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.