Book Extract: A Good Man by PJ McIlvaine

Published August 6, 2024 | By Laura

I’m pleased to be welcoming PJ McIlvaine to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, A Good Man.

He wants to remember. He’ll wish he could forget . . .

Decades after a brutal childhood trauma, a famous novelist finds his life shattered once again, in this unsettling psychological mystery thriller.

Brooks Anderson should now be enjoying life, but the persistent nightmares and sleepwalking still haunt him.

As hard as he’s tried, he can’t run away from the defining event of his life: the senseless murders of his mother and brother during a vacation in Montauk, which left the eight-year-old Brooks the sole survivor of the carnage and in a catatonic state. He buried his pain and eventually overcame his demons.

But now an unscrupulous journalist is threatening to twist the truth by digging up the past. To prove his innocence and exorcise his demons, Brooks must dig into his own psyche and the events of that fateful summer. His pursuit of the truth soon leads Brooks down a slippery slope that challenges everything—and will bring him face-to-face with the real monster of Montauk . . .

PJ McIlvaine has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.

Warning: Language.

*****beginning of extract*****

Brooks believes that he’s a good father. He loves his children and they have all the material comforts. He’s fiercely protective of them. After the childhood tragedy that robbed him of his mother and older brother, he won’t even take them to the beach—too many bad memories. But here, after his young daughter is savagely mauled, Brooks feels small and powerless. Once again, he failed.

*****

“As Sheldon promised, there’s a police escort to the trauma center. Reporters circle like vultures and shout questions as I rush past them, head down. I’m sorely tempted to tell them to fuck off, but I resist and ignore them.

Cassie is in a private waiting room right off the Emergency Room. I see her before she sees me. Her hands and clothes are smeared with blood. She bursts into tears and collapses into my arms.

“Where is she? Where’s Dad and Mark?” I ask.

It takes a few moments for Cassie to speak. I’ve never seen her so upset. Ever. I want to kill the dog all over again, but I push my fury aside and focus on Cassie.

“Mark’s with Rob and Tammy at their house,” she finally says. “They took your father in another ambulance. He didn’t want to go, but Rob insisted.”

I don’t like Rob much—he’s a bit too much of a gung-ho macho man for my taste and I suspect he voted for Trump—but what he did today cancels that.

Cassie clings to me. “Bernard. Thank God for him. He fucking saved Audra.”

Which led me to my next question. “Why was he there? How did he know you were at your sister’s?”

“He called me last night. He said he missed the kids and that you told him we were at Tammy’s. He was in the area visiting friends for the weekend, but he didn’t think he’d have time to come by. Then he called later this morning and asked if he could spend the afternoon with us because his plans had changed. Honestly, I almost said no.”

Mystery solved. Dad has friends near and far: ex-pats, diplomatic pals, and retired (and not so retired) politicos. He’s a frequent house guest and always brings a bottle of expensive wine. He can’t drive anymore—his cataract surgery notwithstanding—but he still has a car and a chauffeur and makes good use of both. Frankly, the only thing that surprised me was Dad confessing he missed the kids. Dad isn’t an absent grandfather, let me be clear. He comes to the birthday parties and goes dutifully overboard at Christmas. But Dad isn’t a doting grandparent. It’s on his terms and when he’s available. He’s around and then he’s not. But this time, Dad’s exactly where he needed to be. Audra is alive because of him. I shudder to think what would’ve happened otherwise.

Cassie stares at me. “Shit. I just remembered.”

“Remembered what, baby?”

“Dad said the dog nipped him.” She nods, her face chalky. “I was in the kitchen with Tammy. Dad came in and said the dog had lunged and nipped him for no apparent reason. He asked if the dog was safe to be around the kids. Tammy assured him that Rover was a cuddle buddy, a loveable golden puffball. They researched the breed, and it was considered one of the best among young kids. A Goldendoodle.” Tammy and Rob don’t have kids yet and don’t seem to be in a rush, if you ask me. “Tammy said that Rover was just being playful, and Dad took it the wrong way.” Cassie’s chest heaves with fresh sobs. “This is my fault. If we had gone with you to Water Mill like you wanted—”

I cradle and kiss her. “No, baby, you can’t think like that. There was no way for you to know that the cuddle buddy was Jaws in disguise. None. It was a fucking accident.” I say this for Cassie’s sake, but I want to throttle Tammy, a smug know-it-all with bleached unibrows who grows her own organic heirloom tomatoes and buys fancy free-range eggs.

“Her leg, Brooks. There was so much blood. You weren’t there, you didn’t see.”

It’s not the time or place to tell Cassie about the horrific video.

“What if she loses her leg? Or she can’t walk? What if she’s maimed for life? What if—” She puts her hand over her mouth, her eyes feral.

“She’s going to be fine,” I assure her.

“You don’t know that for sure,” she exclaims.

And she’s right, of course. I don’t know a goddamn thing.

The door swings open. It’s a middle-aged man in hospital scrubs: Dr. Mowbray according to his name tag. Dark brown hair, a manicured goatee, Indian descent. “Mr. and Mrs. Anderson?” he asks in a clipped accent.

I take a step. “Our daughter. How is she?” I don’t recognize my voice; it’s strangled and foreign. I’m back in the hospital when Audra was born far too early at twenty-four weeks due to Cassie’s placenta previa. Audra was just a little over a pound, a wrinkled raisin obscenely hooked up to a maze of tubes and machines. The doctors told us to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Cassie, a lapsed Catholic, insisted that the baby had to be baptized immediately. Dad, who is agnostic, roused a cardinal from St. Patrick’s at four in the morning. Audra Beatrice was baptized before the sun rose. It was a crisis every hour, but she defied the odds at every turn. As I sat by Audra’s incubator, I begged Mom to watch over her and made all kinds of promises to God—any God, I didn’t care who or what. Later that day, I found a penny on the floor and took it as a sign that someone up there heard my pleas, despite my many transgressions. I had the lucky penny encased in plastic; it never leaves my wallet.

When Audra was six months old, we were finally able to bring her home. That long first night, Cassie and I stayed by her crib and watched her breathe. The doctors were cheerfully pessimistic; yes, Audra had come this far but she might be developmentally delayed or prone to infection and illness. Once again, Audra proved them wrong, meeting and sometimes exceeding her milestones. Now a healthy spitfire, you’d never know that she’d been at death’s door. She jabbers like a blue jay and bosses Mark like a Mafia don. I can’t imagine a world without my sweet Audra in it.”

*****end of extract*****

About PJ McIlvaine –

PJ McIlvaine is a prolific best-selling Amazon author, screenwriter, and journalist.

Also, her Showtime film with Mimi Rogers, Karen Allen, and Eric Stoltz was nominated for an Emmy.

She’s been published in Crime Reads, Writer’s Digest, The New York Times, and numerous outlets. She lives in Eastern Long Island with her family and pampered fur baby.

Say hello via her website, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and X.

A Good Man was released in August 2024. Click here to buy.