The Only Child - A Review

The story of Frankenstein’s monster has captured the imagination of readers of almost two centuries, not only because of the story itself but also it’s back story.  It has also been retold in many forms.  With this one Mr. Pyper hits it out of the park.

THE ONLY CHILD by Andrew Pyper

Lily Dominick was six years old when, as she looked on, her mother was brutally murdered.  The trauma caused her recollections to be hazy … she recalled only a monster knocking on the door to kill her mother and her six year old self being rescued by a white creature.  The incident still haunts her dreams and may well have led to her career choice as an adult where she is Dr. Dominick working as a psychiatrist with the worst of the worst criminals in New York’s Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Centre.  At work it sometimes seems to her she can read the mind of the incarcerated.  One morning she walks in to interview a man known only as Client 46874-A and claiming to be 200 years old.  For Lily he is an enigma; she can’t get a read on him and she feels as if he is looking into her mind instead of the other way around.  Then he throws Lily totally off balance when he claims to have known her mother and what happened to her so many years ago.

The next day Lily awakens to the news that Client 46874-A has escaped.  Driven by clues he leaves for her and the need to discover if he can truly help her solve the riddle of what happened on the night her mother died Lily sets out to find him and hopefully the truth.

Mr. Pyper takes his reader along on Lily’s quest as she travels across Europe picking up more and more information about not only “Michael”, as she named the mystery man, but about herself as well.  And for Lily the truth does indeed turn out to be stranger than fiction.

“The Only Child” is a well-written page-turner.  I would expect nothing less from Mr. Pyper.  This book is not only a psychological thriller with it’s share of the paranormal but is extremely entertaining in it’s explanations of the basis of not only “Frankenstein” but also “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Dracula”.  Within the context of the story it had me nodding my head and thinking “Oh yeah … makes sense”.

As I read closer and closer to the end I began to formulate my own theory about Lily and Michael so I was quite pleased to discover that I was at least half right.  Despite that, the reveal caught me by surprise.  I had hoped for a different outcome but the ending suited the story.  Not wanting to have to include a “spoiler alert” I do want to mention that there was one scene at the end of the book which wrapped up the story so extremely well that I still pause to think about it a few days after I’ve closed the cover – so well done Mr. Pyper.

* I’d like to thank the publisher, Simon and Shuster, and Netgalley for providing me with the book at no charge in exchange for an honest review.*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website) 

Andrew Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1968. He received a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, as well as a law degree from the University of Toronto. Although called to the bar in 1996, he has never practiced.

Andrew’s creative writing teaching experience includes terms at Trent University, the University of Toronto, and, currently, Colorado College. Last year he won the Grant Allen Award for contributions to Canadian crime and mystery literature.

He lives in Toronto.

He Said, She Said - A Review

This is one of those books that sort of meanders along as story good enough to keep you reading … until page 300 … when you get an OMG moment that changes the pace of the whole thing.

HE SAID, SHE SAID by Erin Kelly

Kit has been an eclipse chaser since he was a child and it’s a hobby that he carried into his adult life and his girlfriend, Laura as well as sometimes their friends followed along more to keep him company than because they were also eclipse chasers.  While attending a rather disappointing eclipse festival (the weather being such a big factor) Laura and Kit are walking back to their tent after the non-event when Laura happens upon a rape in progress.  Of course, they report the crime and Laura feels a strong connection with the victim.  She and Kit go through the whole trial process ensuring that the rapist, despite his protests of “misunderstanding”, ends up in jail.  But that is hardly the end of the whole situation when the victim shows up at their doorstep and Laura begins a tentative friendship with her, much to Kit’s disapproval.

Fifteen years later Kit and Laura are married, she is heavily pregnant with twins and they are living under an assumed name.  No good deed goes unpunished!

That’s all I can really say about this book without giving away the aforementioned, brilliant, page 300, twist. 

I enjoyed Ms. Kelly’s writing and the way she was able to pull me into the story but truthfully this would have been a 3-star read until I came to “the twist”.  It caught me completely by surprise and I raced through the rest of the book to learn how things would play out and the last quarter of the book was certainly a page-turner.  However, I can’t quite bring myself to give it 5-stars because it started off a little slow, because of the flashback sequences it was at times a little repetitive and the ending left me feeling a little … well … unsatisfied.

So 4-stars for this one.  It’s still a good read that I would recommend and I will definitely pick up something else by Ms. Kelly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website) 

I was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex. I read English at Warwick University and began working as a journalist in 1998.

My first novel The Poison Tree became a major ITV drama and a Richard & Judy bestseller, and was longlisted for the 2011 CWA John Creasy Award. The Sick Rose, The Burning Air and The Ties That Bind were all published to critical acclaim and my books have been translated into 19 languages. In 2014, I wrote the novelisation of the BAFTA-winning Broadchurch but sadly did not get to meet David Tennant.

As well as writing fiction I continue to work as a journalist and also teach creative writing.  I live in north London with my husband and daughters.