The Only Child

Written by Andrew Pyper

Narrated by Christina Delaine

As a forensic psychiatrist at New York's leading institution of its kind, Dr. Lily Dominick has evaluated the mental states of some of the country's most dangerous psychotics. But the strangely compelling client she interviewed today-a man with no name, accused of the most twisted crime-struck her as somehow different from the others, despite the two impossible claims he made.

First, that he is more than two hundred years old and personally inspired Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bram Stoker in creating the three novels of the nineteenth century that define the monstrous in the modern imagination. Second, that he's Lily's father. To discover the truth-behind her client, her mother's death, herself-Dr. Dominick must embark on a journey that will threaten her career, her sanity, and ultimately her life.

Fusing the page-turning tension of a first-rate thriller with a provocative take on where thrillers come from, The Only Child will keep you up until its last unforgettable revelation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: May 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681686547

Andrew Pyper

Andrew Pyper is the internationally bestselling author of ten previous novels, including The Demonologist, which won the International Thriller Writers award for Best Hardcover Novel, and The Killing Circle, which was selected a New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year. He lives in Toronto. Visit AndrewPyper.com and follow him on Twitter @AndrewPyper.

Reviews for The Only Child

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dr. Lily Dominick, a forensic psychiatrist in New York, winds up interviewing a patient who claims to be her father Michael. Michael has been arrested as a dangerous psychotic but he believes that he is over 200 years old and inspired Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson and Bram Stoker in their creation of monsters. This premise sounded interesting, but I very quickly started skimming this book because I didn't like Lily. As I progressed, I found a lot of other things that I didn't like about this book.Michael's backstory was kind of interesting but it was inadequately explained and left me with more questions than it answered. As he lured Lily from place to place in an attempt to verify his story, I kept wondering why all of that was necessary. There had to be a more direct way of conveying his story. I might have liked the book more without Lily. There are some mystery men skulking about chasing Lily and/or Michael, for reasons that change from chapter to chapter. There is also no consistency to Michael's motives. I had a major problem with Lily's sexual attraction to Michael, but then Lily lusts after pretty much everyone. If you enjoy reading the following sentences you might like this book more than I did: "She wants to touch this man not to make her fear go away but to enflame it, focus it, invest it with an even more desperate urgency. There are things she wants to do to him. And the notion of doing them now, precisely when she shouldn't want to do them, only sharpens her yearning." Personally, this made me feel a little ill. I could go on, but the bottom line is that I didn't care for this book. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Chelsi Moe · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I DNFd this. I read/listened to the Demonologist by the same author and this one is boring in comparison. Plus there's the whole "woman is sexually attracted to a man who says he's her father." I like creepy books but not *that* kind of creepy.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Surprisingly, I found this book a compelling read but not too scary, just creepy. It is not something I would normally pick up but the premise caught my attention. From the start, I was hooked. There was certainly a feeling of dread in the first half of the book which had me wanting to read 'just one more chapter.' I loved how Michael was the inspiration for three of the most infamous monsters in literary history - Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. Michael's backstory was very atmospheric and I found his character far more interesting than Lily's, who was a fairly uninspirational character.After a great start, which pulled me right in, "The Only Child" became more of a cat and mouse novel, especially in the final third of the book, which had me on the edge of my seat. As for the ending, it was prefect! An entertaining, physiological thriller.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

