Father’s Day. It’s that time of year to praise the good dads for all they’ve done. Dads are patient teachers, conditional supporters, and honorable role models. They are one-of-a-kind good fellas who love their kids and wish nothing but happiness for them. This weekend, articles all over the internet will rightly sing their praises. This is not one of those articles.
In crime fiction, relationships between fathers and children are complex. More often than not the gritty, mysterious stories we love tend to focus on the bad fathers, the ones who’ve done a number on their children and set them down the path to a life of crime (or crime solving). Today, we’re looking at eight of the worst fathers in modern suspense, running the gamut from debauchery to disorder to outright cruelty. In these titles, when fathers aren’t being abusive or violent, or running a gang or a drug ring, they’re roping their kids into helping commit murder. Some have motivations, while others are monstrous without apology. Some of these fathers stick to pure violence over a level-headed conversation, while others rely on quiet, rational menace. Most are hated not only by their families, but by their entire communities. But, hey, that’s what makes these such compelling reads.
Josephine Hart, Damage
You wouldn’t want to bring your date around the father in Josephine Hart’s Damage novel, that’s for sure. Why? Well, he’s a politician to start, but that’s not the worst part. He’s also a bored family man and that’s where the real trouble lies. Stephen meets his son’s fiancee, Anna and is instantly enthralled with her youth, beauty, and unfamiliarity. The two carry on a scandalous affair behind the son’s back while also hiding it from Stephen’s wife. It goes on like this until one night the son walks in on the two lovers and things go from bad to worse. The damage Stephen has done leads to a bloody accident that will change his family’s life forever.
Elizabeth Brundage, All Things Cease to Appear
George Clare may not have physically hurt his daughter, Franny, but he sure did a number on her mentally. He lies, cheats, and is sometimes absent from the little girl’s life altogether. He’s also a husband who is never good to his wife and a man who is not well-liked (except with the ladies) in their small town called Chosen. He is arrogant in the extreme and thinks he can get away with just about anything. When his wife is brutally murdered with an ax inside the home, Franny’s father is the main suspect. And that does something to a kid. For twenty years, Franny is left wondering what happened to her mother that fateful night, until she goes back to the house and learns just how bad her father might be.
Stephen King, 1922
Speaking of a father messing up a child, Wilfred James in Stephen King’s novella 1922 does that pretty darn well. This guy seems like the average hardworking farmer in Nebraska but when he learns about his wife considering to sell their land (the land her father left her), he takes matters in his own hands, with the help of his son. He conspires with his teenage son about killing his wife, and eventually they commit the crime in a vile bloodbath together. After the extensive cleanup, the two try to live their lives but are racked with such intense guilt that the son goes on the run and the father is left with ghosts and rats that won’t leave him alone.
Clare Mackintosh, I Let You Go
This book is a crazy rollercoaster ride with all kinds of twists and turns, making for one hell of a thrill. There’s mystery, mayhem, murder, and oh yes, one bad dad. Meet Ian Petersen. He’s one of those fathers that takes scary to a whole other level with his psychopathic behavior and almost-too-hard-to-read physical abuse. But he’s so cunning that he fools everyone to thinking he’s the good guy from next door until he snaps and all hell breaks loose.
Peter Craig, Hot Plastic
Most fathers want their sons to take over the family business. But what if the family business was robbery and theft? Jerry is a conman and has recruited his son, Kevin to help him with his crimes. Because that’s how family businesses operate, right? They work together on robberies until Jerry is arrested and Kevin is left to continue without him, getting himself in even more trouble. Then one day, Jerry is released from prison and the father and son team are reunited. But Jerry has created a monster and is about to see just how bad his son turned out.
Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen
Eileen Dunlop is a little off. She shoplifts, keeps a dead rodent in the glove compartment, and stalks a guard at the boys’ prison where she works as the unassuming secretary. But perhaps her odd ways can be attributed to her alcoholic father who is a mean old drunk. He’s never nice to Eileen, even though she’s the one who takes care of him. She’s constantly trying to keep her father from disorder and to hide the truck’s keys so he never gets back in the driver’s seat. He waits for Eileen to come home from work only to send her back out again for a bottle. Because if he doesn’t get his booze, he’s even worse than usual, causing an even bigger headache for poor Eileen.
Chris Bohjalian, The Guest Room
Richard Chapman is a bad dad but not an intentional one. He’s made a few mistakes to get here. The first was holding his brother’s bachelor’s party in his own home. The second was getting too drunk and too close to a stripper in the guest room. And the third was trying to help the stripper after she stabbed her bodyguard and went on the run. Yowza. Because of these horrible mistakes, Richard and his family can’t stay in their blood-tainted home, his wife doesn’t trust him anymore, and his daughter is confused as hell. It’s a dysfunctional family stemmed by a seemingly decent father who made the wrong choices and put his wife and daughter in harms way for one wild night no one will forget.
Stephen Birmingham, Carriage Trade
Silas Tarkington is Manhattan’s premier retail tycoon until he ends up dead. He may not have been the best father when he was alive, being a too-busy businessman and all, but it’s after his sudden death that his daughter, Miranda truly learns how deep his flaws are. Thanks to his will, Tarkington’s real past is revealed with dark secrets of mistresses and crimes that make his legacy as a master businessman—and mediocre father—diminish into something dirty altogether.
