Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The Only Child is a translation of a Korean thriller featuring a criminal psychologist Seongkyeong who suddenly gets a phone call that a serial killer who has kept quiet for years suddenly wants to talk, but only to her.

Enjoyed this book a lot. The pace is a little slow at times but that may be down to the translation from the original language. It kept me hooked despite the pace and I would read more from the author in the future.

I really struggled to get into this book. I found it quite complicated and not very enticing to the reader at first. however, when the book stopped being so "complicated' and got into the story telling, I actually became quite gripped and it had such a good premise.

unfortunately, it was not until much later in the book that I became gripped and no soon as I was gripped, the book ended.

I feel a lot of the story was lost in translation.

A very different thriller. Lost a little in translation, but nonetheless a well-written and a well crafted plot. The ending was amazing. Recommended.

For readers who love stories about serial killer, this one from Korean author Mi-ae Seo is an interesting pick, even though it did not work for me.

Having read " The Good Son" by You.Jeong Jeong, I was eager to read more asian thrillers and this fit the bill. Sadly though, I was not so enthralled by this one. I found the book repetitive, predictable and could not get into the story.

It may be just me, and not the book in itself, since I have read so many thrillers of this type. Other readers may find it more engaging.

#TheOnlyChild #NetGalley
What an amazing read.
Criminal psychologist Seonkyeong has two new people in her life.
A serial killer whose gruesome murders shook the world but who has steadfastly emained silent. Until now.
A young, innocent looking stepdaughter from her husband’s previous marriage, who unexpectedly turns up at the door after the sudden death of her grandparents.
Both are unsettling.
Both are deeply troubled.
And both seem to want something from her.
Can she work out just who is the victim in all of this? Before it’s too late.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for giving me an advance copy.

It all starts with a fire, two bodies and an eleven-year old girl. Yi Sangwuk, a fire inspector, is woken from his sleep and joins Sergeant Yu Dongsik of the Seoul Metropolitan Police at the scene of the fire in the Eugam area. Both have been on high alert due to an increase in fires in the area and the odds of five fires in a short time span was highly suspicious.

Seeing the girl, looking lost and clutching a large teddy bear, Sergeant Yu softens and takes it upon himself to find her only surviving family member, after the two people who died in the fire are identified as Hayeong’s grandparents. Yun Jaesong, her father, has no choice but to take the girl home to live with him and his second wife, Seonkyeong.

But Yun is an ambitious surgeon with no time for a child and Seonkyeong has her own problems – unravelling a serial killer’s motive. Yi Byeongdo had kidnapped and murdered thirteen women in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas over three years and for some reason requests an interview with Seonkyeon – unfortunately we never find out why. There’s no doubt that he’s a cold-blooded killer and over multiple prison visits and cat-and-mouse conversations, the root of his psychosis is slowly exposed.

Full review here: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/the-only-child-mi-ae-seo/

A bit difficult to read and get into, but it was a good read. I didn't quite enjoy it as much because of the difficulty I was experiencing but I'll be sure to purchase and read it again.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I think it was a good thriller/horror story. Quite disturbing. It was a bit difficult to get into.
I think translated books are a bit more difficult to judge. But, overall it was a good read.
Thanks a lot to the publisher and NG for this copy.

Wow, this was dark, but totally what I expect from a Korean thriller. I did wonder why it is called “The Only Child” when the Korean title “Sleep well Mom” fits this book sooo much better. If you don’t like cruelty, then don’t read this, because this book is full of it. But if you like diving into the psychological aspects of criminals then this may be your thing. It certainly gripped me and I wish I had someone to talk about it because I can’t relate my thoughts fully without spoiling the book. Argh.

"내가 비밀 한 가지 말해줄까요?"
"Do you want me to tell you a secret?"

The Only Child has been translated by Jung Yewon from 서 미애 (Mi-ae So)'s Korean language original 잘 자요 엄마.

Seonkyeong (선경) is a criminal psychiatrist, who went on a course at the FBI and was thereafter nicknamed Clarice Starling by her students. And in a case of life imitating art, as the novel opens, an infamous serial killer, Yi Byeongdo (이병도), one she has never met, says he will speak about his crimes, but only to her. And it transpires that she reminds him of someone significant in his past.

Yi Byeongdo's first murder was of his abusive mother:

'“What’s the oldest memory in your head?”

That is the first thing I ask when I meet people. Somehow, it seems that the first memory in someone’s head determines his destiny or personality. And it seems that you can tell what kind of person he is based on the memory.

The oldest memory I’ve ever heard of was from a man who remembered getting a bowl of seaweed soup on his first birthday. It being his first birthday, it had been exactly a year since he was born into the world. I asked him how he remembered that, and he said that as soon as he got the bowl, he threw up in it. That’s why he never forgot. I had a drink from time to time with this man who never had seaweed soup after that, and I think his habit of throwing up formed on that day.

If such a nauseating memory was my first memory, I would want to throw up, too. Still, his is better than mine.

Once in a while, I picture myself doing something. I’m lying in a comfortable chair, and tracing my memory as the hypnotist tells me to. As you go back in time, you remember your childhood days, even your mother’s womb, they say. Some people see their past lives. I don’t want to find out about my past life, of course. I don’t even believe in such things.

What I’d like to know is what my mom looked like when I came out through darkness into the world. I want to know what kind of look she had on her face at that moment.

Why?

I think it’s because my mom told me that she hated me before I was even born. She said she didn’t look at me after I came out.'

And the first question he, turning the tables in a conscious echo of Hannibal Lecter, even quoting his words, asks Seonkyeong, during their interview, is about her first memory.

