Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Labanakt, mama

The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo, translated from Korean to English by Jung Yewon, is a debut psychological thriller that embraced the slow burn. In it we meet Seonkyeong, a criminal psychologist whose life collides with two unnerving people. The first is a serial killer serving a prison sentence, Yi Byeongdo, and the second is her husband’s daughter, Hayeong, who has recently come to live with them.

The book follows Seonkyeong as she lives her day-to-day life, while slowly peeling away the layers of mystery surrounding Yi Byeongdo and Hayeong. It’s a stark look at disturbing events and while it lacked a fast-pace and twisty energy, it still built a low humming tension.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a slowed down mystery and has a high tolerance for disturbing events. The events aren’t described in great detail, but psychopathic characters and their killings are at the heart of this book.

So many psychological suspense books (possibly my fav genre) include a race to stop heinous things from happening. This book took a different approach and embraced them, while trying to understand the psychological path that led to their occurrence. It’s a bleak vibe, but it worked well.

Content warnings: Child abuse, Murder, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury

Content Warnings

themoodreader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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janachigo's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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mandkips's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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lindsloveslit's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

I joined #bookstagram just in time for #mansemarch , #koreadathon , & #koreanmarch ! Over the last few years I've been reading a decent amount of Korean American authors - mostly memoirs and historical fiction to learn more about my culture and history.

"The Only Child" is my first translated book (by Jung Yewon) I've read and it did not disappoint! Typically, I find narration by multiple characters difficult to follow, but the character development Mi-ae Seo created was so phenomenal that it wasn't an issue.

The central question throughout the book is: What makes serial killers who they are? Though I predicted most of the twists and turns, I still found it dark and tense. For me, the only thing keeping this from a perfect five stars was the lack of character relationships throughout.

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painausten314's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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