Imagine your child was accused of a heinous crime. How far would you go to find out the truth and protect him? At what point would you start blaming yourself? Noah Hawley's latest psychological page-turner, The Good Father, examines this scenario and poses heartbreaking questions about parenting, love's limits, and good versus evil. Told from the perspectives of both the determined, anguished father and his lost son, Hawley takes us deep into a family's history and unearths a tragic backstory, all the while keeping the reader guessing about the son's culpability until the shocking ending.

Dr. Paul Allen is a Chief Rheumatologist who specializes in diagnosing patients with mysterious ailments. One day, relaxing at his comfortable home in the Connecticut suburbs with his twin boys and his second wife, he sees his nineteen-year-old son, Daniel, from his first marriage, on the television news. It appears his son has assassinated the Democratic candidate for president. What follows is Dr. Allen's quest to vindicate his child, who he believes is innocent -- it must be a mistake that Daniel was caught on camera with a gun. Dr. Allen begins retracing his son's wayward journey toward this fateful day.

Dr. Allen uses his skills and background as a medical problem solver to try and piece together the clues of what truly happened, who the real killer is, and how his son may have been framed -- and it's fascinating. Simultaneously, he analyzes his first marriage and the aftermath of his divorce, during which he moved across the country, leaving Daniel in California with his irresponsible mother. All at once, Dr. Allen has to come to terms with his early experience of fatherhood, confront his guilt, and control his obsessive need to save Daniel, which is threatening his marriage and family life.

Though Hawley presents his story in a style reminiscent of a journalist -- he references multiple political assassins and terrorists from Sirhan Sirhan to John Hinckley to Timothy McVeigh -- it is emotionally harrowing as you viscerally sense the father's agony and the son's loneliness. And still, it is extremely readable. If you like Jodi Picoult's writing, this book will resonate with you.

Steel yourself though. Throughout this suspenseful novel, you will consider the nature of unconditional love and question the parenting decisions you have made in your own life. What would you do in the shoes of this loyal father, who, when faced with his son's demons, recognizes his own part in creating them? Could you give up everything to protect one of your children?