I really enjoyed this multi-layered domestic drama that deals with Chantal, a solicitor and her husband, a popular tv personality and their teenage son Alex who is getting into a lot of trouble as he is taking an environmental stand and attending protests, which is casting his family in an unfavorable light in the media. There is also the timeline of when Chantal and her husband had taken a hiatus from their relationship for a year and the things Chantal did while on her own. These two timelines collide and swiftly we watch Chantals life fall apart and her mental and physical health begins to deteriorate. The ending was quite shocking.

Cantal is a successful lawyer, married to Stuart a famous TV presenter. They have a lovely life living in a fabulous house with their son Alex. However, not everything is as it seems and the perfect life starts to unravel. Skeletons start to come out of closets and one of them has an extremely dark side to them, but who? Read it to find out.

A good story from beginning to the end with good characters although the ending wasn't what I expected.

I can recommend this book and thank you to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for allowing me to read this book.

This book came out Tuesday I received it from netgalley I loved this story it has a good twist to it.
I didn't think it turn out the way it did I was surprised! 😯

What a terrible family. Really. It was very hard to like or care about what happened to any of them. Chantel makes terrible decisions and is basically an area rug for her family to walk all over. Stuart is an ass. Alex….how does he even have a place to live? Who let’s their kid talk to them like that? Who supports their kid cursing out his mom? She has only two speeds, it seems-doormat and full on psychopath. I was hoping there would be more to the story than where it was obviously going. Sadly, pushing my way through it did not result in any kind of payoff. Just a lingering feeling that I wanted those hours back.

The only child by Miranda Rijks.
One little boy. One little lie. Where will it end?
Chantal and Stuart are a golden couple. She’s a high-flying divorce lawyer dealing with the biggest case of her career, and he’s the darling of daytime television, on the cusp of A list celebrity. Their seventeen-year old son Alex is a passionate environmentalist, the apple of his mother’s eye.
And it’s all built on a lie.
A lie told by Chantal.
When someone discovers her secret and starts to blackmail her, Chantal’s perfect life threatens to go into freefall. Her marriage, her career, and even her relationship with her son are at stake. She can’t let it happen!
She decides to fight fire with fire, but soon finds her actions have extreme - and unexpected - consequences. As she is pulled ever deeper into a web of lies and deceit, she has to ask the most terrifying question of all…
Where will it end?
This was a very good read with some great characters. This is my first book by this author but it won't be the last. 4*.

This book was sent to me on Kindle by Netgalley for review. This is a book about family dynamics with children issues...secrets...some language I could do without...mystery...intrigue...what will happen next...a quick read...the story is innovative and often surprising. I hope to read more from this author.

A great psychological thriller, one of my favorite genres!

Chantal and her family are the picture perfect golden family. But it's all built on a lie. How far will she go to protect it?

The is a fast page turner of a novel that keeps you in suspense until the end. The author has a phenomenal voice and I love her novels.

This was a really enjoyable psychological thriller. It was full of suspense and portrayed a great atmosphere. I was completely gripped and could not stop reading it!

This year, I started branching out to Psychological Thrillers. Surprisingly, I actually like this genre.😀

This book caught my attention on NetGalley because of its cover and synopsis.

This is the story of Chantal and her seemingly perfect life with her husband Stuart and son Alex.

This was a fast read for me and there's no slow parts on the story which made me enjoy reading this. I love guessing what will happen next and who did what or the approaching plot twist. I have lots of speculations but not one of which hit the mark.😅

Chantal is a very strong character. She knows what she wants and will do everything to achieve it. At times she overthink things.😅

Stuart is a bit on the background here maybe because we don't have his POV. But I kinda like him on the latter part.

Alex is on his rebellious stage and quite impulsive on a lot of things. His POVs are quite authentic for his age. He tends to do stupid things but he has his views and very vocal about them.

All in all, it was a good read for me. The mystery is interesting and kept me reading till the end. The pacing is just right and I like how the story kept throwing plot twists on my face.

