Neil Hunter Character Analysis in When Will There Be Good News?

Neil Hunter is Joanna Mason Hunter’s husband and the father of Gabriel Joseph Hunter. He is originally from Glasgow, Scotland. Joanna met Neil when she was working in the emergency room and Neil had just been beaten up by some thugs. She married him because she found him refreshingly self-sufficient, not in need of her protection and help. Neil is involved in sketchy business ventures, including amusement arcades, health clubs, private-hire vehicles, and beauty salons. Louise Monroe is investigating Neil for arson, for which he’s ultimately charged. When he gets into financial trouble, he gets mixed up with Michael Anderson, a suspected Glasgow drug dealer, and Anderson’s thugs, Peter and John, kidnap Joanna and the baby as the price for Neil’s businesses. Instead of signing the businesses over to Anderson immediately, Neil delays and tries to come up with the money another way, to Louise’s disgust. After she escapes from captivity, Joanna kicks Neil out while she decides whether to take him back, but it’s heavily implied that she never will.

Neil Hunter Quotes in When Will There Be Good News?

The When Will There Be Good News? quotes below are all either spoken by Neil Hunter or refer to Neil Hunter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Trauma, Survival, and Reckoning with the Past Theme Icon

“So your whole identity, basically. What if Decker’s using it? You get the driving license of a Category A prisoner with a warrant out against him, and he gets you — upstanding citizen (so-called) —credit cards, money, keys, a phone. The last person who phoned Joanna Hunter on Wednesday called on your phone, your BlackBerry, so perhaps it was Decker. He phones Joanna Hunter and then she disappears. Neil Hunter says she left at seven but we only have his word for it. Maybe she left later, after the phone call. And if she did drive away— somehow or other, not in her car, not in a rental — and she wasn’t driving down to see the aunt, then where was she going? To meet someone else? Decker? Did he catch the train to Edinburgh because they had arranged a meeting? He gets derailed, literally, he phones her afterwards, and she goes off to meet him.”

Related Characters: Louise Monroe (speaker), Joanna Mason Hunter (Dr. Hunter), Jackson Brodie, Andrew Decker, Neil Hunter

Page Number and Citation: 325

Explanation and Analysis:

She became a doctor because she wanted to help people. It was a terrible cliché but it was true […] If she couldn’t heal herself then she could at least heal someone else. That was why she had been attracted to Neil— he hadn’t needed healing, he was whole in himself, he didn’t suffer the pain and sadness of the world, he just got on with his life. She was a bowl, holding everything inside, he was Mars throwing his spear into the world. She didn’t have to tend to him, didn’t have to worry about him. Necessarily, that meant there were drawbacks to living with him, but who was perfect? Only the baby.

She had spent the thirty years since the murders creating a life. It wasn’t a real life, it was the simulacrum of one, but it worked. Her real life had been left behind in that other, golden field. And then she had the baby and her love for him breathed life into the simulacrum and it became genuine. Her love for the baby was immense, bigger than the entire universe. Fierce.

Related Characters: Joanna Mason Hunter (Dr. Hunter), Neil Hunter, Gabriel Joseph Hunter (“the baby”)

Page Number and Citation: 346

Explanation and Analysis:

Neil Hunter Character Timeline in When Will There Be Good News?

The timeline below shows where the character Neil Hunter appears in When Will There Be Good News?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Dr. Hunter would rather not work outside the home, but her husband Neil owns a business that has “hit a sticky patch.” Dr. Hunter calls home all the... (full context)

There’s little evidence of Mr. Hunter ’s business troubles, since the Hunters have two cars and only the nicest new things... (full context)

...Hunter to teach her first aid, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and how to stop arterial bleeding. Mr. Hunter is much more easygoing with the baby. He says that Dr. Hunter’s worries make sense... (full context)

Reggie has been staying longer and longer at the Hunters’ lately, especially since Mr. Hunter is often out working on his “new venture.” Dr. Hunter doesn’t mind. Reggie hopes that... (full context)

...been investigating was the result of arson. It turns out that the arcade owner is Neil Hunter, Joanna Hunter’s husband. According to Joanna, Neil does “this and that”—which seems to include... (full context)

