When Yu-jin wakes up, he needs some time to orient himself. But: where does all the blood come from? He is obviously not hurt, but what happened the evening before? When he explores the home, he finds his mother stabbed. Was there some burglary he cannot remember? Yet, there are no signs of any break-in. Did he himself do it? He is confused and not a single memory of the hours before he fell asleep will come back. The body has to disappear, otherwise he would obviously be the main suspect. Nevertheless, he tries to enquire the murder and therefore searches his mother’s room where he finds her diaries – notes that will reveal a lot to him about his family, his step-brother and first of all, about himself.

At the beginning of “The good son”, the reader is as confused as the protagonist. He seems to be quite likeable, therefore you first reject the idea of him being a murderer. However, your view of Yu-jin will change a lot, the more you learn about him the more you have to adapt your opinion – not only while reading more of his thoughts on that morning when he makes a body disappear and gets himself deeper and deeper in trouble, but first and foremost when reading the mother’s diaries. That’s when the novel turns into a highly psychological analysis of a young and promising man who doesn’t know himself as good as he thought he would.

The plot develops a fascinating cruelty which completely drags you along. The emotions you feel are highly contradictory, between pity and disgust, between the hope that he will get away with it and at the same time that the police come to arrest him. Even though his action is absolutely comprehensible and logical, you reject it, too. I really like those kinds of novels which keep you oscillating emotionally.

It is absolutely a crime noir and definitely quite “Asian” in a certain way. Not only the family structures and the pressure on the members differs at lot from our western view, but also the rules according to which people act are different and make the characters sometimes act in an unexpected way. Just as the characters are finely modelled, the plot can amaze a lot and thus offers a lot of unexpected surprises.

An unusual but very good book, with a different perspective on a murder mystery novel. I liked the setting as well. Recommended

This is a compelling slow paced thriller, that holds your attention.
When it picks up pace, it becomes dark, sinister, unique and unputdownable
Definitely one for the to read list

Thank you netgalley, little Brown book group and You-Jeong Jeong for allowing me to read and review this book.

English-speaking readers finally have a chance to experience the atmospheric and provocative storytelling of award-winning South Korean crime writer You-Jeong Jeong, with THE GOOD SON her first novel to be translated into English (she’s already been translated into several other languages).

A young man who has suffered from seizures and a mysterious ailment throughout his life wakes in a bloodied haze, only to discover his mother’s razor-slashed body at the bottom of the stairs of the house they share near the Incheon waterfront outside of Seoul. He has snatched memories of his mother calling his name the night before: did she need his help, or his mercy? Realizing a call to the police would mean instant arrest, he spends the next days cleaning up, fending off his family’s calls, and trying to work out just what happened. He was once the good son, but is he now a killer? Who can he trust?

Yeong (and Kim’s translation) takes readers on a confronting ride into mental illness, twisted family relationships, and the unclear realm of memory vs reality. Guided by the first-person narration of an unreliable, tormented young man, readers are plunged into a harrowing tale that builds in an elegant and disturbing way. We slowly uncover the truth, via the young man’s skewed perspective, with plenty of secrets and horrors being revealed. A creepy psychological thriller from a master storyteller.

The book is slow to start however picks up as the narrator pieces together his memories and what actually happened. It raises a lot of questions on how far a parent would go to protect their child..

Good premise, and well written. Only thing that didn't work for me was the manner of the flashbacks our main character has to earlier situations, during what are otherwise tense scenes. This is the case right from the start, as he's waking up, seeing the blood splattered all over, memory blank from chunks of last night, and constantly drifts off into instances of "I remember when..." This detracted from the pace, and also a little from my enjoyment of what is otherwise a decent read.

How far will you go to protect your children? Even if you're unsure if you know them completely or not? Interesting story here and I enjoyed it over all.

This is a strange story. It sent shivers down my spine. You-jin tells us his story a piece at a time. It is a chilling story. This is definitely a thought provoking read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Good Son is an unusual and compelling crime novel about the love a mother has for her children and the lengths she will go to in order to protect her son. Written by a Korean author, it is a deeply disturbing novel that will keep the reader guessing til the end.

The first of the authors four novels to be translated from Korean to English, 'The Good Son' is a psychological thriller featuring an unreliable narrator that is apparently inspired by a true story.

It begins with Yu-Jin awakening one morning, with no recollection of what has happened the night before, to find the dead body of his mother downstairs. Over the course of a few days, we follow Yu-Jin fulfilling dual roles as both potential suspect and also detective as he tries to piece together what has happened. Using fragments of his own memories that gradually come back to him and also with the help of information that he finds in his mother's journals, the findings are as much a mystery to him and they are to the reader. This is an interesting take on this genre and probably what I enjoyed most about 'The Good Son'. My biggest issue with it was the writing style in the beginning, which was somewhat stunted, which is perhaps a translation issue rather than an issue with the authors writing? I'm unsure.

