The Goodbye Man

Starred review from March 16, 2020
Bestseller Deaver’s outstanding sequel to 2019’s The Never Game takes professional reward seeker Colter Shaw to Washington State in pursuit of the bounty offered for information leading to the apprehension of Adam Harper and Erick Young, who are accused of first burning a cross on a church lawn and then shooting two people. Shaw’s superior tracking skills enable him to locate Harper and Young, but the encounter ends with a disturbing suicide. Shaw’s pursuit of the reason for the suicide leads him to the Osiris Foundation, a shadowy organization that promises those who attend its three-week course “a happy and contented life.” The investigator’s suspicions about Osiris increase after he discovers that a reporter who’d mentioned it in an article about cults was murdered, supposedly by a hold-up man who was subsequently shot to death by the police. Deaver balances suspense and plausibility perfectly as he depicts Shaw’s efforts to infiltrate Osiris and learn the truth. This is a perfect jumping-on point for readers new to one of today’s top contemporary thriller writers. Author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary.

Kaleo Griffith returns to narrate the second audiobook in Deaver's Colter Shaw series. Griffith's regular-guy voice is a great match for this Jack Reacher-like protagonist. Shaw is a super-skilled investigator (a reward-seeking missing person finder) with a highly developed sense of justice. His wilderness survival skills and risk-assessment philosophy equip him to outmaneuver others. Here, the plot focuses on Shaw's investigation of a cult. Griffith masterfully performs both female and male characters, including the narcissistic cult leader, desperate cult members, and bullies who step in Shaw's path. The twists and turns will keep listeners glued to their earbuds. Listeners can start with this audiobook, go back to THE NEVER GAME, the first in the series, and then look forward to Shaw's next adventure. E.Q. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine