The Only Child - A Review
The story of Frankenstein’s monster has captured the imagination of readers of almost two centuries, not only because of the story itself but also it’s back story. It has also been retold in many forms. With this one Mr. Pyper hits it out of the park.
THE ONLY CHILD by Andrew Pyper
Lily Dominick was six years old when, as she looked on, her mother was brutally murdered. The trauma caused her recollections to be hazy … she recalled only a monster knocking on the door to kill her mother and her six year old self being rescued by a white creature. The incident still haunts her dreams and may well have led to her career choice as an adult where she is Dr. Dominick working as a psychiatrist with the worst of the worst criminals in New York’s Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Centre. At work it sometimes seems to her she can read the mind of the incarcerated. One morning she walks in to interview a man known only as Client 46874-A and claiming to be 200 years old. For Lily he is an enigma; she can’t get a read on him and she feels as if he is looking into her mind instead of the other way around. Then he throws Lily totally off balance when he claims to have known her mother and what happened to her so many years ago.
The next day Lily awakens to the news that Client 46874-A has escaped. Driven by clues he leaves for her and the need to discover if he can truly help her solve the riddle of what happened on the night her mother died Lily sets out to find him and hopefully the truth.
Mr. Pyper takes his reader along on Lily’s quest as she travels across Europe picking up more and more information about not only “Michael”, as she named the mystery man, but about herself as well. And for Lily the truth does indeed turn out to be stranger than fiction.
“The Only Child” is a well-written page-turner. I would expect nothing less from Mr. Pyper. This book is not only a psychological thriller with it’s share of the paranormal but is extremely entertaining in it’s explanations of the basis of not only “Frankenstein” but also “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Dracula”. Within the context of the story it had me nodding my head and thinking “Oh yeah … makes sense”.
As I read closer and closer to the end I began to formulate my own theory about Lily and Michael so I was quite pleased to discover that I was at least half right. Despite that, the reveal caught me by surprise. I had hoped for a different outcome but the ending suited the story. Not wanting to have to include a “spoiler alert” I do want to mention that there was one scene at the end of the book which wrapped up the story so extremely well that I still pause to think about it a few days after I’ve closed the cover – so well done Mr. Pyper.
* I’d like to thank the publisher, Simon and Shuster, and Netgalley for providing me with the book at no charge in exchange for an honest review.*
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)
Andrew Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1968. He received a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, as well as a law degree from the University of Toronto. Although called to the bar in 1996, he has never practiced.
Andrew’s creative writing teaching experience includes terms at Trent University, the University of Toronto, and, currently, Colorado College. Last year he won the Grant Allen Award for contributions to Canadian crime and mystery literature.
He lives in Toronto.
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