The Good Goodbye

For fans of Jodi Picoult comes an enthralling domestic thriller about the lies we tell, and let ourselves believe, in the name of love.

The first thing you should know is that everyone lies. The second thing is that it matters.

How well do we know our children? Natalie Falcone would say she knows her daughter, Arden, very well. Despite the challenges of running a restaurant and raising six-year-old twin boys, she’s not too worried as she sends her daughter off to college—until she gets the call that Arden’s been in a terrible fire, along with her best friend and cousin, Rory. Both girls are critically injured and another student has died. The police suspect arson.

Arden and Rory have always been close, but they have secrets they’ve never shared, secrets that reel all the way back to their childhoods, and which led them to that tragic night. Who set the fire, and why? As the police dig deep into both the present and the past, Natalie realizes that in order to protect her daughter, she’ll first have to find out who Arden really is, even if it means risking everything—and everyone—she loves most.

Advance praise for The Good Goodbye

“A fluid, suspenseful story that keeps you turning the pages to find out what happened—and what will happen next. I devoured this novel.”—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

“A tender portrait of an ordinary family torn by rivalry and disaster . . . a rich and satisfying family drama.”—William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

“Evocative and poignant, this story will curl around you like a glowing flame and suck the air out of your lungs with its power.”—Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Those Girls
 
“Terrific . . . a deep dive into the mysteries of long friendships, parenthood, and the stories we build our lives on . . . Carla Buckley has written a book that grabs you on the first page, breaks your heart, and leaves you hopeful.”—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of The Fixer

“Elegant and emotional, deeply affecting . . . an exquisitely troubling, psychologically complex novel that grabs the reader on page 1 and never lets go.”—Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Language of Sisters

“Twisty and beguiling, an emotionally rich novel about the formidable and fraught bonds of family, The Good Goodbye shudders with revelations from its first page, ensnaring you with its suspense.”—Megan Abbott, author of The Fever

“Relentlessly suspenseful and instantly riveting, this heartbreaking page-turner probes the darkest secrets a family tries to protect. . . . Complex, sinister, and beautifully written.”—Hank Phillippi Ryan, award-winning author of The Wrong Girl

“Utterly hypnotizing . . . I was left in awe of Buckley’s powers of storytelling, of the way she lays clues with deftness and care, luring the reader down a cataclysmic trail of lies, leading to a perfectly satisfying finale. The Good Goodbye is incredible!”—Mary Kubica, internationally bestselling author of The Good Girl
 
“Provocative, riveting, wrenching . . . In Buckley’s finest novel yet, the aftermath of a tragedy leaches long-hidden secrets into a family’s vigil, revealing the hazy outlines of sin, debt, and desire.”—Sophie Littlefield, author of The Missing Place


From the Hardcover edition.

Carla Buckley is the author of The Good Goodbye, The Deepest Secret, Invisible, and The Things That Keep Us Here, which was nominated for a Thriller Award as a best first novel and the Ohioana Book Award for fiction. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Wharton School of Business, and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband and three children. She is currently at work on her next novel.


From the Hardcover edition.