The Only Child was an odd choice for me. I'll admit to scratching my head and wondering just why in the heck did I think I'd want to read this book? A monster based on Jeckel and Hyde, Dracula and Frankenstein. 3 books I loathe. Still, I stuck with it, and it was slow reading at times. Very slow. Argh! The monster was horrific though, and that's what kept bringing me back. Michael's back story and the way it was interwoven with the 3 writers and his maker was the best part of the story. Once the book hit about 50%, I was all in. The ending was almost inevitable, and I'll admit that I saw it coming. It took nothing away from the story at all. I'm thinking I may have to try another Pyper book! Yep, I'd recommend this book and author. Thanks to Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley.

This was an interesting and surprisingly good book that often had me on the edge of my seat. I think Pyer did a nice job intertwining the gothic horror story with a psychological thriller. A completely satisfying read for me!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a difficult book for me for diverse reasons. It seemed that the plot was scattered and underdeveloped. Using characters from Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mary Shelley, Mr. Pyper has imagined a despicable creature that is over 200 years old. Lily Dominick, a forensic psychiatrist, meets this "person" and is dismayed that he is able to invade her deepest buried thoughts and secrets. After what was to me a jumbled 200 pages or so, the book again U-turned and it became a very personal story for Lily. Not well written and difficult, as I said above. Only my opinion.

Dr. Lily Dominick is a forensic psychiatrist. She has dedicated her life to evaluating and understanding the worst people humanity can produce. When she is called in to evaluate a John Doe arrested after brutally mutilating a man, her carefully ordered life begins to unravel. The man claims to be over two hundred years old, and to have inspired the most infamous gothic monsters of the eighteenth century: Dracula, Mr. Hyde, and Frankenstein’s monster. When the man escapes, he draws Lily into a twisted game of cat and mouse. Lily must unravel the truth of this dangerous man’s past, and uncover his link to her own shadowed childhood.

This was an interesting take on the standard gothic horror motif. The dangerously supernatural intrudes into the life of a woman determined to be so mundane she is nearly invisible. At the same time, we feel an undercurrent of some unnamable strangeness lurking just beyond Lily’s conciousness. As the novel progresses, we are forced to wonder how much of what is happening is real, and how much might be some repressed part of herself coming to the surface at last.

I will say that some aspects of the novel verge into ridiculous territory. At some points Michael (the monster/madman) is genuinely creepy and terrifying, and at others he seems to lean toward emo-hipsterishness (I was a murderous, blood sucking maniac before it was cool. Also, I’m the one who made it cool). But really, as a gothic villain (and this is a gothic horror at heart) he really has no choice but to wallow in such self-centered psychosis.

In all, this is a good choice for fans of the genre. The writing is a bit flowery at times, which I know can turn some people off, but I personally feel that it fit well with the overall feel of the book. If you like your gothic horror with a fair dose of Silence of the Lambs, then this book is a good fit for you.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Simon & Schuster and netgalley for this ARC.

Hard to compare, without question this novel will scare you with how awesome it make you feel!

3.5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2017/05/29/the-only-child-by-andrew-pyper/
The only child was a good read. I enjoyed it but to an extent I can’t help but wonder how much of my enjoyment relied on my own personal reading of the classics that this is based on. In fact it’s a book that definitely had me thinking in two minds about it. My initial reactions were less favourable, I didn’t like the two characters involved and this always makes it more of a struggle for me to connect. But, with the extra time I’ve given myself for reflection, and I certainly did find myself thinking about this one quite a bit, I’ve hit upon a few revelations that could be right or wrong but that put the story in a slightly different light for me.

So, Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Hyde. Three books that I enjoyed, particularly the first two. Basically, imagine that the monster of The Only Child has proved the inspiration for all three books – each of the authors being inspired by his entry into their lives and the threat he posed. All three books fail to describe his character fully, they’re all flawed and yet also fundamentally contain elements of the true nature of this real monster that lives in our world. Superhuman strength coupled with a certain sadness, ruthlessly violent and craving of blood coupled with abilities to influence somebody’s thoughts, a split personality that fluctuates between reasonable, polite even, and incredibly angry and unpredictably dangerous.

At the start of the story we meet Dr. Lily Dominick as she examines the latest violent patient to be committed to The Kirby, a psychiatric institution – that would probably have been known years earlier as an asylum. Lily is used to violent paiients and their threats, treating them with a calm detachment, but she is immediately disturbed by this latest inmate and the underlying current of power that he exudes. As the interview progresses the patient makes impossible claims relating to not only his date of birth that would place him at around 200 years old but also the fact that he is Lily’s father. From there onwards we have a sort of cat and mouse chase where the cat leaves a trail of breadcrumbs across Europe for the mouse to follow and come to it’s own conclusion in the process.

