A Good Father is told from the perspective of Des, who lives with his wife Jenny and their 3 children. The book flicks between the past and the present day and Des is, as the title of the book suggests, A Good Father. However, Des also struggles with control, jealousy and obsession, which we see unwind throughout the tale.
From a psychological element I thought Des was an interesting character, I never knew whether to hate him or to feel sorry for him. I found that Catherine Talbot demonstrated Des’ complexities very well. However, I would have loved to have either delved more into Des’ past to try and understand how and why his personality was moulded that way, or to hear from Jenny to try and understand Des’ character from her point of view.
Overall, despite some parts of the book being slow I thought this was a decent psychological read and good for a debut novel.
I would like to thank Net-Galley and Penguin Books UK for giving me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Reads Must 