However, this does lessen as we progress with the story, which is actually somewhat of a slow burner considering it's classified as a thriller. The plot really picks up in the second half where some scenes are quite electrifying to read and I really wish there had been more of that. The author has a gift for writing scenes of pursual - the novel and indeed Yu-Jin, as befitting his character, really comes to life during these moments. Events up until that point were more centred on a lot of Yu-Jin's internal monologue, a fair bit of exposition, and a great deal of speculation based on what he thinks he knows, what he discovers, and how it all eventually comes together.

If you're interested in the psychological aspect of thrillers then give this a shot, however if you're looking for an action based plot then this might be too slow a build up for you.


~Received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am not associated with the author or publisher in any way. My opinion is completely unbiased and entirely my own~

"I was the investigator interrogating the criminal. But the two were one and the same, the criminal had a slippery relationship with the truth, and his memory was spotty."

"It would take something special to make Yu-jin’s pulse quicken. I’m afraid because I don’t know what that might be."

정유정 (Jeong You-jeong) is described by her UK publisher as "South Korea’s leading writer of psychological crime and thriller fiction. She is often compared to Stephen King." I suspect most readers will be pulled in by the Stephen King comparison, whereas for me the attraction of the novel is the Korean angle, as a fan of Korean literary fiction. In that regard I am perhaps not the target audience for the book, as in pure literary terms, this is not, and does not purport to be, in the same class as Bae Suah, Han Kang or Hwang Sok-yong say.

This is however a satisfyingly intense psychological thriller, not so much a whodunnit but a whydidhedoit, or in fact a whydidIdoit. The novel is narrated in the first person, over the course of a few days, by 25 year-old 한유진 (Han Yu-jin), a former schoolboy champion swimmer now living with his widowed mother and Hae-jin his adopted brother (what happened to his father and his biological brother, being a crucial part of the narrative).

The Korean title of the original novel is 종의 기원, which is the Korean rendition of Darwin's The Origin of Species, and in the English version the title of the last section of the novel, as Yu-jin takes inspiration: "Darwin’s maxim came to mind: adapt or die".

The English version has been retitled The Good Son (I do wish publisher's wouldn't do this) and ably translated by Chi-Young Kim, perhaps best known as translated of Please Look After Mother as well as The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly.

It opens with Yu-jin wakening in his house, confused and disorientated:

"The smell of blood woke me. It was intense, as though my whole body were inhaling it. It reverberated and expanded within me. Strange scenes flitted through my mind – the fuzzy yellow light of a row of street lamps in the fog, swirling water below my feet, a crimson umbrella rolling along a rain-soaked road, a plastic tarpaulin shrouding a construction site snapping in the wind. Somewhere a man was singing and slurring lyrics: a song about a girl he couldn’t forget, and about her walking in the rain."

We and he soon find out (no spoiler alert needed at this stage) that the smell of blood comes from his murdered mother's body:

"I looked back down at the razor in my hand. Clues to who had killed Mother were all over the place, including the decisive evidence of the murder weapon. Without a single clue pointing to a different conclusion, I would be implicated. How would Hae-jin take this? No matter what he asked me, I could only answer one way – I don’t remember a thing. The time-worn excuse made by thousands of criminals over thousands of years."

Yu-jin then gradually pieces together what must have happened, fills us (and himself as he discovers some secrets in his mother's diary) on his life to this point, and then decides what he must do to "adapt or die".

One interesting note that may not be known by English readers is that the author took inspiration from a real-life case, that of 유영철 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoo_Young-chul). For example, the song Vangelis's "Conquest of Paradise" - on which Yu-jin's ipod playlist has stopped, allowing him to reconstruct a timeline of what had happened the night before - is a song that Yoo Young-chul listened to to psyche himself up before he embarked on his sprees.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group, via Netgalley, for the ARC.

This is a murder novel where the murderer gradually reconstructs his own crime. Masterful writing gradually, yet tensely, brings the whole picture into focus and the truth is truly horrifying. Then there is the analysis and dissection of the source and ultimate driver of the crime - the murderer's mind. Extremely well paced this story in reverse is utterly riveting and the Little,Brown Book Group are to be congratulated on introducing us to You-jeong Jeong.

Yu-Jin, a high school student who suffers from debilitating seizures, wakes one morning to a metallic smell, and finds blood everywhere. He soon makes a grisly find; the body of his murdered mother. Clearly there has been a horrendous event in the house the night before, and Yu-Jin has no memory of it at all.