I must say that the story hooked me fairly quickly, the only reservation being that I found Lily intriguing but difficult to like. I was certainly interested by the latest inmate and wanted to learn more about him. Within fairly short order things move on and there are certainly no complaints about the pacing of the book. Lily finds herself travelling in the footsteps of her would-be-father, quite often placing herself into dangerous situations, life threatening even and discovering not only something of her own hereditary but coming to an understanding herself of why she’s always felt so different.

Basically, as a young child Lily’s mother was violently murdered. She was about six at the time and she and her mother were staying in a remote cabin in the hills. The recollections have receded over the years but of late it seems that Lily is starting to suffer bad dreams and hallucinations herself. As I said I found Lily a little difficult to connect with but, and without trying to give away too much, I think this is intentional on the part of the author. There was also some odd sexual innuendo between Lily and Michael which I found a little bit off putting given his claims and the fact that she accepted some of the things he said.

For me, this wasn’t just a mystery/thriller in which we uncovered details about the monster but was also a voyage of discovery for Lily, almost a coming of age if you will. So, yes, I didn’t like her, but I’m also not entirely surprised by the revelation. She’s very cold and detached and perhaps that’s what has led her to be so successful. However, she’s always had niggles at the back of her mind about her own inability to fit in and that, for me, is why she pursues this mystery so determinedly, even if some of her choices make her seem a little like a pawn on somebody else’s chessboard.

The Monster, or Michael. I was absolutely fascinated by his story, I can’t deny it – in fact it was my favourite aspect of the book and I was impatient to get back to it every time I was pulled away. In fairness I could have easily and maybe even preferably read a more linear version in which Michael related his story from the beginning bringing us to the up to date story in the present day. As it was we learnt snippets of his history as Lily ducked and dived around the place gathering information.

In terms of criticisms. I think I had two issues with the story. Firstly, I didn’t find it particularly scary – but, again, going back to the classics I’m not sure that they would either be considered so in this day and age. For me, it felt like the author was paying homage to the three books and I think he did a good job in that respect not to mention bringing a different angle to all three. I think my main issue was plausibility. I couldn’t put my finger on why Michael chose to reveal himself to Lily now. It just felt a bit much to believe somehow. And added to this is the way in which he makes the revelation – having himself committed and then staging various other crimes to ensure she followed him. I didn’t really buy into that aspect of the story and in fact I think I almost put it to the back of my mind and was instead gripped by the mystery. But, I couldn’t help coming back to it. Yes, of course, I realise that Michael felt the need to allow Lily to come to her own realisations but at the same time I just don’t understand the way he went about it – particularly given that he’s already on the radar of an organisation who are seeking him relentlessly – why leave more clues for them to follow. Why not just take Lily and talk to her? Sow the seeds of doubt that will set her mind racing?? In fact, personally, I would have preferred the removal of this ‘third’ party altogether and think the story should simply have focused on Lily and Michael.

Overall I enjoyed this. It was a quick read. I struggled to like the characters but I think that’s to be expected to be honest. I didn’t find it as scary as I would have liked and maybe would have liked an injection of more ‘gothic’. But, all that being said this was a quick read and a little reflection has helped me to see certain aspects from a different angle as I think my immediate impression was a little more severe due to my dislike of the main characters. – some extra space to think about it has made me see this from a slightly different angle and with a new appreciation. And I confess that reading this has made me want to go back and read those classics – which is a definite win in my opinion.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Unfortunately this wasn't my kinda book. I had a really hard time getting into the story and found that my mind, more often than not, wandered away while reading. I liked the idea of the connection between the characters in known gothic novels i.e. Frankenstein, Dracula etc. But, as much as I would have loved to fly through the book and like it, I just couldn't. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster!

Thanks Simon & Schuster and netgalley for this ARC.

This book combines all the great points I love in Andrew Pyper's previous novels then soars above horror into masterpiece status.

Dr. Lily Dominick is a forensic psychiatrist and she has a new client number 46872 - A, a man with no name. Follow Lily as she goes on a journey to discover the identity of this strange man.

