Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Good Son

The Good Son is told from the perspective of Thea, whose only son has just been released from prison for murdering his girlfriend when both were teenagers. It had a great opening line - “ I was picking my son up at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he murdered” - but ultimately the book didn’t completely work for me.

I think this is because it attempted to be two different things at the same time and as a result didn’t do either well. One part of the book was a domestic drama/character study that asked lots of interesting questions. How could you love and support your child if they committed a heinous act? Is it possible to atone for such a crime? How can you do so when society doesn’t want you to move on and refuses to accept you? To what extent should parents pay for the sins of their children?This is the part of the story that appealed most to me - the issues at the personal and societal level. Another part of the book was more in the suspense/thriller genre . Thea receives cryptic phone calls from a young woman saying her son shouldn’t talk, that he is in danger, and that the caller knows the true story of what happened that night. In addition Thea is stalked by a man in a hoodie, the family home is broken into and there is an attempt to run them off the road. I suspect readers who enjoy this story thread will find the character study/family drama aspects too slow.

I confess to finding the ending unsatisfying. I had part of it figured out way ahead of time and I’m not typically good at that. But my major issue is the ultimate twist felt like a cop out since it negated the need for many of the questions the novel appeared to want to explore.

While I didn’t hate the reading experience, and quite enjoyed parts of the book, as a whole I found it a little confused and unsatisfying.

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carolynlovesbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed the book but had issues with Jep and can’t understand some of the things Thia did.

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marcia__amelie's review against another edition

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challenging tense slow-paced

3.0

Spoiler

dude ngl from the very first few pages and even the description of this novel, i was CONVINCED that this was gonna be a solid five star read. the writing was so enticing at the beginning and i was going ooooh and ahhh and i was genuinely sure this would be a really good book that delves into the nuances of finding out a loved one has committed a heart shattering crime. but god after finishing it, i don’t think i can rate it any higher than three stars. honestly i just wanted to read a book of a mother grieving her child’s actions, i wanted to really delve into the thought process and how to deal with a loved one who you don’t even recognise as your own anymore. because there isn’t much forms of media that takes and confronts that narrative so i was excited to read this book!!! but it just felt like such a let down. don’t get me wrong, there was some passages that made me ponder and feel stuff but i was trying so hard not to skim. there were some chapters i wanted to skip altogether. i hated the thriller aspect of this book. when i saw what direction this book was heading towards, i HOWLED IN AGONY AND ANGUISH BC I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BOOK ABOUT REDEMPTION, LOATHING AND EVEN TOUCH ON BETRAYAL SO WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A “omg did he actually not commit the crime???” ASPECT LIKE WHAT. i just did not see that coming and it slapped me so hard. the monologue at the end was so good but GOD DAMN i felt so cheated on with that plot twist. i also really wished this book provided more insight on privilege. bc how the fuck did stefan get let out so early. the dialogue also felt unnatural??? at times it felt like these characters were not real. WHICH SHOULDN’T BE THE CASE BC THIS BOOK SHOULD FOCUS ON THE VERY CORE CONCEPT THAT PEOPLE LIKE THE MAIN CHARACTERS EXIST. PARENTS WHO ARE SUFFERING FROM THE ACTIONS OF THEIR CHILD AND WONDERING WHAT WENT WRONG EXIST. but parts of the dialogue just felt so awkward. i didn’t like stefan’s character that much either. the story sets it up that perhaps stefan is innocent but throughout the story he tries so hard (and fails miserably at times) to ease back into society & it was kinda sad reading but then you’d remember the crime he committed and it’d be like oh fuck you. this review is so long but god i just have so much to say. this book was just so conflicting. i just wish it focused more on thea and jep, how stefan’s crime really impacted them and how they view themselves as parents bc yeah it sort of did but the whole cheap thriller angle completely distracted me from it. so much missed potential. i’m gonna make some pasta.

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