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 a very unusual murder story. The ' good son' of the title awakes covered in blood, and with no memory of the previous night. Gradually, snippets of what happened appear to him, and at the same time the reader learns more about his life leading up to this time.
Although the opening is dramatic, the story then proceeds much more slowly, with the reader gradually realising all is not as it seemed.
A good choice as a change of pace from the more frenetic thrillers.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

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.

The Good Son establishes its central mystery from the first pages, with the cracking first line “The smell of blood woke me”. From there on in it’s quickly apparent that this “who-and-why-dunnit” is a tense, cold, calculating and unpleasant study (that’s absolutely a good thing in this context).
Yu-jin, the lead character, is initially something of a blank canvas, but slowly and steadily information is drip-fed about what has happened both over the last 24hrs and over the course of his life. Slowly and steadily is key - this isn’t a fast-paced thriller and is all the better for it.

This is a very strange book with an odd choice of topic. A psychopathic youth whose mother and aunt conspire to pretend he is epileptic is overwhelmed by maternal watchfulness of his every move. It is eventually a murder story if the reader hangs in that long. It is undoubtedly well written but many will find the theme a bit odd.

South Korean literature has been slowly finding its way in translation. The Good Son, is the first English translation of You-Jeong Jeong's and sits very snuggly in the mainstream psychologica thriller realm. It has everything readers are looking for in the genre – a twisty tale, an unreliable, then too reliable narrator and plenty of violence.

The Good Son opens in a clichéd enough way. The protagonist wakes in his bedroom covered in dried blood. He has gone off his medication a few days before and has only flashes of memory of the previous night, certainly not enough to explain his bloody state. When he finally leaves his room he finds his mother, dead in the kitchen downstairs. And just when the reader starts to get comfortable, with some idea where this is going, his memory returns and the narrative goes in a completely different (and much darker) direction.

Yu-jin is not an easy character to spend time with. It is tempting to try and be compassionate but once his memory starts returning this becomes more and more difficult. At this point the twists, which are based within his behaviour and memories start to become a little more predictable. And there needs to be a little too much contrivance and irrational behaviour from some of those around him (who should probably know better) to really make the story stick.

Aside from all of the psychotic styling, there is a deeper investigation about the way parents and the medical system work together to manage the behaviour of children through medication. And while this story is a bit of an extreme example of that trend it does raise some interesting ethical issues. But what this book does best is demonstrate Jeong's confident narrative voice, bringing to life and making interesting a character that readers would not want to encounter in real life.

For a thriller this is a very slow burner It is told in a very subtle way. If you are used to having your thrillers dished up on a plate and then washed up for you. I think you will be very disappointed!! But if you don't mind working at the book you will be pleasantly surprised. 

The narrator Yu-jin doesn't give much away you have to be patient while you are told what has happened to his mother through a series of  flash backs.   The further you get into this novel  the more you are taken on a a dark and sinister path. Which was terrifying.

I would recommend this book for those who like a slow paced thriller which is nearly as good as the Woman in the Window 

This book was sent to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review 

3 out of 5 stars

Despite this being hailed as a thriller, I found this very very slow. It burns like one of the never ending candles but suddenly there’s a spark and light is shone on all what you’ve just read. The journey there however will be difficult for some as it’s one internal monologue after another as a man wakes up from a heavy night  (yawn) to find himself covered in blood and his mother lying at the bottom of the stairs and he starts to examine what happened and if he did it.

What is good about this novel however is that because it’s set in Korea, there’s an added element of shame, family relationships and the wonder of where this will all lead in the justice system. The city of Seoul remains in the background for this is a character study above all else and it gets darker the more you read.

The writing is sparse and jolts you in and out of its prose but if you stick with this. there’s a twist that, well, I didn’t see coming. This is a unique read, a chilling read being in the head of someone on so many meds and having to work out if he’s killed his mother. Disturbing. Not your usual kind of thriller that’s for sure!

Korea’s answer to Stephen King? Maybe to King’s crappier novels but certainly nowhere near his best!



Slow narrative with a fairly humdrum mystery at its core. Didn’t really care to find out whodunit or whydunit, didn’t think much of the protagonist or the victim and the writing style was only slightly above amateurish.



Definitely not a thrilling read.

Quite the story, taking place over several hours of confusion, despair, anger and ..
Very interesting read

The Good Son is a novel that rewards it’s readers – a slow burner of a tale, creepy as you like, based around one single character – Yu-jin – who wakes up one morning and finds himself covered in blood and his Mother dead downstairs…but did he kill her? Well that is the question….

Yu-jin has his problems. Epileptic, frequently off his meds, suffering from fugue states, he explores his memory, his past and his present trying to discover his truth. His story gets ever darker and more chilling…the further you read into this the creepier it gets, the prose is tight, controlled and ultimately quite scary, this is a brilliantly observant character study that keeps you on your toes.

The Good Son is subtle in its twisty nature, this is not a novel with a sudden hit of reveal, it is a meander to judgment along an ever darker path, as such it is cleverly nuanced, this was not a story that I pegged the ending of early. In fact it is slippery, hard to grasp onto and somewhat ingenious.

It won’t be for everyone that’s for sure. Early on you wonder if you can stick with Yu-jin but I recommend you do. This is a different kettle of fish – a beautifully done “did he do it” novel that will stick with you long after finishing it.

Recommended.