Reviews with content warning for Gore - جريمة الابن الصالح

This book was a strange one. I liked it, but I was also hoping for more! There was a lot of potential for more plot twists, but I guess that's just me and the thrillers that I'm used to reading: a heart-pounding plot twist after plot twist. 😀 I had a lot of questions and was hoping for some big reveal at the end. I did like the ending though. It fit very well with the story.

I've read quite a lot of gory books (Lars Kepler books are a good example), but the perspective and the way this story was told left me feeling almost nothing while reading all the gory parts in this book! 😅 There's a moment with a rabbit that had me almost skipping to the next page (I'm VERY sensitive to animal cruelty), but the parts where stuff happened to people, were told in such a calm and emotionless way they didn't creep me out as much as I was expecting.

Still definitely worth a read, and I would try something else by the same author, now that I know her writing style!

Ahh, also my first buddy read here, thank you @livinglifewithlindsreads! I had so much fun reading this with you! 💜

Content Warnings

lindsloveslit's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.25

I should preface ALL of this with: I don't read many horror, mystery, or thriller books. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt!

"The Good Son" shook me within the first ten pages, and caused me to jump at every unfamiliar sound I heard for the remainder of the book. 😅 It immediately grips you, with the narrator Yu-jin waking up to Mother's body at the bottom of the stairs. He doesn't remember anything, and for the next three days he pieces together the mysery.

I really enjoyed the writing of this translated thriller/crime for the first 40% of the book, but the remainder ended up being pretty predictable and more gory than I'm used to. 🙈 To add, reading a book from this perspective ended up feeling so haunting and claustrophic. There were sentences that made me really uncomfortable and I'm not sure if I love or hate the book... what i am sure of is that it is the darkest, most creepy book I've ever read. The dreams it caused and sleep it stole was REAL. 🤣

P.S. This was my first ever buddy read through @the.storygraph and I LOVE IT (shout out to @majreads for joining me). It was really helpful for me to bounce questions and thoughts back and forth.

Content Warnings

jannymoji's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Very well written but the ending made me so mad/sad. In like, a semi good way.

HAE JIN DESERVED BETTER. I will forever be pissed off at that he was so kind ;3; *cries*

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