The Perfect Son
A disturbing and shocking debut novel of psychological suspense about a recently widowed mother, her young son, and the lengths she'll go to in order to keep him safe.
When Tess Clarke wakes up in the hospital the day after her son Jamie's eighth birthday, she's sure of these things: She's been stabbed, her son is missing, her brother-in-law and her grief counselor are involved. But no one is listening to her.
After her husband, Mark, died suddenly in a terrible accident a few months earlier, the only thing keeping Tess together is Jamie. As they struggle to make sense of their new life without Mark, they find joy in brief moments of normalcy like walking to school and watching television together. Life is hard without Mark, but Tess has Jamie, and that's what matters.
But there in the hospital, confused and surrounded by people who won't listen, Tess’s world falls apart. To save her son, she must piece together what happened between Mark's death and Jamie's birthday, but the truth might just be too much for her to bear.
Title: The Perfect Son
Author: Lauren North
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Expected publication: August 13th, 2019
Publishing House: Berkley Publishing Group
ISBN: 1984803840 (ISBN13: 9781984803849)
My Review
Wow....twisted till the last page!!!
Great psychological debut...I'm torn with empathy and disbelief in the main character.
You just never know what people go through.
This novel oozes with a cerebral unease from the beginning and throughout. A novel that holds you gripped and leaves you tethered.
Tess is counting down the days until her son Jamie's eighth birthday. Recently widowed, she has lost her husband on a business trip to Germany in a plane crash. Grieving and unable to deal with the demands of the estate affairs and daily chores, she finds herself spiraled down until one day she wakes up in a hospital with her son missing and she has been stabbed.
Living in an inherited historic home from her husbands family, Tess is shutting herself out from family and friends, but she can't stop the ever ringing phone or the noises she hears outside. To her, they are invasive and threatening.
As a contact tells her more insides about her husband's death, she is lead to believe that something sinister is going on. Her brother in law is after her inheritance and someone seems to send her threats.
What is the connection?
At the right or wrong time, a grief counselor, Shelley, comes into her life to help her at home and give her some company. But as Tess's son takes a real liking to her positivity and fun activities he begins to act out around his mother. The loss has been much on him too.
In a culminating moment of suspense, Tess's life is becoming too much to bear and she finds herself stabbed and her son missing. Did the threats against her involve her son? Is the police doing everything they can to find him? She isn't convinced and will take matters into her own hands.
Told in two timelines, Tess is counting down the days till Jamie's birthday as the main plot and the other in segments of interviews after the events. It is up to the reader to knit the clues fully together until reaching the twisted end.
This debut novel by Lauren North held my attention firm in its grips. The cerebral suspense had me edgy and wondering about the outcome of the entire novel. A great slow-burn psychological thriller I'd easily recommend.
Enjoy :)
I received a physical ARC of this novel from Berkeley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!
All opinions are my own.