I was just a bit underwhelmed on the great reveal and how things wrapped up for the 'villain'. But I still enjoyed reading this. Recommended for fans of Psychological Thrillers.❤👍

*Thanks to the publisher for making this book available for review via Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest thoughts and opinions of the book.*

I have been a fan of Miranda Rijks ever since I read 'The Influencer' and so this book was an auto-select for me.

To an outsider, Chantal Lacey has got it all - a successful career as a top divorce attorney, the big house and flashy car and most importantly, her husband of 18 years, Stuart, a TV presenter, and their seventeen-year-old son, Alex. But Chantal alone knows all that she had to do, to have and hold this family together. So when a blackmailer threatens to expose her terrible secret, Chantal is prepared to, once again, do all that it takes to protect her family.

In her usual style, the author has delivered yet another fast-paced thriller that keeps the pages turning and adrenaline kicking into overdrive. Though the prologue was misleading, nothing prepared me for that plot twist. I had recently read another thriller with a similar premise and I must admit that I found the ending to this one more satisfying.

The plot is narrated through Chantal and Alex's POV.  I love that the author doesn't shy away from casting her protagonists in shades of grey. Chantal is one kickass woman whom you would love to hate. While you do tend to feel sorry for Alex who is subjected to his mother's helicopter parenting, he was, to quite an extent, a spoilt brat. And I do wonder why we didn't get Stuart's POV since he was one of the core characters.

Overall, a quick, gratifying fix for the thriller junkie in me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Compelling Domestic Suspense….
A family on the verge of breakdown, relationships built on lies and the devastating consequences of deception are all explored in this compelling domestic suspense. With an unreliable and often suitably unlikeable cast of characters the tale unfolds leading the reader to a potentially unexpected twist.

This domestic thriller was highly addictive and can easily be read in a couple of sittings.

Chantal and Stuart are outwardly “the golden couple”, she is a hot shot divorce lawyer and he is a popular TV news presenter. Their son Alex and his girlfriend Luna are passionate about the environment, something which often contradicts with Chantal’s own wishes for her son.

Things start to fall apart for Chantal when she starts receiving threatening blackmail texts, her marriage starts showing cracks and her relationship with her son seems to be fracturing beyond repair.

We follow Chantal’s POV in the past and the present as well as Alex’s present POV, which all fit together really well.

Although the characters are unlikeable at times, they were interesting and I could understand why they behaved in the ways they did.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it had me hooked and felt very fast paced. However, I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, although reading the authors note about why she wrote this book helped me understand why she chose the ending she did.

I also felt it wrapped up slightly too quickly for me personally, but overall it was an enjoyable book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Chantal and Stuart are living happily with their son Alex. Little do Stuart and Alex know that their whole life is based on a lie which has true potential to destroy their lives. Stuart and Chantal consider it a miracle to have their son as Chantal was diagnosed with severe endometriosis and was told the chances of her having a child were next to impossible, now 17 years later here they are living the perfect life, her as a high flying solicitor, Stuart as a news presenter and Alex in a private school about to complete his A-levels and start university.

Just as things seem to be going so well for her family things soon change when strange things start to happen to Chantal, her car gets vandalised, she’s being blackmailed and starts receiving threats. Chantal is terrified that someone knows her secrets and that her nasty little Pandora’s box is about to be blown wide open.

Determined to find out who it is who’s blackmailing her Chantal will go to extreme circumstances to discover who is behind it. Soon Chantal starts to look at her colleagues, family and friends is there anyone she can trust as one by one she starts to doubt them all.

Although I enjoyed this book I did find it a little tedious is places and I did find it quite predictable. I liked the twist at the end of the book as I didn’t see it coming and I always enjoy an unexpected conclusion. I also love that endometriosis got a mention in this book and the fact the difficulty to conceive because of this condition is explored and as someone who suffers I felt sorry for Chantal when she was experiencing the extreme pain from the condition.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review.

The Only Child is another fantastic psychological thriller from Miranda Rijks. It is the third book I have read by her and all have been great. Yet again I was gripped all the way through with enough twists to keep me guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for my ARC.