Louise looks at some pictures of Neil Hunter having drinks with Michael Anderson, a suspected drug dealer in Glasgow. Hunter is clean... (full context)

Louise and Marcus can’t find a conclusive link between Neil Hunter and the Glasgow drug dealers. Marcus suspects that Hunter is about to go under... (full context)

Mr. Hunter phones Reggie at 6:30 the next morning and tells her that she’s not needed at... (full context)

Mr. Hunter tells Reggie to enjoy a “wee holiday,” but Reggie doesn’t want one. She longs to... (full context)

Louise drives to the Hunters’ today to see Neil instead of Joanna. She thinks of Jackson Brodie saying, “A coincidence is just an explanation... (full context)

Louise questions Neil about any enemies he might have and tells him there will be a warrant for... (full context)

...Reggie has enough dead people in her life. She thinks about her earlier call with Neil Hunter; she’d heard Sadie barking in the background. Dr. Hunter wouldn’t have gone somewhere without... (full context)

Reggie arrives at the Hunters’ and asks to take Sadie for a walk. Mr. Hunter is unshaven, hoarse, and smells of cigarettes. When Reggie asks, he claims he’s been talking... (full context)

Mr. Hunter reluctantly allows Reggie to leave her heavy Topshop bag, pays her wages (he gives her... (full context)

When Reggie gets back to the house, she finds a note from Mr. Hunter , saying that “Jo” had suggested that Reggie take Sadie home with her for a... (full context)

Even though Louise can drink most guys under the table, she refuses Neil Hunter’s offer of whiskey. Instead she buys an espresso and goes to her office to... (full context)

...but she can’t shake her obsession with Joanna Hunter. She figures Joanna’s marriage is shaky, Neil Hunter’s finances are a mess, and Andrew Decker is out of prison, so why wouldn’t... (full context)

...tub of ice cream and watches a CSI rerun while talking to herself about the Neil Hunter case. Is Neil capable of disposing of his wife for the insurance money? She... (full context)

Louise gets up and drives to the Hunters’, rousing Neil Hunter at ten to seven with overbearing cheerfulness. When he lets her in, she asks... (full context)

...to stop moving. The surgery’s receptionist tells her that she hasn’t actually spoken to Joanna; Neil called to tell her about the sick aunt. In the maternity clinic, Sheila Hayes can’t... (full context)

Mr. Hunter isn’t at home. Reggie uses her house key to let herself and Sadie in. Sadie... (full context)

Reggie peers through the slats and hears a man with a Glaswegian accent threatening Neil. He says, “Sweet little wife, pretty little baby. Do you want to see them again?”... (full context)

...what to do next. Did Joanna lie to everyone about the sick aunt, or did Neil lie about Joanna’s whereabouts? Louise suspects that Joanna can “dissemble with the best of them.”... (full context)

...her bones melt,” even momentarily, as she never does with Patrick. But she talks about Neil Hunter’s criminal associations instead. She wonders if Hunter’s friends are holding Joanna and the baby... (full context)

...Peter gives Joanna a piece of paper and tells her to write a note to Neil, saying that she and the baby will die if Neil doesn’t do as he’s told.... (full context)

...become a doctor because she wanted to help and heal people. She’d been attracted to Neil because he seemed whole, not needing any healing. He was part of the fake life... (full context)

Peter explains to Joanna that “the guy we’re working for” wants Neil to sign over his business, and Joanna and the baby are the price of not... (full context)

At six o’clock that morning, Louise taps on the window of the Hunters’ house. Neil, asleep on the couch, jerks in terror, then calms and lets her in. Louise tells... (full context)

...neighborhood is swarmed with police. Louise feels certain that Joanna and the baby are dead. Neil has claimed that she was gone when he got home on Wednesday, and he’d received... (full context)

...Joanna. She supposes she could find some forensic evidence somewhere if she wanted to. Even Neil has recanted his whole story about extortion. The only evidence is two bodies in the... (full context)

Neil has been charged with arson and is staying at a B&B while Dr. Hunter decides... (full context)

Neil Hunter Character Analysis

Neil Hunter Quotes in When Will There Be Good News?

Road Trip Quotes

La Règle du Jeu Quotes

Neil Hunter Character Timeline in When Will There Be Good News?