A review by laurelinwonder
The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

5.0

I took my sweet time with this unreliable narrator, I savored all of the very sneaky clues and only stopped reading each night because my old body fell asleep from exhaustion. The theme of the bad seed child has been done many many times, and I worried that this would fall into the same trap of "just born evil" with little to no explanation. It did not, this was a psychological ride that toyed with the reader, but I loved it. I don't mind good story telling that isn't cut and dry or a linear plot. This went all over the place in a way that made sense and was easy to follow. Further, it also expanded the reader's distrust in each character, creating a fuller vision of each character and the story as a whole. Kind of like starting out to play poker and finding you don't have all 52 cards, but you get them along the way. This is a sparkling example of why we need more well-done translations because this is a thrill not to be missed. If you are looking for a psychological experience that doesn't pull any tricks with great writing, get to it people.