The Amateur

by Chris Bohjalian

First published 2026

Mira Winston swings her wooden club on a sweltering August morning in 1978. The practice ball tears through the net at 150 miles per hour and strikes Kenny Foster in the forehead. The high school junior dies before the ambulance arrives. At eighteen, Mira seeks comfort from her forty-year-old married lover Theo Catton and her secretive mother. She even reaches out to Kenny's grieving sisters. But golf pro Henry Fallows examines the damaged net more carefully. The investigating detective remembers Mira's past reckless behavior. Kenny's father discovers Mira's affair with the older man. The wealthy Westchester community that once celebrated this promising athlete now turns against her. What seemed like a freak accident becomes something darker as hidden affairs and predatory relationships surface. The story moves from manicured country club greens to harsh courtroom lighting as Mira faces trial.

Genres: fiction, drama, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller

Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator

Setting: Westchester

Period: 1978

336 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday

Content warnings: abuse, death, sexual-content

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