The Only Child Hardcover – 23 May 2017

Hooray! This is a great new book from Andrew Pyper! Ever since I read his book, The Demonologist, I always check back to that Amazon page to see what people who read it also read and get so many recommendations from there. Pyper's new book, The Only Child, was the fastest book I've read this year. I couldn't put it down; I lost sleep staying up late to finish it! My family had to shout at me to get my attention. The action scenes were so vivid and moved so fast. Earlier this spring, I had read Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula aloud with my two older kids. Those two books are referenced in this story (which made it even more fun) about a man who was reanimated from the corpse of a serial killer - who had also been possessed by a demon!! So, there's murder, mayhem, a two-hundred year-old immortal searching for the impossible human connection, settings in Hungary, Romania, New York and the Pacific Northwest. The heroine is a well-educated psychiatrist who works with the criminally insane. She's very accessible and believable (except for the ease with which she falls into physical relationships). So many unexpected twists and turns! This book is the perfect way to start the summer!

After discovering Andrew Pyper and his talent for writing in "The Demonologist" I had to order "The Only Child" and was once again blown away by this author's skills. I could barely put this story down and missed sleep (gladly) to get it finished. Nest up "The Wildfire Season" and if the reviews are right it will be another smash-hit. The fine abilities shown by Pyper are such that he never misses a beat - he knows how to construct a thriller that won't let you go. Hightly recommended!

Having read The Demonologist I was excited to see that Andrew Pyper had put another title out relatively soon. I enjoyed the Demonologist, but I have to say I have enjoyed The Only Child more. It is more tightly written, more exciting and exudes more of a sense of place than The Demonologist did, and I daresay it's even creepier than that previous title. I am just about at the end of this book now and my only critique is that I want to learn even more about the main characters and the locations all too briefly described here...yes, I think The Only Child is a bit too short! That said, this bodes well for Pyper's future titles and I look forward to reading them.

Book reviews: So hard when you want to really support a book. For starters, Andrew Pyper is hands-down my favorite authors in his genre. The Guardians was perfection to me, and I loved the Demonologist. This had all the things I love in horror - asylums, history, tortured souls with rich character history. It was described as “modern gothic”. Now, to me, that doesn’t always seem appealing. I am much more ghost and supernatural versus zombies and monsters. But 1. Andrew Pyper. 2. This man got once had me invested in Grizzly Bears and Wildfires (see The Wildfire Season), and 3. This truly had a bit of it all, and I read it in a day. Great story-telling, and I even felt bad for the “bad” guy (which gives nothing away!)

Andrew Pyper's "The Only Child" is a taut, fast paced thriller, melding together the best elements from three of the most famous horror novels ever written: Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula. The author uses the characteristics of the three classic monster villains to create a hybrid beasty all his own--one who dances precariously on the edge between good and evil. And though the writing is lean and crisp, the story is heavily infused with historical facts and globe-trotting scenarios, allowing the pace of the plot to unfold at lightning speed. Andrew Pyper has once again delivered a fun quick summer read that surely cannot be missed. Recommended!