The Amateur: A Novel
The Amateur: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian
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About the Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial.
1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a golf ball from her tee toward the practice net near the clubhouse and caddy shack. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, traveling 150 miles per hour, and slams, with sickening force, into the temple of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, rupturing an artery and unleashing a torrent of blood. Kenny brings his hand to the side of his head, then topples onto his side. He’s dead before the ambulance even arrives.
In the wake of this terrible accident—and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident—Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man three decades her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy’s little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when the investigators look more closely at the torn net, when a detective recalls Mira’s history of recklessness, and when Kenny’s father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once-promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a county courtroom, The Amateur asks: What happens when one small moment—a swing, a ball, a piece of string—changes the course of an entire life?
About the Author
Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-six books, including his most recent The Amateur, as well as The Jackal’s Mistress, The Lioness, Hour of the Witch, Midwives, and The Flight Attendant, which was made into an Emmy-winning HBO Max limited series starring Kaley Cuoco. His other books include The Red Lotus, The Guest Room; Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands; The Sandcastle Girls; Skeletons at the Feast; and The Double Bind. His novels Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers were made into movies, and his work has been translated into more than thirty- five languages. He is also a playwright (Wingspan and Midwives). He lives in Vermont and can be found at chrisbohjalian.com or on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Litsy, and Goodreads.
Editorial Reviews
Chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of “The Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026.”
Chosen by Oprah’s Book Club as one of “Six Stories That’ll Set the Tone for the Summer”
“Bohjalian’s wonderful book is a morality tale, a snapshot of a strange, careless time in a particular slice of America, a psychological exploration of guilt and its repercussions, a portrait of a girl going off the rails — and then, because of an exciting plot twist, a courtroom drama.” —Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review
“Rife with shrewd character assessments and sharp observations on class distinctions. . . . Perhaps Mr. Bohjalian’s most satisfying work.”—Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
“Unputdownable. . . . The 26th page-turner from Chris Bohjalian, like many of its predecessors, gets its narrative pizzazz from a brilliantly-evoked time and place. . . . Expect late-breaking reveals and a big, juicy 11th-hour plot twist. . . . Masterful.” —Marion Winik, The Boston Globe
“On one hand, this may be Bohjalian’s most polished, commercial novel yet, surpassing even The Flight Attendant in its screen-friendly elements. . . . On the other hand, this may be Bohjalian’s most psychological novel, with a first-person perspective through hubris, breakdown, and a hard-earned second chance at life.” —Bethanne Patrick, The Los Angeles Times
“The courtroom revelations supply the suspense, while Mira’s caustic voice gives the novel its sting and a late twist reorders the entire story. The Amateur is ultimately about guilt: who carries it, who deserves it and who has enough money to hand theirs to someone else.” —Jordan Snowden, The Seattle Times
“This literary thriller is a masterfully executed ace.” —Laura Wilson, The Guardian (UK)
“An irresistible, insightful retelling of Lolita.” —Oprah Daily
“This sophisticated literary thriller scrutinizes the peeling paint of picket-fence America.” —The Times of London (UK)
“The Amateur, the 26th novel from the great Chris Bohjalian, doesn’t go where you might expect. Bohjalian, who never writes the same book twice, unspools a legal drama. . . . Every book is a departure for Bohjalian, whose endlessly inventive mind always find a fresh story to tell.” —The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A gripping read that gets more so as the story unfolds.” —Prudence Wade, Irish News