The Good Son

Reviews

“At long last, South Korea’s preeminent author of psychological thrillers has arrived Stateside. The Good Son . . . [is] a perfect introduction: an ingeniously twisted mother-son saga that keeps your heart pumping—and then breaks it.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“A chilling portrait of a psychopath, and a beautifully evocative tale of wealth and isolation in modern South Korean life. You-Jeong Jeong has been called the Stephen King of South Korea, although I’d prefer to compare her to Lionel Shriver, Dorothy B. Hughes, or Patricia Highsmith.” 
—Molly Odintz, Lit Hub

“Absorbing . . . An unlikely thriller that we continue to read—thanks to Ms. Jeong's controlled prose...with a sickened sort of fascination. It's a testament to the author's skill and seriousness of purpose that she maintains suspense about her inhuman-seeming protagonist's fate until the bitter end.” 
—The Wall Street Journal

“Want to read an under-the-radar psychological thriller? Feel smug about pocketing The Good Son.”
—Elle.com

“Hard to put down.”
—The Financial Times

“Jeong expertly inches up the tension in this crafty, creepy story.” 
—The Guardian

“Jeong’s thrillers are wildly popular in South Korea, and we’ll soon learn why . . . The gore is intense, but the psychological terror might never wash off.”
—Vulture

“Riveting.”
—Bustle

“Satisfyingly chilling.”
—The Los Angeles Review of Books

"[A] must-read psychological thriller." 
—Lenny Letter

“Award-winning translator Chi-Young Kim ensures that Jeong is introduced to Anglophone readers with chilling precision . . . Lauded as South Korea’s leading psychological crime-fiction writer, Jeong performs intricate plotting here in a tale that . . . enthrall[s].”
—Booklist

“A precise, meticulously plotted thriller . . . The tension comes from Jeong’s prose, which spares not a single word . . . [The Good Son] sucks you in with precision and holds your attention, leaving you with a satisfying resolution.”
—World Literature Today

“A slow-burn psychological thriller with plenty of twists and things to think about.” 
—BookRiot

“[This] psychological thriller . . . will completely keep you interested all summer long.”
—Brit + Co

“[A] psychological murder mystery [that] subverts the usual clichés of its genre.”
—Electric Literature

“A cool, crafty did-he-do-it thriller buoyed by a rising tide of madness. Provocative yet profound, humming with mood and menace, The Good Son will rivet readers of Jo Nesbo and Patricia Highsmith.”
—A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

“A gripping, atmospheric, edge-of-your-seat thriller, The Good Son is moody and dark in the best way, with an unreliable narrator you won’t soon forget. I loved it.” 
—Flynn Berry, author of Under the Harrow

“This book will pull you in; as you devour it, you may find yourself chilled to the bone by its unflinching depiction of the evil coiled within us.” 
—Kyung-Sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mom

“[A] superlative thriller.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Jeong slowly winds readers up with taut, high-tension wire . . . A creepy, insidious, blood-drenched tale in which nothing is quite what it seems.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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