The Only Child by Miranda Rick's is a fast-paced psychological thriller. The story line pulled me in immediately and kept me turning pages until the end. Rijks tells the tale from the point of view of two characters, alternating past and present. I found the format to be entertaining and engaging. There were some twists and turns that I did not anticipate! I thought the book came to a rather abrupt end and would have enjoyed savoring the culmination a bit longer. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend and look forward to more from Miranda Rijks. A very enjoyable read!

Miranda Rijks writes great psychological thrillers, as a reader I'm are dragged into the story and cannot put the book down until I've finished.
This book is no exception. Chantal, a very successful divorce lawyer, is married to Stuart a morning TV presenter. Their son Alex is studying for his A levels or at least when he's not rebelling against his privileged upbringing or chaining himself to railings protesting about environmental pollution. But when Chantal starts getting text messages blackmailing her for past indiscretions her life as she knows it completely explodes.
The story is told from Chantals point of view, both present and past, and Alex's.
None of the characters are particularly likeable all of them have flaws but that just draws you in even more
Many thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

I've just finished 'The Visitors' by the same author which I really enjoyed. However, I found 'The only child' even more gripping, engaging and intriguing.

Chantal (divorce lawyer) lives with her husband, Stuart (TV presenter) and their teenage son, Alex. Alex and his mother have a difficult relationship, especially when his eco protests and his girlfriend, Luna interfere with Chantal's career. Coupled with the fact that she suspects her husband of having an affair and she is being blackmailed, her life seems to be falling to pieces.

I thought Chantal was very harsh in the way she punished Alex. At almost eighteen years old, cancelling his gap year plans and confiscating his car seemed a bit dramatic. I liked the fact that Auntie Debbie provided a safe space for Alex and always looked out for him.

I thought alternating between then and now worked well at the beginning, as it let us see how Chantal came to have Alex. I wasn't sure about the chapters from Alex's perspective. His dialogue didn't always sound authentic for a teen.

The book was well plotted and I was shocked by the reveal at the end. This would make a great TV drama/film.

I will be recommending this book and look forward to reading more by Miranda Rijks.

Thanks indeed to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen" could be the theme of this book by Miranda Rijks. Take two people focused on their careers, throw in a rebellious teenager, and mix in one deep, dark secret (or two), and you have The Only Child.

This book was a bit of departure from her previous books, but no less dark. The story takes you into the mind of Chantal, a driven divorce lawyer who makes a decision early in her life that will affect her future, and her son Alex, an environmentalist who is so wrapped up in his teenage beliefs that he falls to see the impact his actions will have on his Mom and Dad's careers. Thank goodness for Debbie, Chantal's sister and "voice of reason" who is probably the only likeable character in the book. And that's okay, because Rijks accomplishes what she set out to do, show you the escalating breakdown of this seriously flawed family. The ending accelerates at warp speed and will require suspension of disbelief, but just enjoy the ride!

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for an advance reader's copy.

We follow a quaint little family, Chantal, Stuart, and Alex. Chantal is a prominent divorce lawyer and her husband is a morning news show host. Their son Alex, has begun pushing his boundaries with his parents and his actions start to cause trouble for Chantal at work. She has begun experiencing other stressors throughout the novel including seeing less of her husband and their disagreement on how to discipline Alex.

Chantal then begins to receive mysterious text messages threatening to expose a dark secret from her past. She gets pulled deeper and deeper into her web of lies and starts questing everything around her. What was once a perfect life, starts to unravel.
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This was the first book that I have read by Miranda Rijks and it was sent to me from Netgalley! Overall I thought it was a pretty decent and fast read. The beginning did start off a bit slow and the ending was anticlimactic. The story is told from alternating points of view between both Chantal and Alex. I personally would have enjoyed the POV of both Debbie and Stuart because I think that could have added a lot into the storyline. This book kept me fully engaged and at the end of the day I would definitely try another novel written by Miranda.