The Good Children (Mass Market Paperback)

by Kate Wilhelm (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Calling Kate Wilhelm a born storyteller is like calling Frank Sinatra a born singer: it's necessary but not sufficient to explain the genius that lies just behind the apparent facility. Whether Wilhelm is writing her prizewinning science fiction, her best-of-the-bunch legal thrillers (such as 1997's Malice Prepense, which became For the Defense in paperback), or an emotionally charged psychological thriller such as The Good Children, Wilhelm instantly brings her characters to life and roots them in a landscape both familiar and formidable. What children haven't felt the terror of moving to a new home and a new school--that icy edge of not belonging that the four youngsters of Will and Lee McNair have been walking all their lives? Soon after the family moves into the Oregon house that Will promised would be their permanent home, he is killed in an accident, and the children have to cope with a series of life disturbances that strongly resemble the constant disasters faced (and overcome) by the original settlers of Oregon's rougher terrains. Wilhelm adds modern touches of paranoia and political correctness to produce a story and characters that you'll have trouble forgetting. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Seamless storytelling and believable characters caught in a bizarre, inescapable situation make this latest psychological thriller from three-time Nebula Award winner Wilhelm (Malice Prepense) taut and satisfying. "When you've got family, you don't need anything else," Lee McNair tells her children. After an industrial accident kills her husband, the distraught McNair makes the four children promise they'll never let strangers touch her when she dies. The children find themselves called on to honor that promise when McNair is killed in a freakish backyard accident. Afraid of disobeying their mother and equally afraid that they'll be sent away to foster homes, the children bury her in the backyard and are forced to lie to neighbors and pretend that she is still alive. Their attempts to keep up the ruse are eerily successful?except that the youngest of the children begins to lose his sanity. Eventually, the McNairs call the authorities to report their mother's sudden disappearance. The youngest child's troubles deepen and a new piece of information about their mother's accident threatens to break up their carefully unified front. A young society lawyer, charged with looking in on the "abandoned" McNair children, creates another kind of complication when he falls in love with the engaging teenage narrator (and third McNair), Liz. Wilhelm's spare, unsentimental style contributes nicely to the mood of this well-told gothic tale.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449004554
• ISBN-13: 978-0449004555
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #504,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't get these children out of my mind..., October 8, 1999

By	Ginny (Edina, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews

I was introduced to Kate Wilhem through her Barbara Holloway books. I knew Ms. Wilhelm also writes Science Fiction which is not a genre I read, but I ran across "The Good Children" on the 'to be shelved' cart at the library and was intrigued by the premise. Once I started reading I just couldn't put it down. Normally well disciplined in putting a book away at bedtime, I was up until well past 2:00am finishing "The Good Children". The four siblings are so well written I felt like I knew each of them. Don't pay attention to those who complain about the implausible ending - the book has to wind down, it just couldn't go on forever. This is a GREAT book and I will, for sure, be checking out more Kate Wilhelm writings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it in three hours... I couldn't put it down!, June 20, 1999

By A Customer

This is one of the bests books I have read... and that it saying a lot. Kate Wilhelm kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The plot is absolutely brilliant and the suspense is nerve-racking. A+

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware of offensive language, May 3, 2005

By	Cathy "Middle school media specialist" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

A family with four children, and not exactly well-to-do, buys a house. Soon thereafter, tragedy strikes with the death of the father and later the mother, leaving the children to survive by themselves. The children actually live a lie out of necessity until more misfortune occurs with one of them. The family bond proves to be the strength of the family.
This book contains language that might be offensive, and is for mature readers only.