Good Guys

Author Mindy Misener On Tour
Paperback
$21.99 US
| $26.99 CAN
On sale Oct 13, 2026 | 336 Pages | 9781685892654

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In a small New England town in 2008, two estranged sisters become embroiled in a war crime involving a local hero …

Georgie and Jo are sisters, but they aren’t close. The situation seems worse once Jo goes off to college, making it obvious she’s happy about leaving Curtisville and Georgie and their disabled father behind. 
    Then, Gary Clemmons dies in the Iraq War. Gary—the son of their pastor, the hero of their hometown, and the brother of Georgie’s secret girlfriend—was famous for being a good guy.
    But Georgie stumbles on a dark secret about Gary, and once Jo finds out, things begin to spiral out of control. The fallout will change both sister’s lives forever.
    In the end, Good Guys uncovers the underbelly of a small town—the darkness of patriotism and masculinity, the harm caused by blind religious fervor, and the ways these dynamics can destroy families.
Mindy Misener grew up in Maine. She is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. After teaching college writing for ten years, she made a career change and enrolled in Yale Divinity School. She is on track to be ordained in the UCC. Her prose has appeared in Image, The Missouri Review, CrossCurrents, The Appalachian Review, The Pinch, The Common, and other outlets.

Discussion Guide for Good Guys

Provides questions, discussion topics, suggested reading lists, introductions and/or author Q&As, which are intended to enhance reading groups’ experiences.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

About

In a small New England town in 2008, two estranged sisters become embroiled in a war crime involving a local hero …

Georgie and Jo are sisters, but they aren’t close. The situation seems worse once Jo goes off to college, making it obvious she’s happy about leaving Curtisville and Georgie and their disabled father behind. 
    Then, Gary Clemmons dies in the Iraq War. Gary—the son of their pastor, the hero of their hometown, and the brother of Georgie’s secret girlfriend—was famous for being a good guy.
    But Georgie stumbles on a dark secret about Gary, and once Jo finds out, things begin to spiral out of control. The fallout will change both sister’s lives forever.
    In the end, Good Guys uncovers the underbelly of a small town—the darkness of patriotism and masculinity, the harm caused by blind religious fervor, and the ways these dynamics can destroy families.

Author

Mindy Misener grew up in Maine. She is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. After teaching college writing for ten years, she made a career change and enrolled in Yale Divinity School. She is on track to be ordained in the UCC. Her prose has appeared in Image, The Missouri Review, CrossCurrents, The Appalachian Review, The Pinch, The Common, and other outlets.

Guides

Discussion Guide for Good Guys

Provides questions, discussion topics, suggested reading lists, introductions and/or author Q&As, which are intended to enhance reading groups’ experiences.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

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