I was attracted to this book because it was recommended by two of my friends on Goodreads and because I liked the title as I have no brothers or sisters. I started reading this book with an open mind when suddenly I was informed of client’s 46872 - A, age - you’ve got to be kidding me I thought! But then this novel shifts back a long time and reveals the history of client 46872 - A. It was then that I discovered what a great author and storyteller Andrew Pyper truly is. This book is NOT of a genre of novel that I normally read but Andrew skillfully draws on the knowledge of the horror tales we all enjoyed in our childhood to add a legitimacy to his story. So I sat back and escaped into a make believe world of horror with a dramatic pursuit of the truth.

The quality of writing in this novel is top rate and I love the way Andrew makes the whole tale sound true. By weaving the guts of three horror stories we enjoyed from our childhood into his tale, you feel as though this story is steeped in history. The reading experience I got from this book was very high indeed. The characterization of both Lily and client 46872 - A was very deep and rewarding. The supporting characters were also sharply portrayed which simply adding to the tension running throughout the story.

I found The Only Child to be a great story and although not true to life, was very easy to engage with this make believe horror. It is a book that really entertains and would make a great film for all ages to enjoy. I agree with my friends on Goodreads that The Only Child is a 5 star read, so it gets 5 stars from me too!.

The Only Child by Andrew Pyper is the story of Dr. Lily Dominick, a forensic psychiatric, who is used to hearing bizarre and outrageous claims from patients. She was orphaned at six when her mother was killed by, what authorities would call, a bear. Until one day she receives a case with no name. He is a man who assaulted another man because he needed to talk with her. He has a gift for her. He claims he is over 200 years old, he’s not human and her father. Soon strange events lead her to suddenly go to Eastern Europe and track now this man’s history. The more she learns, the more his story seems unbelievable. He claims to be the inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Creature from Frankenstein, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Lily soon finds herself in a race against time and against others who want to see this man destroyed. Is he really who he says he is? Will Lily finally learn the truth about her mother’s death? Will she be able to escape this real life monster?
The Only Child reminded me of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian with more intensity and action. From the opening word to the closing chapter, The Only Child is a fast paced drama which intertwines the stories of classic gothic novels. Without giving too much away, I loved how Mr. Pyper was able to weave the novels into this story. I feel it is an interesting twist and modern look into these classic characters. As I do with every book I read, after finishing this book, I read a few reviews and some of the other reviewers didn’t like it. The main complaint was it wasn’t scary. True, it wasn’t. It was more of an intense horror than scary horror. But to be fair, in my opinion, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula, were not scary either. I think it is also unfair to view The Only Child in comparison with these classics. Bottom line, I enjoyed this novel. I was able to finish it in two days, not that it was a fast read but shows that I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good monster story. It will have you wondering who the real monster is.

The Only Child
is available on Amazon
in hardcover and on the Kindle
as well as
at Barnes and Noble
in hardcover and on the Nook

Grabs you from page one,a real roller coaster ride.characters are well developed

The novel had a wham bam of a start, but once the main character began having sexual cravings for her father, I had to just put it down. It was too out there for me. The writing is beautiful, though.

Scrappymags 3-word review: "Meh". Not scared.

Genre: Mystery/horror though also kinda chick-lit though written by a man.

Shortest summary ever: Psychiatrist Dr. Lily Dominick works with the most psycho of the psycho so when a savage attack brings an unnamed man into her hospital, she's not shocked. Until the man starts to tell her he's her father (all very Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, but not a spoiler) and he's come there to meet HER...

What’s good under the hood:I thought the pacing was well done and it did flow from scene to scene. Storyline had a great premise and loved having a female protagonist in what would be the "vampire hunter" role. I honestly feel this is merely an underworked book and if it had some tweeking of the narrative and some changes could have turned into a popular 4 star series.

What’s bad or made me mad: when the crazy man is first brought in, Lily is sexually attracted to him. Then he claims he's her father. So dad-crazy-slasher-dude pretty much should kill her lady boner right? Um... no. Yeah. Can I get a collective "ewwwww!!!" And it's not a one time event or restricted to dad, her horniness seems to arrive at massively inappropriate times...

Next irk is (sigh) yet another cliche weak supposed-to-be-intelligent female who does stupid things, creating the situation for me (reader) of a mildly annoying and unbelievable protagonist. Buffy rocked the vampire hunter gig wayyyyyy better than this lady. Don't want to provide a spoiler but the doc behaves in ways that make no sense for a professional, one who seems poor at her profession, not worried about others, and since it's mentioned - she pops some unknown pills and keeps breaking ethics. Incidence of fainting female? Really? Is it 1856? That coupled with random inappropriate times of randiness and I sort of cringed my way through.

