especially with regards to the media's call to action, The Best Kind of People realistically shows how a family can be torn apart by scandal. Accused are judged in the court of public opinion, fueled by accusations, long before a trial is even set. Parts of this book are steeped in realism and some are an exaggerated form of actual situations, but the overall effect of the book is quite strong. It shows how little it actually takes to fall from grace and how the collateral damage can be catastrophic. I wish that The Best Kind of People had ended prior to the epilogue, as the ending does nothing to help conclude the book. Although there were a few minor flaws in the book, here and there, The Best Kind of People is a book I would recommend to other readers.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
Even though the book had a good premise and started out as an interesting story, once the father (George) was arrested it went "flat" for me.
Do you really know your spouse, child, etc.? Are the people close to you really who they say they are?
In the end, the parents get back together but their son and daughter seem like they are more confused and disturbed because of the accusations and arrest of their father. Like the children, I still doubt his innocence.

This is a very timely novel! What if one of the men accused of sexual assault was your husband or father? Whittall explores how much we can believe those we love, what happens when trust is shattered, and how difficult it is to find the truth. I think fans of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty would enjoy this in particular.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Best Kind of People. Instead of focusing on George's transgressions, the book focused on how his actions affected his family. Loved it!

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall is a very timely book. What does a family go through when a loved one is accused of sexual assault?

Science teacher George Woodbury is the prep school and town darling, winning teacher of the year every year since he stopped an armed man from wreaking havoc in the school. Years later, when girls accuse him of sexual assault on a class trip, the town and George’s family is shocked. Is it true? If it is, can you love and support someone who has done something so bad?

Joan is George’s wife and she’s blindsided. It can’t be true. They must be lying, but why? Sadie is their 17-year-old daughter. One of the accusers is the younger sister of her best friend, so why would she lie? Andrew is Sadie’s older brother, and no matter the truth, the family should support his father.

This story doesn’t revolve around the sexual assault, but instead around George’s family. In the beginning days, it’s shock and chaos with camera crews camped outside their house, following them everywhere. As days go on, shock turns into denial and anger and back again. Their feelings are never settled and how they handle them carries into other parts of their lives.

To uncover more about each character, the chapters jump back and forth between them, and the story slowly unfolds as things in their pasts are revealed to show how they got to this place. While there are other things that keep the plot going, like relationship and work troubles, this is really about how this affects them all.

This was a very interesting read if you think of all the allegations we’re hearing about now. How could their family not know, some people question, or they assume loved ones missed easy telltale signs. But it’s really not that black and white, is it? In this story, none of them knew and their reactions and the problems it caused all seemed very realistic. This deep character analysis gives a unique vantage point that we may overlook when we hear of allegations like this.

This book really got the reader thinking and easily captivated by the characters and plot. You felt for them and all they were going through. The book seemed to building up to a huge reveal or resolution by the end.. Sadly, I found the ending very weak and abrupt that made the book and the characters stories seem cheapened and somewhat pointless. The ending was quite bleak and unfinished feeling.

This book is very timely and started out very strongly, but I felt like it didn't completely deliver. I felt like the ending was rushed, and I wasn't really sure how I felt about the characters' journeys.

George Woodbury is a hero in the Connecticut suburb where he lives, having once stopped a gunman from killing a girl at the prep school where he teaches. So it comes as quite a shock when, ten years later, he is accused of acting inappropriately with one of his high school students. George denies the charges, but no one---not his friends, family, or neighbors---knows what to think.

The premise of this book intrigued me. I've had to deal with a similar issue in my extended family, and I've been amazed by the things some people do, the secrets they keep. It's crazy. So I was curious to see how Whittall would have the situation play out in this book.

The story is told from the loosely alternating perspectives of George; his devoted wife, Joan; his popular 17-year old daughter, Sadie; and his successful but bitter son, Andrew, who is now a lawyer. Each takes a turn at investigating and unraveling the scandal while George sits in jail vehemently proclaiming his innocence. Their different perspectives and emotional responses keep the book engaging, fast-paced, and mysterious.

