Wow--this book left me with so many thoughts. What makes a good Samaritan? Can I get in trouble for being one? I faced a lot of questions and self reflection while reading this book, however it was one of my favorites of this year. I really enjoyed the dimensions of the characters as well as their moral battles fought throughout the novel. Great work by the author! I would definitely read more by her.

*The Good Samaritan* by Toni Halleen is a gripping, emotional thriller that explores the fine line between kindness and danger. Halleen’s crisp prose and subtle tension pull you into the quiet moments—just before everything unravels. The characters feel real and flawed, and the mystery keeps you turning pages late into the night. A clever, heartfelt ride that sticks with you long after.

The Good Samaritan offers a compelling story with relatable characters and thought provoking themes. The narrative explores moral dilemmas and the complexities of kindness in a nuanced way. However, at times, the pacing feels a bit uneven, and some plot points could have been developed more fully. Overall, it's an enjoyable read that prompts reflection but doesn't quite stand out as exceptional. A solid choice for those interested in stories about morality and human nature.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Thank you, Netgalley for this advanced copy of The Good Samaritan in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this book was pretty good and had me hooked early on however, the more I kept reading I realized everything was tying in together, and it seemed a little lackluster. The way all the characters overlapped at the end of the day. It was a happy ending that left me wanting more.

This started off strong and tapered off quickly. Being in the category of Mystery and Thrillers, I was expecting something to happen and felt like I just kept waiting to no avail. This was a slow-paced drama with loss that I never fully felt. By the end, I had some lingering questions left unanswered. As I deeply despise giving negative reviews, I will leave it at that as well as stating that this author still managed to accomplish writing a novel and getting it out there, something many people can only dream of. Three stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Harper Perennial, and Paperbacks for this ARC.

In this book, grieving professor Matthew Larkin finds a hypothermic boy on a deserted road. Haunted by his son's death and personal losses, he impulsively rescues the child—who pleads for secrecy. Driven by guilt and longing, Matthew risks everything for redemption, confronting past traumas in hopes of healing and forgiveness.

This book had an intriguing premise—a man picks up a young man stranded on the roadside, and everything spirals from there. I went in expecting a gripping psychological thriller, but what I got felt more like a slow-burning character study that didn’t quite deliver on the suspense.

The story shifts between characters, but I struggled to connect with any of them due to a lack of emotional depth. I wanted more insight into Matthew’s relationship with his daughter and deeper backstories for Seaver and Kira. Kira, especially, as a passionate social worker and former foster child, deserved more development to enrich the narrative.

Some questions felt unanswered, and the ending seemed rushed. I hoped for a stronger emotional connection but found myself feeling bored at times despite the story’s potential.

Overall, this isn't much of a thriller but more of an introspective general fiction. And if you love books with a slower pace, this might be your cup of tea.
𝓜𝔂 𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Oh, "The Good Samaritan" by Toni Halleen, you sly little enigma! Just when you think you've got a handle on its shadowy corners, it slips through your fingers like a whispered secret in a crowded room. Halleen masterfully dangles threads of suspicion, each one shimmering with the promise of revelation, only to knot them in delightfully unexpected ways.

Our "good Samaritan" might just have a glint of something far more complex in his eye, and the act of kindness are layered with unease. You'll find yourself questioning every motive, every glance, every seemingly innocent gesture. Is it altruism, or is there a darker current swirling beneath the surface? Halleen keeps you guessing with a playful cruelty, dropping breadcrumbs that lead you down tantalizing paths, only to leave you stranded in a fog of delicious uncertainty.

The atmosphere is thick with a subtle tension, like the air before a storm. You can almost feel the weight of unspoken words and the prickle of unseen eyes. Halleen's prose is sharp and evocative, painting vivid pictures with a minimalist brushstroke. She understands the power of what's left unsaid, allowing the reader's imagination to conjure far more sinister possibilities than any explicit description ever could.

So, dear reader, if you enjoy a puzzle box wrapped in a velvet cloak, a story that will linger in your thoughts long after you've turned the final page, then by all means, pick up "The Good Samaritan." Just be warned: you might find yourself looking at acts of kindness with a newfound, deliciously paranoid skepticism. And perhaps, just perhaps, that's exactly what Toni Halleen intended all along.

Check out this teaser :

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.

I picked this book because the protagonist is a sociology professor. I said "I have a degree in that!" But it turns out that sociology professors kind of make for boring protagonists.
I loved the premise.
I just am not sure what happened. I got lost in the plot and then lost interest. It is not a bad book and I still love the author. I just was not feeling it.

I haven’t read a book this bad in a long time.
The writing felt like a 15 year olds thoughts on paper, and the dialogue left much to be desired.
The plot was strange, and like a lot happened, but really nothing did. It was one of the worst let down thrillers of the year for me.
I was sent this copy by the publisher, so I wish I had better things to say.
Thank you Harper publishing!

This book was meh for me. It kept me engaged throughout but the ending felt anticlimactic. It was slow and never really picked up. But I thought it was written well and I didn’t find myself struggling to finish, just wanting a little more.

Went to Walmart and almost bought this because I completely forgot I had an arc. I’m so glad I didn’t buy it. This was lackluster and left for something to be desired. It’s definitely not a thriller it’s more of a family drama.

Overall a pretty good book. There were a few places that I felt that questions weren’t quite answered or skipped over, but overall a nice quick read.
The characters are pretty basic honestly, not much about them really stands out. I found that the daughter, Claire, seems a bit immature and naive for being 16.

Would still recommend to others.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy

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.)

As someone who is very emotional, I was expecting this book to get me and it really didn't. I was hoping for a thriller and thriller it was not. This was a drama and had no sense of twist or excitement. I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be. It didn't hit me in the feels like a story about a parent losing a child. I'm not sure if it was the author's style of writing or what.

Thank you NetGalley, Harper and author, Toni Halleen for the arc!

Ok, so this one definitely starts out with all the “thriller vibes” … but soon after it settles into something more.

Although there is a little bit of a mystery to be revealed … I felt this story is more of a slow burn, thought provoking family drama. Hitting many topics like grief & loss, divorce, sexual assault, foster care, addiction, abuse & trauma … this is a compelling read that deep dives into real life family relationships & hardships & living with the fallout of the choices we make.

So even though I didn’t that twisty & suspenseful thrill ride that I was expecting from this book, I did get an emotional & well written story with characters that tugged at my heart.

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. The first time I tried to read this book, it didn't hold my interest. I decided to give it another try and I really enjoyed it. I love how it took place in 1992. I also enjoyed how it was told in parts by different characters. The story centers around a professor who becomes a good Samaritan by saving a young boy. I really liked how all of the characters became tied together at the end of the book.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I read the author's previous book, THE SURROGATE, and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to this one.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN was not what it was marketed as. This was not a psychological thriller. Mystery -- maybe. However, there wasn't even much mystery and intrigue. I found Matthew to be incredibly annoying. I didn't understand the decisions he made and how he didn't think them through. I also found the rest of the story to move way too slow and felt like nothing really happened. When I reached the end, I found myself asking what the point of the story was.

I enjoyed this! This is a story that stayed with me. It's very entertaining and riveting. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Toni Halleen, Harper Paperbacks and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

The main character, aka Rhe Good Samaritan, made many questionable choices and was somewhat annoying to me. The story overall was entertaining enough to finish reading. Didn’t love it and probably wouldn’t recommend.