As he tries to piece together what happened, Yu-Jin starts to wonder if somehow he is the villain of the piece. Several discoveries he makes lead him to question almost everything about his past and to paint his problematic relationships with his mother and his psychotherapist Auntie in a very different light from what he thought.

You-Jeong Jeong spins a complex plot that metaphorically unpeels layers of the onion to give us a deeper understanding of Yu-Jin and his past. There are some clever twists to the plot, although a couple of them are telegraphed a bit too clearly. This is a very good thriller, all the same.

This was a brilliant and unique read. Be warned, it was slow burning, in the first 20% of the book the setting haven't changed- Yu-jin finds his mother dead downstairs, and doesn't remember anything, keeps moving in the house. I started to think I may not like this book, but I was wrong. It doesn't take long after that for the story take sinister turns and morph into a shocking explanation of everything.
I really liked the style of writing. The ending is not a shocker, if you are looking to have a big secret in the end- you won't have that. But the story itself is amazing. I don't want to give away too much as this book is an experience you should just dive into without knowing anything. Yes, this is one of the books that you can dive in without reading it's description, it will be better!
I love reading Asian literature, and thanks for this beautifully translated book as it was a great read for a crime lover like me!
I can see this being adapted into a movie, or a theater play- even better. Would love to watch the adaptation.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh what a thrilling read this was! Absolutely exquisite.

The story flows very naturally and is full of tense moments. I loved this book!

This was such a great read and so different from what I was expecting when I accepted the publisher’s offer of a copy. Based on the reviews I skimmed through prior to picking it up, I will admit I was a little wary. There was a lot of “it’s a slow burn” and “you have to stick with it” but this was not my experience of reading it at all.

From the very first page I found myself gripped and completely immersed in this story. There may not be a huge amount of action (although I should warn it is violent and a little gruesome in places) and it’s heavy on internal monologue and flashbacks (something I usually hate) but the whole story and Yu-jin in particular absolutely fascinated me.

The central premise of “main character awakes to discover a brutally murdered body and has no memory of what happened” is not a unique one but it is one that intrigues me and this author does it so well. The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of Yu-jin and I found being in his head a very interesting experience. There is clearly something not quite right but I found myself drawn to him and wanted to know more.

The truth of what happened to his mother and the reasons behind it are uncovered very slowly over the course of the book as Yu-jin finds clues, makes deductions and recalls the events from the night before (and further into the past) while simultaneously trying to cover everything up for as long as possible. It quickly becomes clear that there was something not right in the relationship between mother and son but, while we’re given the impression that she’s overly controlling and he’s afraid of her (and his Auntie), it’s obvious that Yu-jin may not be the victim he first appears and there could be a reason he’s kept on a tight leash.

I will say I wasn’t necessarily surprised by what is revealed over the course of the story as the author leaves enough hints and clues along the way for you to figure it out but this wasn’t the main draw for me. I was much more invested in what was coming next and what would happen to Yu-jin. I wouldn’t say I liked him, and he admits himself that he’s a skilled liar so you know not to trust him, but I was intrigued by him. Despite being the classic unreliable narrator he is very convincing and I found myself empathizing with him even when I knew I shouldn’t.

There’s a very claustrophobic, dark and disturbing feel to this story and while it’s not all action all of the time there were more than a few moments which had me on the edge of my seat. It is fairly limited in terms of scope, it’s primarily set within the apartment, takes place over a short period of time and there are very few characters (or interactions between them) making it quite quiet and intense but for me this just added to the suspense and anticipation.

The ending when it comes was brilliant but I will admit I found it a little disappointing. It wasn’t bad, I think it was more that the rest of the story had built my expectations up so high that I was expecting more.

If you can’t tell by now I really loved this book and would recommend to anyone who loves a thriller that really gets into a characters head.

This is an intriguing book which starts with Yu-jin waking up one morning to find himself covered in blood and his Mother dead downstairs.
Yu-jin tries to remember what happened the night before but he is epileptic, and frequently doesn’t take his medication which causes memory loss and long periods of drowsiness.
He can remember his mother calling his name last night, but doesn’t remember in what context this was.
The Good Son is a story with a few twists and turns and as the book progresses, we learn more and more about Yu-Jin, his past and how this shaped how he is today.
This is a good read and I’d like to thank Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Korean noir was a new genre for me and I enjoyed becoming immersed in a different culture. Although it didn't add anything new to the psychological thriller/ unreliable narrator novel the gradual unpeeling of the layers of the central character was well done and kept my interest.

I loved the sound of The Good Son as soon as I heard about it and I was thrilled to be invited to read and review this title via Netgalley by the publisher, Little, Brown Book Group.

Who can you trust if you can't trust yourself?

