Who Killed Christopher Goodman?
05 July 2018Synopsis
A thriller inspired by a tragic true event in the author's past. Allan Wolf examines the circumstances of a boy’s inexplicable murder and the fateful summer leading up to it.
Everybody likes Chris Goodman. Sure, he’s a little odd. He wears those funny bell-bottoms and he really likes the word ennui and he shakes your hand when he meets you, but he’s also the kind of guy who’s always up for a good time, always happy to lend a hand. Everybody likes him, which makes it especially shocking when he’s murdered. Here, in a stunning multi-voiced narrative – including the perspective of the fifteen-year-old killer – and based on a true and terrible crime that occurred when he was in high school, author Allan Wolf sets out to answer the first question that comes to mind in moments of unthinkable tragedy: how could a thing like this happen?
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05 July 2018
9781406379426Reviews
Wolf’s dynamic, multifaceted characters come vividly alive through their distinct speaking voices, and their struggle to come to terms with not only their guilt but the senselessness of the universe is deeply affecting. Artful, thoughtful, and utterly captivating.
Wolf uses these unique formats to excellent effect to create a gripping mystery as well as a thoughtful character study in which the six teens grapple with their actions on the night of the murder and their blame, if any, in Christopher Goodman’s death. Recommended for most YA collections, this fast-paced novel will appeal to reluctant readers as well as fans of mystery and suspense.
This is a thoughtful, remarkably well done novel that must have percolated in the author’s mind for years: It is based on a murder in the author’s own history, but limiting its audience to the true crime section would be its own crime. This novel should reach an audience as broad as its cast, and find fans just as widespread.
As several teens band together to play a revenge prank against an adult they’ve nicknamed “Mr. Self-Righteous,” the final climactic pieces of the plot fall into place, leaving students haunted by Pelf ’s senseless act of random violence.