The Beatles song Maxwell's Silver Hammer, a song his mother hummed while abusing him, plays a key role in triggering his murders:

'Bang! Bang! Maxwell’s silver hammer came down upon her head. . . '

which again links to an infamous real-life case in Korea ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoo_Young-chul)).

'Music had been a major issue after the Yu Yeongcheol murders as well. Yu Yeongcheol said that he had the theme song of the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise playing while he was in the bathroom taking care of the bodies of the women he had killed. It was unknown whether the song had inspired him, or he had listened to the music simply because he liked it.'

On the same day as she first meets him, her husband's daughter, Hayeong (하영), from his first marriage, comes to live with them. A deeply disturbed child, Hayeong had been living with her maternal grandparents but the previous night they had died in a fire. Except the investigators suspects that this was murder rather than an accident, and there is one possible but shocking suspect.

The stage is then set for something of a Damian meets Hannibal Lecter situation, with a trace of Psycho thrown in, with Seonkyeong caught in the middle.

This isn’t my usual reading fare so I am not best qualified to benchmark this as a psychological thriller.

But a note on the translation, which has received mixed comments from other reviewers. Content-wise this isn’t a particularly Korean book, the setting and characters are relatively generic, but opinions seem to vary on how naturally it reads in English.

This is the 6th translation by Jung Yewon I have read, having previously completed Vaseline Buddha by Jung Young-moon, One Hundred Shadows by by Hwang Jungeun and from the Dalkey Archive Library of Korean Literature Mannequin by Ch'oe Yun, No One Writes Back by Eun-Jin Jang, and parts of A Most Ambiguous Sunday and Other Stories by Jung Young-moon. She has also translated another Jung Young-moon book, Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River.

She is one of my favourite Korean-English translators and I have previously commented that her work has a style which I find intriguing but difficult to describe: she both renders the books into excellent English but retains a translated/Korean feel to the phrasing. This works particularly well for the authors above since there isn’t really an equivalent voice in English of say Jung Young-moon’s distinctively style.

And I have previously contrasted her with another favourite, Sora Kim-Russell, from whom I have read 10 Korean-English translations. I am an equal fan of her work but compared to Jung her translations tend to be towards the reads-naturally-in-English end of the spectrum, which perhaps makes her more suited to thrillers, such as her translations of The Plotters by Un-su Kim, and The Hole by by Hye-Young Pyun, (although her rendition of Bae Suah’s powerful, unique and highly literary, Nowhere to be Found, was stunning.)

And a translation peeve of mine: book titles being changed unnecessarily. Here the Korean title 잘 자요 엄마 could be rendered literally as Sleep Well, Mum/Mother or (less literally) Good Night, Mother - which indeed are the words that closet the novel. The French version manages Bonne nuit maman (albeit the Spanish Hija única mirrors the English).

Overall 2.5 stars. As a fan of literary fiction and Korean culture this is not a type of novel I would read other than in Korean translation, and it was rather less Korean in setting that I had hoped.

The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo is a good read that's almost great. Almost as it's a bit slow to get going and not entirely convincing with a rather simplistic writing style,possibly down to the translation from the original Korean.
Criminal psychologist Seonkyeong gets the chance to interview a serial killer who refuses to speak to anyone else about his crimes while at the same time her husband turns up with a daughter from his previous marriage that she was unaware existed. The killer,, Yi Byeongdo , and the newly-discovered step-daughter, Hayeong, have a couple of things in common, including abusive mothers. Seonkyeong struggles both with the game-playing murderer and the obviously disturbed new presence in her house and it's almost as if the author is trying to knit the scripts of Silence of the Lambs (which get a nod of acknowledgement ,and The Omen, albeit with a female "Damien" . Surprisingly it works quite well and is very entertaining, if more than a bit "busy" as the 2 story threads are juggled before coming together. Seonkyeong is a decent person who tries to help and understand people while the author shows that both the killer and the step-daughter from hell are victims made the way they are by their upbringing. The only character I wasn't convinced by was the husband ,why anyone would marry him baffles me,let alone 2 women,he's selfish, completely inconsiderate and wrapped up in his work to the exclusion of his loved ones.
I really enjoyed the book,it's a bit different and once it gets into it's stride a quick and easy read. The writing isn't fantastic ,at times reading a bit like the synopsis of a movie script, but it is a translation so that's possibly a tad unfair.

Thanks to Mi-ae Seo, Oneworld Publications and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

A good story although sometimes a little hard to understand. This is common though with translation in books. Quite a dark story, reminiscent of old horror films xx

Oh boy this could have been so good. The premise of the story is an excellent one and once I managed to understand what was going on (which took a while) it became really gripping. The story that is – because the writing (and I guess it gets lost in translation) is clunky and immature. From my experience of creative writing (I studied it for my OU degree) which is all about show not tell, someone needs a bit of tuition. It’s tell tell tell and so much repetition. There are only so many times you can ask someone if they want a glass of water (no-one seems to drink anything else which I am sure is very admirable from a health point of view but not very believable) or maybe the excessive heat is supposed to add to the tension. It doesn’t. And we get that the child is pale with large eyes and puppy fat cheeks but we don’t need to be told over and over. The main character Seonkyeong is supposed to be a criminal psychologist, but her understanding of her step-daughter, who is a cross between Carrie and Damien from the Omen, is pitiable and even her time with the serial killer shows little expertise. She is, as my later Father-in-law would have said, as dim as a TOC-H lamp, whatever that is. Her husband, a doctor, is also pretty dim and unlikable with it.

But in spite of its flaws I loved it. It certainly pays homage to other books of its genre like The Silence of the Lambs. It even references it. And it would make a great film. It just needs some careful editing, preferably with a sledgehammer but I really enjoyed it.