Early one morning, twenty-six-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell, and a phone call from his brother asking if everything's all right at home – he missed a call from their mother in the middle of the night. Yu-jin soon discovers her murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. He can't remember much about the night before; having suffered from seizures for most of his life, Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory. All he has is a faint impression of his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life?

Thus begins Yu-jin's frantic three-day search to uncover what happened that night, and to finally learn the truth about himself and his family. A shocking and addictive psychological thriller, The Good Son explores the mysteries of mind and memory, and the twisted relationship between a mother and son, with incredible urgency.

The Good Son is an in-depth character study of Yu-jin, who wakes up at the start of the novel covered in blood and with no memory of how he came to be in such a state. Over the next three days, Yu-jin seeks to piece together the events of that evening, with flashbacks to his past – his time as a competitive swimmer at school, the death of his father and older brother, Yu-min, and his interactions with those around him. I have to admit that I found this novel a little confusing at first, and if you find yourself in the same situation, it is worth sticking with it to see where it goes. Whilst it takes some time to answer the questions it initially poses (and adds a few more in along the way) it does all become clearer, and I found myself drawn into this complex story after my initial confusion had passed.

Yu-jin is an unusual and complicated character, and I found myself questioning the boundary between his memories and his imagination – it wasn’t entirely clear how much of the narrative I should believe. Added to this is the fact that he has recently stopped taking his medication, an act that he does from time to time to revel in the almost manic state it results in, which he, understandably, prefers to the lethargy induced by his medication. Is he an unreliable narrator, or is he a young man adversely (and unfairly) affected by his medication? This was the question I kept coming back to throughout the novel as I learnt more about him and his background, and I liked the ambiguity as to whether I could trust Yu-jin's narration.

This is an incredibly dark and clever novel, although it’s one that I suspect won’t appeal to everyone. I came to love the slower pace and the level of detail feeding into the question of did he / didn’t he do it. I didn’t realise when I read it, but The Good Son is inspired by a true story, which makes it even more shocking once you understand the outcome.

The Good Son is published today – 3 May – in hardback and digital formats by Little, Brown Book Group. Many thanks to Grace Vincent for the opportunity to read and review this title ahead of its publication.

I have a feeling this is going to be a marmite book. But I’ll put my neck on the line and tell you I loved it. This is predominantly a first person narrative, the archetypal unreliable narrator whose narrative becomes more reliable as we listen to his words and explanations.
When a young man wakes up covered all over with sticky blood and discovers body of his mother, throat slit wide, at the bottom of the stairs, he realises that he can’t remember the night before and so starts to piece together what he thinks must have happened.
On the verge of telephoning the police, he suddenly realises that he will be viewed as the prime suspect – and resolves to take time to work out what really happened before telling anyone of his discovery.
This then is the basis for You-jeong Jeong’s all-consuming novel. This is a book a bit like an Escher drawing, the longer you look into it, the more depth and fascination you get from it until it slowly draws you into the difficult world of Yu-Jin, a 25 year old man who struggles against the constraints of his medication which he is taking to prevent epileptic fits.
Once a promising award winning swimmer, Yu Jin has had to give up that life because of his epilepsy and the concerns his mother had about him following the fate of his father and brother who died some years ago in a drowning accident.
The style of the book is fascinating. The writing is very concise and factual, I supposed this is what I might expect from a Korean novel, but in fact it is a style that hugely works in favour of the story.
As Yu-Jin slowly pulls back the covers and lets us in to unpeel the layers of his life, the reader can feel empathy and sympathy for this young man and his over protective mother, but the longer he tells his story, the more you question whether this version is the one you should be believing. It is to the author’s credit that she is able to build up our empathy and then tear it down with a chilling and suspenseful revelation of the facts behind the memories.
Yu-Jin’s mother has tried to be a good mother to her son; to protect him from the worst of his condition, but in doing so, she has condemned him to a life of medication which stops him from feeling like himself. He describes this as a suffocating existence where he is subject to restrictions that make it impossible for him to truly live his life.
It is only when he discovers his mother’s journal that we begin to see how this good mother has suffered in trying to keep her son away from the world and all its attractions. Behind Yu-Jin’s truths are a whole set of alternative explanations and as the picture of his life reveals itself to us, we begin to understand the awful secrets and the devastating lies that have kept Yu-Jin a prisoner to the truth.
The pace of the book is sometimes quite slow, but lends credibility to the revelations and as the action speeds up, so we come to understand more of the mother’s dilemma.
The stilted nature of the revelations serves to underline the fragmented truths that form Yu-Jin’s memories and we watch with horror and revulsion as the whole story unfolds in a chilling and suspenseful narrative.
This is a different kind of book in a style that I am not accustomed to and that only helped to make it gripping and utterly compelling.
There’s a lot to think about in this sad and sometimes horribly humorous story, but I could not put it down until I knew the whole desperate story.