Reviews with content warning for Stalking - The Good Son

For a thriller based around the protagonist being unsure if he actually committed the murder, this book is remarkably slow-paced. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it was reasonably interesting. I'm not much of a crime fiction reader, but it was interesting enough. My problem was the ending - it may sound weird to say, but too many questions got answered. I thought the one big underlying question

(whether Yu-jin was born a psychopath or made into a murderer by his aunt's "treatment")

was going to be left ambiguous and up to the reader's interpretation. You could make a solid argument for either answer to the question, and leaving it unresolved would make it more of a theme that the book explored. But the very end of the book just straight-up answered the question. Suddenly that big underlying philosophical question wasn't a theme or something I could think about after I finished the book, but just another question to be answered by the end of a mystery book. What could have been a book that was not particularly my thing but interesting nevertheless lost all appeal with an on-page answer to the big question. And that really ruined the whole book for me.

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serendipity421's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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deadlamp's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was good! The imagery was <33 and I really couldn’t put it down for the last 150 pages.

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ana_reads's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was a lot darker than I had anticipated upon starting it. I finished it in the middle of the day and kept thinking about the ending for the next few hours. The narrator is super unreliable and the plot/events of the novel are very bleak, sometimes harrowing and more often than not really upsetting, but the writing was so engrossing I couldn't put it down. The mystery felt pretty straight forward, with more of the focus being on the narrator figuring out his motives rather than the "who" and "what" of the nights events, which I think made for a more interesting read. Overall, it was a very well written and compelling read, but I would definitely advise looking though the content warnings before starting because it does get quite intense at times and can be quite upsetting.

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clairebonney's review against another edition

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3.75

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nadir's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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whitney_walton's review against another edition

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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.

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lindsloveslit's review

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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.

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