When Dr Lily Domick was six-years-old, her mother was killed, ripped apart possibly by a bear – except, if it was a bear, why didn’t it eat the body and why are there no tracks leading to and away from their door. Lily has had to carry the trauma and these questions ever since. It is only made worse when she is assigned to a new patient, one who is charged with a particularly violent crime and who specifically asks for her. He not only admits to the charge but also tells her he knows what really happened to her mother. What follows is a cat-and-mouse chase as he leads her to Hungary and forces her to confront not only him but her past.I’m not sure what I expected when I started The Only Child by Andrew Pyper but this definitely wasn’t it. It started out well, grabbed my attention quickly but unfortunately lost it just as quickly. For one thing, I didn’t much care for Lily or Michael or, well, pretty much anybody. Or perhaps, as others have noted, her feelings towards her ‘father’ were just a bit too creepy. Or perhaps, as Hitchcock pointed out, it’s not the bang but the anticipation of it that makes a good thriller or horror story and here the bang is revealed too early in the tale. Not only that but it just seems to ramble all over the place once it is revealed. I kept putting it down and picking it up days later hoping it would get back to the promise of the first pages. I hoped the ending would save it for me but truth be told, my willing suspension of disbelief was just not up to the challenge of this book. Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[veeshee-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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.

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF. I usually battle on to the bitter end of a bad book, hoping for redemption or at least for it to move from "bad" to "so bad it's good," but I couldn't with this one. From the main character being a male fantasy of the perfect woman (while she didn't spend time fondling her own breasts, she did possess a perfect and "petite" body, a startling lack of agency in a woman with an alleged Ph.D and a voracious sexual appetite, focused on a vampire who claims to be her Dad. Ugh.), to the idea that a violent offender in a psychiatric prison would be a woman's sexual fantasy, this book made me too angry to continue. Write women as though they were actual people, Mr. Pyper! Andrew Pyper is a good author. I'm a fan. I have no idea what happened here, but there will have to be some seriously good reviews for me to pick up another book by this author. The Killing Circle is a solid and well-written thriller. Read that instead. Unless the thought of a man ripping the ears of a random passer-by is exciting to you. Then you and this book's main character are peas in a pod and I wish you a vampire of your very own.

[misspider-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lily works as a psychiatrist in a high security facility, and one day she is presented with a client who not only claims to be two-hundred year old, but also to be created from a reanimated corpse, just like Frankenstein's creature. He also claims that he inspired not only the obviously similar story of Frankenstein, but Jekyll & Hyde and Dracula as well. As if that wasn't enough, he tells Lily that she is his only child.The book was nothing like I expected at all, and while it presented a little bit of several genres, it is hard to categorize it properly, but I like to have my books neatly ordered so I'll give it a shot and label this one a dramatic gothic horror thriller tragedy.The first half is definitely the better part of the book, as the reader, together with Lily, still tries to figure out what of the stories Michael tells is true. Is he really a man-made creature rather than a human with a disturbed mind? Is he really over two hundred years old or does he just believe so? With each chapter, Lily comes closer to revealing the true history of the man who claims to be her father. But what does that make of Lily? While the focus is mostly on Michael, it is interesting to follow the changes Lily goes through, and the doubts she start raising about her own history - and possible future.While the author cleverly weaves three of the most popular classic gothic novels and their surprising origin into the story, he fails to convincingly convey its historical impact. While it read as a fascinating 'anecdote' from Michaels past, it did little more than entertain for a short moment, rather than turn knowledge about the creation of gothic horror upside down with a stunning revelation. I wonder if it would not have been better to focus on the one masterpiece with the most obvious connection to Michael's story instead of 'collecting' the mention of two other classics as well.As the second half of the book slows down considerably, the ending at least made up for it and brought a fitting, though not totally surprising, conclusion.The book is like a potpourri of genres that evokes equally mixed feelings. While I appreciate the attempt to create something highly impressive, it is a mere shadow of the masterpieces it so boldly utilizes.(Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Only Child is the newest book from Andrew Pyper.Dr. Lily Dominick is a forensic psychiatrist, specializing in the 'worst' cases and the most dangerous offenders. Much of her motivation for her chosen profession is the unsolved murder of her mother. Lily was there, but has only hazy, dream-like memories of the first six years of her life. Her latest patient, Client 46874-A, has committed a horrific crime and claims to over two hundred years old. What he also claims is knowledge of Lily's past - and her mother. When he escapes, Lily is driven to find him - and the answers she so desperately seeks.The cover of The Only Child gives you a good idea of the story within. Gothic feel - foggy, old building, mysterious fleeing men wearing a black, somewhat capelike coat..... Uh huh, you got it. Pyper takes inspiration for his story from classic horror literature such as that from Stevenson, Stoker and Shelley. Indeed, they play a role in his tale.Lily was a complicated lead to like. I never felt drawn to her, but rather questioned her choices and motivations. But her decision to pursue Client 46874-A are akin to those horror movies where you shout at the screen....'Don't go in the basement!" We know she is heading into danger, but are curious as to where and what Pyper has planned for her. Pyper has created his own monster with a modern twist. I did find Client 46874-A to be what I expected - he wasn't an overly original creation IMO.Is Client 46874-A truly dangerous? Or are the men hunting him the danger? Lily is torn by what to believe - especially after Client 46874-A reveals more and more of his connection to Lily.The exploration of family and the need to know ourselves figure prominently into Lily's search. But, the sexual tension between the two leads is, well, just icky. Pyper's descriptions of characters and settings are dark, chilling and creepy. The tension escalates as the cat and mouse game progresses. Pyper ends The Only Child with a nice little twist that suits perfectly.For this reader, The Only Child was an okay read, but not a stand-out. Was it my love for those classic tales? My feeling that I had read this story before? Not sure, but this was only a middle of the road read for me.

