Toni Halleen launches The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan is a psychological thriller about a recently divorced dad who, having just lost his young son in a drowning accident, risks his academic career and what remains of his personal life by attempting to help a mysterious boy he finds stranded in a hail storm. The book explores family relationships, forgiveness, and what might motivate us to help a stranger in need.

Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he’s trying to cope with the disaster his life has become. While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car’s headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that’s happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice—risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself.

Toni Halleen worked for many years as an employment law attorney and now runs the law firm Schaefer Halleen. She won a Mentor Prize in Fiction from the Loft Literary Center, and her short fiction has been published in Structo, Wigleaf, Gravel, the Star Tribune, and elsewhere. She also authored an award-winning musical, “Soulless, Bloodsucking Lawyers.” Her debut novel, THE SURROGATE, was published by HarperCollins in 2021. Toni holds a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Mount Holyoke College, and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota. She is an avid improviser and used her stage experience to develop and teach “Think on the Spot” skills to hundreds of professionals. She lives in Minneapolis.

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