The Good Children

by Kate Wilhelm

Book Overview

It started with a promise. A pact. It became a secret that no one must tell--that their parents were dead and gone. Including the one they'd buried in the backyard. Now the McNair children are growing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312179146
• ISBN13: 9780312179144
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Great reading by a great author

Kate Wilhelm is a little known author who had several novels and short story collections, usually in the Science Fiction field. Her husband is also a SciFi writer. I have been following Ms. Wilhelm's career for over 30 years and she has written some stuff that blew me away. This book can be added to that list of greatness. I can't even begin to tell you about the plot without providing spoilers. Just believe that if you like Sci-Fi with a big dose of Fantasy thrown in and then sprinkled with a little horror, this book is for you.

A Personal Top 5

Family promises should never be broken. Never will you find a book that drives this point home any clearer. The characters in this book were some of the best and most complex I have seen in years. This is a must read. Once you stop, you won't want to put it down.

I can't get these children out of my mind...

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.

Read it in three hours... I couldn't put it down!

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+

Once begun, this book haunts you until you finish it.

Kate Wilhelm's storytelling reaches out from the pages, grabs you by the collar, and won't let go. I read the first 20 pages or so and decided I really didn't want to continue a book that made me so uncomfortable. But I had to read the end. And then the middle. And then the whole thing all over again!

Excellent psychodrama

The four McNair siblings were used to seeing the world as they traveled to wherever their father was sent by his construction company. To the elation of the four kids (fifteen year old Kevin, thirteen year old Amy, eleven year old Liz, and six year old Brian), the McNairs are finally settling down in one place: just outside Portland, Oregon. However, their idyll world crashes when dad dies in an accident at work. Mother was not the same and made each child vow that they would not give her a religious burial filled with lies when her time comes. Soon afterward, mother dies. The children honor their vow by burying mother in their yard by themselves. Being used to depending on one another, the four siblings pretend to the neighbors that mother still lives. However, Brian is suffering from anguish that threatens his mental stability and the united front is weakening as the will to stay together is being torn asunder by the big lie. THE GOOD CHILDREN is a great modern day gothic tale that grips the reader from start to finish. The characters, especially the four children, seem so real, the audience will start looking closer at their neighbors for similarities. The story line is top rate due to the frightening feel of realism and normalcy. Kate Wilhelm demonstrates why she is a multi-award winning author with this knock-your-socks off psychological thriller. Harriet Klausner