[hubblegal-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

[rowingrabbit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ack!! The hardest review to write? One for a book that is well written but just not a genre you particularly enjoy reading. It’s simply a case of a slight mismatch between book & reader, for which I take full responsibility. So here’s the deal. I’ll tell you what I did like & why I think those with a taste for tales of horror with fantastical beasts should snap this up.The MC is 36 year old Dr. Lily Dominick. Lily is a psychiatrist who works with the scariest, most diseased minds incarcerated at the maximum security Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Centre in NYC. She’s a private, insular woman whose experiences as a child pretty much sealed her fate in terms of career choice. When Lily was 6, she & her mother were living in a remote cabin outside of Fairbanks when the unthinkable happened. It began with a knock at the door. Her memories of that night are hazy at best but what she does remember is the shadow of a large creature standing over her mother’s broken body. The resulting investigation ruled it a bear attack but Lily would beg to differ. Something carried her out to the nearest road where she was found. And even the most well mannered bear doesn’t usually knock before entering. Lily has a gift for connecting with the “monsters’ in her care & she’ll need all her skills for the latest arrival. He’s a man with no name who claims to be over 200 years old. He seems to know all about her, something he explains with another bombshell. He’s her father. Over the next 24 hours Lily witnesses events that cause her carefully constructed world to crash & burn. She doesn’t know it yet but it’s the end of normal & she soon sets off on a personal journey that takes her across Europe & back again. In alternate chapters, we get her father’s story from his journal. He calls himself Michael & tells how he was created in 1811. He’s led a violent & fascinating life, showing his true self to a select few along the way. In an interesting twist he describes how meeting Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker & Robert Louis Stevenson resulted in disappointing versions of himself. There are other threads to the plot including a shadowy group hunting Michael, a possible love interest for Lily & her gradual recovery of memories surrounding her mother’s death.The first 25% of the book was a bit slow. We spend a lot of time in Lily’s head & are privy to her every thought, comment, action & memory. She comes across as oddly flat & although the reason for this is explained later, it makes it difficult to connect with her initially. I much preferred the historical chapters detailing Michael’s life. They’re richly atmospheric & really put flesh on the bones of this original character. For me the book got better as it progressed although the love interest angle seemed unnecessary as the whole story revolves around the relationship between Michael & Lily. But either way, it probably won’t prepare you for the ending. It’s a humdinger that leaves the door open for a possible sequel.So just to be clear…..the rating reflects my enjoyment factor, not the author’s skills as a story teller. If you’re someone who enjoys horror with a twist of fantasy, I urge you to pick up this original tale derived from 3 classics of the genre.