Truthfully, I wasn't always wowed by Whittall's writing (there are more than a few lazy and cliche moments...), but I definitely kept flipping pages, desperate to know what really happened. Ultimately, the intrigue of the scandal and the empathy I felt for the characters was enough to carry me through to the end, and I was mostly satisfied with the story's conclusion. No, this isn't a book that is going to change your life---but it does make for a nice few hours of entertainment.

Small town. Prominent family. Fallout from an unthinkable accusation.

Zoe Whittall created a character study of a family in the midst of the most difficult time in their life. How are Joan, the wife, Andrew, the adult son and Sadie, the teen daughter, supposed to pick up their lives after their father/husband is accused of sexual impropriety. This is a WILDLY emotional ready, full of complex emotions and conflicts.

The last half feels a bit rushed, but overall this is a dramatic and emotional book.

Wow! What do you do when a person you know, love, and trust has been accused of sexual misconduct? This is the premise of this book. Promising, right? Unfortunately, it is a promise that is never fulfilled. I was drawn in by the characters and how their lives were affected, but I was loft halfway through. Ultimately it left me wanting more.

I really liked this! I thought that the characters especially were very well-written, and it's a fresh take on a difficult issue. I especially thought that Joan was really relatable, and it was interesting to see her development. I'm super excited to see what Zoe Whittall writes next.

This book started of with a great grabber. A local hero teacher is accused of sexual misconduct and arrested stunning his family and community. I was prepared for great tension in figuring out if he was or was not innocent of the chargers and seeing how all the family members and community took sides and interacted with each other. However, the novel turned into something very different and I felt as if this plot line wasn't even integral anymore to the story. Instead we get the daughter messing around with drugs and a much older family friend, the son and his past as main plot lines. So why even bother with the great grabber at the start? And the ending was just not satisfying at all. It felt rushed and totally disconnected with the plot that most of the book centered on.

Ten years after George Woodbury heroically saves the Avalon Prep student body from a crazed gunman, he is accused of improprieties with several female students while chaperoning a school ski trip. His daughter Sadie, a senior at Avalon Prep, is instantly shunned by her friends, and clings to her boyfriend Jimmy, moving in with his family in order to avoid the drama at home. His wife Joan, a respected hospital administrator, is outraged that there could even be a whisper of scandal around George, whose family has been revered in the community for decades. And his son Andrew, an attorney in New York, is pulled back home by the scandal and is forced to revisit his own traumatic high school experiences while balancing his relationship with his partner Jared.

I was most impressed with Sadie as she navigates her way through the hostility that follows her father’s arrest. Once a stellar student, she can barely make it through the day and spends her time hiding at Jimmy’s, hanging out with Jimmy’s stepfather Kevin and smoking a lot of pot. Kevin, a marginally successful author, has decided to write a book about the Woodbury scandal and is getting plenty of material from Sadie, even as her entire world is imploding. This timely story about power and the abuse of that same power, and the damage it does, had several unexpected twists, and held my attention quite well.

[3.5 stars]

The Best Kind of People is what I call an “aftermath book.” It’s not a page-turner about George Woodbury’s alleged crimes, but more an exploration of the repercussions on his wife and two children (one grown and one still in high school). It explores the conflicted feelings of the loved ones surrounding someone accused of a horrific crime, when you’re forced to reset your view of someone you love and respect, and the unique implications of this playing out in a small, upscale community. I enjoyed all these elements of the story.

However, a couple things bothered me. First, Sadie Woodbury (George’s high school aged daughter) constantly spouted facts and figures about sexual assault, which made the “issue” angle of the book feel heavy-handed. And, without spoiling anything, I wish the existing ending had occurred a little earlier in the book and we’d gotten to explore a bit of the aftermath following the big reveal. Following everything the Woodburys had to face with George, I wondered how they’d face that final turn of events. Despite these flaws, I do think The Best Kind of People would make a great book club selection…lots to discuss here.