The only child : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An eerie and absorbing novel following a criminal psychologist who has discovered shocking and possibly dangerous connections between a serial killer and her stepdaughter

Criminal psychologist Seonkyeong receives an unexpected call one day. Yi Byeongdo, a serial killer whose gruesome murders shook the world, wants to be interviewed. Yi Byeongdo, who has refused to speak to anyone until now, asks specifically for her. Seonkyeong agrees out of curiosity.

That same day Hayeong, her husband's eleven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, shows up at their door after her grandparents, with whom she lived after her mother passed away, die in a sudden fire. Seonkyeong wants her to feel at home, but is gradually unnerved as the young girl says very little and acts strangely.

At work and at home, Seonkyeong starts to unravel the pasts of the two new arrivals in her life and begins to see startling similarities. Hayeong looks at her the same way Yi Byeongdo does when he recounts the abuse he experienced as a child; Hayeong's serene expression masks a temper that she can't control. Plus, the story she tells about her grandparents' death, and her mother's before that, deeply troubles Seonkyeong. So much so that Yi Byeongdo picks up on it and starts giving her advice.

Written with exquisite precision and persistent creepiness, The Only Child is psychological suspense at its very best.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Korean author Seo's U.S. debut is a dark dive into the mind-set of serial killers. Criminal psychologist Seonkyeong is invited to an interview with infamous killer Yi Byeongdo on the same day Hayeong, her husband's daughter from a previous marriage, shows up on her doorstep after the girl's grandparents are killed in an apartment fire. Seonkyeong opens her home to the girl but is unnerved by her strange actions. As she meets and listens to Yi Byeongdo's account of his childhood, Seonkyeong makes connections to Hayeong, which troubles her enough to start taking a serial killer's advice for dealing with her own stepdaughter. The novel explores themes of nature vs. nurture and investigates what makes a killer. While the translation may appear clunky to English readers, the author certainly delivers with the book's creepy atmosphere. VERDICT Fans of Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs, and Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth will find this admirable, but readers particularly sensitive to depictions of child abuse might want to look elsewhere. [See Prepub Alert, 7/29/19.]--Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH

Publishers Weekly Review

Korean author Seo makes her U.S. debut with a creepy psychological thriller. Forensic psychologist Seonkyeong, nicknamed Clarice for the Silence of the Lambs character by the Seoul college students in her criminal psych course, scores a potentially career-making coup when condemned serial killer Yi Byeongdo, who has previously rebuffed all interview requests, announces he wants to talk to her. But she finds herself hard-pressed to focus on the looming challenge when her personal life implodes: 11-year-old Hayeong, her physician husband's daughter from a previous marriage, suddenly lands on their doorstep after the grandparents raising her die in a suspicious fire. And it quickly becomes evident to Seonkyeong, if not her workaholic spouse, that the girl appears to have issues--including some alarming similarities in her behavior to Yi Byeongdo. Seo stealthily spins an ever-tightening narrative web setting up a doubly shocking climax. Though the hair-raising plot leans too heavily on contrivance and coincidence, it's a measure of Seo's skill that she manages to find flashes of humanity in a ruthless murderer. Fans of Nexflix's Mindhunter should feel right at home. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency. (Feb.)

Kirkus Book Review

As a psychologist interviews a famous serial killer, her new stepdaughter exhibits disturbing behavior.In Seoul, Seonkyeong, an FBI-trained criminal-psychology teacher, is surprised when she's granted an interview with the serial killer Yi Byeongdo, who has refused to speak to anyone else. Meanwhile, her workaholic husband, Jaeseong, has reluctantly taken custody of his daughter, who had been living with her maternal grandparents ever since his ex-wife's death, when his in-laws die in a mysterious fire. Seonkyeong immediately welcomes the child as part of the family, but something about her is off. She's cold to Seonkyeong one minute and throwing violent tantrums the next. But her behavior is hard to correct, as she transforms into a much more obedient child when her father is home. As Seonkyeong gets to know both the killer and the child, she sees disturbing similarities between the two. Yi Byeongdo is handsome but brutal. His violent tendencies began in childhood when his mother rejected him; he shares the details in intermittent chapters. Hayeong, though outwardly angelic, was often her mother's pawn in a ruthless game to get back at Jaeseong for having left them. Between the two of them, Hayeong is the creepiest. As she fights Seonkyeong for control of the house, she ticks off all the childhood characteristics of a future serial killer, notably her cruelty to animals. Even more disturbing is the way she gives her stepmother false hope that she, unlike Yi Byeongdo, is young enough to be saved. Both of Seonkyeong's charges have affection for her, but it's not to be mistaken for trust.With cold precision, Seo creates a chilling and engrossing profile of a next-generation serial killer. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.