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tbretc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
whitney_walton's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
For those who enjoy reading unreliable narrators, crime thrillers or Gillian Flynn novels. Easy to read in a few days, but very dark with difficult scenes. Definitely take note of the content warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
lindsloveslit's review against another edition
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.
"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
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
jannymoji's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder
chomie's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
sruthis_bookland's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚏𝚏." ~ Yu-Jin
Yu-Jin a 26-year-old who lives with his mom and her adopted son. The story starts with Yu-Jin waking up thinking that he may get another seizure (a neurological disorder). But he was awakened by a strong metallic odour. When he opens his eyes, he was shocked to find the bloody footprints all over his home. He follows the footprint and was shocked to see his mother's body lifeless. He strongly believes that the intruder is still in home but he has no memory of what happened at the previous night. He tries to recall everything that happened at the night. To do that, he only has his mother's journal in which she wrote everything about his psychological disorder.
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?
This is one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. It was scary and creepy. This is my first book which I am reading from the killer's / a psych's perspective. The way author described about the happiness or adrenaline rush the killer gets when he sees fear on other's face was so disturbing. I came to know after reading the book that this story is based on a true serial killer's story who accepted about his psychic manners in public. It's a gripping story. It has 4 parts. I felt that first 2 parts were little draggy since I was so confused and was not able to conclude anything. But after that everything fell into place and the story was unputdownable. If you love psychological crime fictions, I urge you to read this book.
Yu-Jin a 26-year-old who lives with his mom and her adopted son. The story starts with Yu-Jin waking up thinking that he may get another seizure (a neurological disorder). But he was awakened by a strong metallic odour. When he opens his eyes, he was shocked to find the bloody footprints all over his home. He follows the footprint and was shocked to see his mother's body lifeless. He strongly believes that the intruder is still in home but he has no memory of what happened at the previous night. He tries to recall everything that happened at the night. To do that, he only has his mother's journal in which she wrote everything about his psychological disorder.
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?
This is one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read. It was scary and creepy. This is my first book which I am reading from the killer's / a psych's perspective. The way author described about the happiness or adrenaline rush the killer gets when he sees fear on other's face was so disturbing. I came to know after reading the book that this story is based on a true serial killer's story who accepted about his psychic manners in public. It's a gripping story. It has 4 parts. I felt that first 2 parts were little draggy since I was so confused and was not able to conclude anything. But after that everything fell into place and the story was unputdownable. If you love psychological crime fictions, I urge you to read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
thecatladybooknook_penny's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a translated Korean thriller told through the eyes of a young man. He wakes up one day to a metallic smell, covered in blood and finds his mother's murdered body at the bottom of the stairs. He doesn't remember a thing that happened. He spends the next several frantic days trying to figure it out and what he finally remembers......whoa!!
Told through flashbacks, current day and diary entries, we see there is more going on that what we think!
This isn't your average thriller, as some may think it's slow, but it actually pretty fascinating to learn of the family dynamics and what has caused all of this to happen.
Told through flashbacks, current day and diary entries, we see there is more going on that what we think!
This isn't your average thriller, as some may think it's slow, but it actually pretty fascinating to learn of the family dynamics and what has caused all of this to happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder
jayisreading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
The Good Son is a great book to pick up if you’re a fan of twisted revenge and diving into a murderer’s psyche. What I particularly liked was Jeong’s structure of the novel. Rather than a build-up to the murder, it happens from the get-go, leaving the rest of the book to be an exploration of motive and consequences. There were a few things that I felt weren’t answered, but I also can’t tell if that was intentional or not, especially considering that this is a translation.
On that note, I would have loved to have read the original, especially to get a feel for the nuances in how these characters are speaking to one another. Unfortunately, that’s something that can’t be translated from Korean to English, but I think it would have made a pretty big impact on the overall tone.
There isn’t anything phenomenal about The Good Son that would merit it a must-read, but it kept me engaged and interested enough to get through it in a few days.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Child death and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent
nancy2604's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder
internationalreads's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder