The Only Son by Brian O'Rourke
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 15th October 2023
Amazon
Published: 29th October 2023
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Sarah loves her only son. She’s pretty sure he could never kill anyone.
When Sarah’s son, Andrew, calls her at work and begs her to come home immediately, she fears he’s being bullied again. But it’s so much worse than that.
Because when Andrew got back from summer camp, he found thirteen-year-old Hal English in their garage.
Dead. With no plausible explanation as to how he got there.
To make matters worse, Hal was one of the kids bullying Andrew at school and just recently they had a fistfight. And Andrew has a reputation for being impulsive and quick to anger.
As much as she loves him, as much as she wants to believe he is innocent, Sarah has to admit that Andrew looks guilty.
But she knows one thing for sure – no matter what she has to do, what risks she has to take, she will do anything to protect her only son.
The Only Son – the stunning psychological thriller perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, Daniel Hurst, Kiersten Modglin.
MY THOUGHTS:
I'm not sure how I came to be in possession of this book on Netgalley. I must have clicked it accidentally as I've not come across this author before so really had no reason to choose it, since I've restricted myself to a select few authors (to get my shelf down). Anyway, it was a fairly quick read with short chapters that keep the pace moving swiftly.
Sarah is called at work by her 13 year old son, Andrew, one day asking her to come home without explaining why. She hears something in his tone that tells her something has happened and wrangles the rest of the afternoon off. When she arrives home, she finds a distraught Andrew telling her that "he's dead" and that "I didn't do it"...whilst pointing to the garage. Puzzled by his exclamation, she enters the garage to find Andrew's childhood friend Hal English dead. A sight she will never forget as long as she lives.
With a distraught Andrew locked away in his bedroom upstairs, Sarah calls her husband Dwayne and begs him to come home. Though he was busy, something in his wife's tone told him to drop everything. Which he does. When he walks in, he swiftly takes over and tells Sarah what they need to do to protect Andrew. His plan, instead of calling the police which Sarah wants to do, is to get rid of the body and all evidence pertaining to the boy's very obvious murder. But will he just make the situation worse? And how did Hal gain access to their house when both Sarah and Dwayne were at work and Andrew was a summer camp?
It's clear no one trusts whether to believe Andrew or not as he has been known to bend the truth on occasion. Is this one of them? He and Hal had grown up together and were best friends up until a couple of years ago. Now Hal was one of the boys Andrew accused of bullying him. Did Andrew snap and kill Hal in a temper? And now he is trying to cover up his crime by lying?
Sarah doesn't believe her son capable of killing anyone. But Dwayne says it doesn't matter what they believe but rather how it's perceived. Hal was killed in their house and the only person home was Andrew, even if after the fact. Or was he?
Unfolding through multiple narratives, a tangled web is woven and slowly unravels to reveal the truth. I can't say I liked Dwayne or his brother very much. Not a bad read but a bit of a mixed bag overall.
I would like to thank #BrianORourke, #Netgalley and #InkubatorBooks for an ARC of #TheOnlySon in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
A lifelong, avid reader, Brian believes that fiction has the power to change the world.
He enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, playing the violin, and golfing.
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