Longlisted for the 2026 Toronto Book Awards

“In Good Guys, Sharon Bala takes on the world of charity with kaleidoscopic elegance, turning the crystalline glass of her prose again and again to show us a system both gorgeous and fractured. Bala writes heartbreakingly about those seeking help however they can and the shifting motivations of those attempting to provide it. If you care about others, you will love these pages and what they ask of you: to think about what goodness is, what shape it takes, how it aligns with power, and to whom it belongs. This book is relentlessly original, and also an old-fashioned page turner that will have your heart in your throat.”
—V. V. Ganeshananthan, author of Brotherless Night

“Good Guys is astounding. The satire is so nuanced and artfully done that one can’t help but feel empathy in spite of oneself. I was riveted by the story, by the characters, even as I despised some of them. This thoughtful, emotionally compelling novel is necessary in a world of binary thinking and performative gestures.”
—Jenny Heijun Wills, author of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.

“Bala’s blackly comic tale rotates through a kaleidoscopic cast of narrators, each of whom believes themselves to be the hero in their own story. With a satirical eye that never tips into cynicism, Bala delivers a quietly profound, thriller-adjacent dissection of global inequality that bruises even as it entertains.”
—Publishers Weekly

"I couldn't put this novel down. I ended up bingeing it in two days. You know that kind of book? It's full of office politics that have terrible consequences. Many of the characters are flawed in the most delicious ways. It's a satire, a send up, about a charity falling from grace—what happens when good intentions go bad."
—Claire Cameron, author of How to Survive a Bear Attack

"Good Guys is an unputdownable thriller about the dark side of philanthropy."
—SheDoesTheCity.com