book review the good son

The Good Son is a cold carefully paced thriller that had me engrossed until the last page

YOU WAKE UP COVERED IN BLOOD
THERE’S A BODY DOWNSTAIRS
YOUR MOTHER’S BODY

YOU DIDN’T DO IT. DID YOU?
HOW COULD YOU, YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN THE GOOD SON

THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION FROM KOREA’S MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR YOU-JEONG JEONG.
When Yu-jin wakes up covered in blood and finds the body of his mother downstairs, he decides to hide the evidence and pursue the killer himself.

Then young women start disappearing in his South Korean town. Who is he hunting? And why does the answer take him back to his brother and father who lost their lives many years ago.

The Good Son is inspired by a true story

Duffy’s Review of The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

This thriller knocked me for six and exceeded my expectations, it really is a clever, unsettling thriller by a talented writer.  The Good Son is the story of Yu-Jin, a young man who is mollycoddled by his mother after his brother and father both tragically die on the same day when he was just a child. The story flashes back first to his awkward teenage years where an incident occurred which stopped his dreams of becoming a swimmer in their tracks.  A little later in the book, you get to see further back into the world of little Yu-Jin, the good son.

In-between the personal history of Yu-jin is a horrific murder. Yu-jin wakes up covered in blood and finds the horrific scene of his dead mother in the house. What happened? Why did he not wake? Why is the apartment covered in sticky, metallic-tasting blood? He must find out what happened to his mother, but circumstances make it look like he would be the prime suspect. So, Yu-jin decides to hide the body of his beloved mother and clean up the evidence, giving him time to find the killer himself.

These opening scenes are written with through such a cold, distant lens and the Korean translation adds a different rhythm to the writing. This intensifies the quirky character of Yu-jin and his ability to make calculated decisions surrounded by such horror. The prose is jarring and sentences suddenly smack you in the face, giving a grim scene authentic weight.

“Blood clots fell off her body like bird shit.” – The Good Son

You-Jeong Jeong creates a tiny world of tight-knit characters who surround Yu-Jin and it is through these characters and under the cover of nightfall that the killer’s identity is finally revealed.

This is a thriller that will have you gripped to the end and I powered through it to find out who was terrorising this small Korean town. Incredibly addictive and any fan of The Talented Mr Ripley and The Snowman and YOU will love The Good Son.

Order your copy of The Good Son here

the good son book review