Recommend to: If you're into vampire books give it a whirl. This might be your 'thang.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I feel soooo bad I wasn't a big fan. Still love ya S&S!

This novel was not at all what I expected - and not in a good way. I'm trying to decide where to start with this book:

I really did not like the protagonist in this novel. She was just so off-putting. Her personality wasn't likable at all and there was nothing about her that made her stand out. It felt like the author made her a distant character so that it would explain the trauma she suffered in the past, but it really didn't work. There was nothing very unique about her, and she also did not behave or think in a very intelligent manner as befit her education and job status. To sum up, the protagonist was terrible.

There were a lot of unexplained elements in the plot. How did this monster just go from one place to another? What are all of his different powers? How can he suddenly talk to people in their heads? It was all very confusing and there was a desperate need for more detail. For every chapter, there should have been at least another one to segue the events. The author presented the story as both Lily's journey as well as journal entries/letters by the monster that explain his past. I would have preferred if there had been actual scenes recounted rather than this format as it would have eliminated some of the holes in the story.

The interactions and relationships between various different characters was really not well done. Lily has some very weird feelings about her "father" and it made me quite uncomfortable. There were quite a few other characters that interacted with Lily and it all seemed so fake and forced that it ruined the story for me.

Finally, this novel didn't deliver on the horror as much as I would have hoped. Instead, it took on a more psychological thriller view. While I have no problems with psychological thrillers, this novel wasn't really a good one as it didn't dig deep enough to back up the conclusions that it made.

Overall, this novel was a bit of a mess. It had so many different elements thrown together that it failed to maintain any semblance of cohesiveness. The protagonist was quite stupid and had no real personality, the interactions between various characters were awkward and fake, and there were gaping holes in this plot that made the whole story collapse. Unfortunately, this was a highly unsuccessful novel and I would have to rate it a 1/5 stars.

In these days of Pinterest and the 'keeping up with the Jones' ' mentality that it gives us, we sometimes forget a very single nugget of information- Motherhood does NOT have a SET book of instruction. Oh there areguidelines and tips, but EVERY mother has to find their own way along the coourse, with their own chld, for one VERY simple reason:

magic of motherhood sample 1

Yup. EVERY child is different, they have different needs, respond differently and if you think a set standard will work for all your kids, you'll soon find there's always 1 that it will not truly work for. And that is the one kernel we really ALL need to pass on to epectant mothers- what you THINK motherhood will be like, that ain't gonna happen. There will be curveballs and maybe if you let go of unrealistic expectations, you just might get a better motherhood experience! Take a look at the initial chapters of this book:

magic of motherhood sample 2

Oh you will older kids just about fell laughing off your chair, didn't you? You've BEEN there with all those headings, haven't you? New moms? You'll get there! The point being, that there ARE shared experiences of motherhood because we all reach for those unrealistic expectations, and then when they come crashing down, we want to look at something we failed at, when in reality is was those invisible rules that we had missed! Sometimes taking a step back from Facebook and Pinterest and not looking to be the perfect mother allows us to find those Magical Moments of Motherhood, when your child turns to you and says 'I couldn't have gotten through this without you", "Mom, I finally GET it!", or you see the awe of wonder on your child's face as they see something new for the first time, and turn to you like you are a miracle worker. Yup- those are the times when you realize it wasn't what you did wrong, but what you did right. This book is abouot all of that- the good, the bad, the ugly. With words (and pictures like above) of encouragement and faith, it is a book to get you through the morass of raising kids! This is a book to give to new moms to set them on their way, to moms with young children, to remind them to breathe and let go, they got this even if they think they don't, and to older moms, so they can laugh at what they survived through! It's a fabulous Mother's Day gift and I can't recommend it enough!

http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com/2017/04/book-review-only-child-by-andrew-pyper.html

Quite a creepy, atmospheric story! It took a little for me to get really sucked in, but when I was, I found it difficult to put my kindle down. The characters are strange and intriguing and I kept trying to guess how it would all be resolved. Recommended!

Dr. Lily Dominick is a forensic psychologist in New York. She’s assigned a very unique patient. This patient with no name not only claims that he’s 200 years old but that he inspired the literary monsters in “Frankenstein”, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” and “Dracula”. He also claims that he’s Lily’s father. Lily’s mother had been murdered when Lily was a young child and she has always longed to know more about her mother and exactly what happened to her. So Lily decides to find out just what this patient knows about her past despite the apparent dangers that such an association would bring.

