Book Review: ‘The Amateur: A Novel’ By Chris Bohjalian

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The book is in stores on Tuesday, August 4th form Doubleday. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/45vgPKl

It’s August 1978, and Westchester County, NY, is the setting for the novel. Mira, who is 18, is a really good female golfer, and her coach thinks she can be a star on the LPGA one day. She has a scholarship to Yale and is looking forward to her college life. Then a freak accident takes place, while at the country club, she is using a practice net, when her ball goes through it, hits Kenneth Foster, who is 17 and a caddy, and he dies. Mira is devastated by this, cancels college, and wants nothing more to do with golf. An investigation by the police at first ruled it an accident, until new evidence comes out, and Mira is arrested and charged, and we follow through the trial with a shocking reveal. The book is told from Mira’s point of view, later in life, she is a writer, and this is her story, and we follow it in real time. We learn shocking facts about her over the years, the sex, drugs, and illicit relationships she was in. This is another solid novel from author Bohjalian, who has written better novels. Following along with Mira and her life is fascinating and page-turning, and the ending twist is one you don’t see coming.