I have always felt that Frankenstein’s monster is one of the most heart breaking literary characters ever created. He was so close to being a part of mankind but would always be doomed to be on the outside, alone and unloved. When I requested “The Only Child”, I had just finished binge watching the last season of “Penny Dreadful” and was still caught up in all of the emotional and suspenseful aspects of that excellent production. So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this latest re-imagination of a similar monster.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, although I do have quite a few of his titles on my TBR list. The author has such a good reputation that I expected a more complex tale. I expected to feel great sympathy for the monster who was trying to connect with his daughter. The book starts off well and I was pulled right in. But the monster didn’t tug my heart strings at all. Lily’s character was also disappointing and seemed to jump from one feeling to another too quickly. One minute she’s fearing a man who was hunting the monster and the next she was in love with him. What held such promise at the beginning of the book basically devolved into a cat and mouse chase. The ending was not at all surprising to me.

The book wasn’t a complete disappointment as there were parts that I enjoyed. I just feel like there was so much promise that never materialized. I loved the basic premise of the book and I would like to try another one of the author’s novels.

The Only Child is one of the best books of its kind I have read this year and probably for several years.
This book is about the man who monster who inspired Frakenstein, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Dracula, and his only child.
Dr Lily Dominick is a forensic psychiatrist at Kirkby institute in New York. She has a gift for the job. One that goes beyond her exceptional performances on exams and the workaholism that was mistaken for ambition but was in fact the comfort she felt walking the asylum’s halls.
At the age of six Lily was woken by a monster knocking on her door. She has really clear memories of this but because she is a psychiatrist she knows these memories are inaccurate. According to official reports her mother died from being attacked by a bear. Lilly knows it isn’t a bear because they aren’t able to knock on the door.
Lily is thinking about these things when she finds out she has a new client. Lily normally prides herself in being able to know what a client is thinking and why they are acting the way they are. Something about this new client unsettles her and throws her off during the initial interview.
During the interview, he talks about ripping a stranger’s ears off with his bare hands and explains that he knew perfectly well what he was doing and the consequences of his actions.
‘So you did this because you want to be locked up in a forensic psychiatric facility’
‘Not at all, Doctor. I did this because I want to be with you.’
In a seriously creepy way the nameless client tells Lily facts about her life and tells her that he knew her mother. Lily thinks this is just part of his delusion as he looks the same age as her but then he starts saying that he knows her mother and that she was called Alison. At the end of the interview he tells Lily that he is her father.
Unusually, Lily was unable to stop thinking about her new client, even when she is on a date with someone. Later that night she is called to her bosses office and arrives just in time to see the nameless client drinking his blood having escaped from the asylum.
He hypnotises Lily to sleep and she wakes up there is a letter to her explaining bits about his past. The letter intrigues Lilly enough for her to begin to retrace his steps across Europe in a bit to learn more. She learns that he was the inspiration behind several major gothic tales although he feels that in each he was misrepresented.
“I am not a myth. Not a story, fairy tale, or legend. I am not a human being, though I am almost always mistaken for one, and am composed of human parts, among other things, some I understand and others that remain uncanny, even to me.”
During her travels Lily has warnings to avoid the man who calls himself Michael. She also has some men trying to kill her, but despite both these things she feels herself drawn to him and the answers to her past.
I found this tale so engaging that I read it in one day and was disappointed when I realised I was at the end. I will definitely have a ‘book hangover’ from this book and will be seeking out more of this author’s work.

Sheesh. Talk about a horror story. Wow. This goes way beyond the original stories in the blurb…way beyond! If you thought those old gothic horror stories were creepy, you’re in for a serious spine-tingling, hair raising, nail biting scream fest in this one. Really! Well, I didn’t really scream, just sort of yelped. More than once. As a huge fan of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Peter Straub and many others, I have to say I loved this book. Andrew Pyper is going on the list of those other scary guys as an absolute master of this genre. Whew!

I have to say that I had an inkling of where this story might ultimately lead from early on in the story. I was right, sort of, but the journey from page one to the end was thrilling. Lily is a great character who gives many insights in to the aberrant phyche. Her talks with “the man with no name”, who calls himself Michael, are riveting. When he disappears, leaving a trail of death behind him, Lily goes on a European search to find him. He is the only living creature who can tell Lily about her mother. She runs into all kinds of danger, both from Michael and the “hunters” who have been tracking him for years. It’s a hell of a ride!

My advise? Grab this book if you ever loved a scary story. Read the last third at night…alone…with only a reading lamp illuminating the room. Bwahaha!

Enjoy!

2Shay

I do not publish reviews on less than two stars. Book is not as described..