Empathetic read. ( )

I will be brief because I want to talk about this book which makes it too easy to write spoilers. I actually finished a few days ago but was afraid to write the review.
Tess has lost her husband in a plane crash a few months before the story starts. When the book opens Tess is in the hospital and is sure of four things:
1. She is in the hospital
2. She has been stabbed
3. Her husband is alive
5. Her son is missing
The pain of losing a loved one is almost unbearable. Grief is overwhelming. The fight to muddle through can be too much. The author did an excellent job portraying this. I felt Tess’s pain on every page. I could imagine having conversations in my head with my husband if I was going through that. I would, I think, fight to keep his voice alive there.
This story is haunting as much as it is a thriller. It is a book I would recommend. ( )

The questions that no parent wants to consider...EVER. Do you know any members of your family and what would you do if you suspected your child in a psychopath? I am an avid psychological thriller reader and generally can figure out the killer or the plot fairly early on...but not this one. I only began to sort the entire mess out at the last few pages of the book. An excellent, engrossing and intriguing read. I seldom recommend books since everyone has varied tastes and expectations of a book that don’t always correspond with mine...however if you are a fan of books like Lionel Shriver’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, or William Landy's Defending Jacob…you will want to make this one a place on your reading list. ( )

3.5 stars. The Perfect Son is a good psychological thriller and a very satisfying debut from Lauren North. The novel’s main character, Tess, is a young woman with an eight-year-old son Jamie whose husband has been killed in a plane crash. As the novel begins, Tess wakes up in the hospital with a stab wound in her abdomen and an apparently missing son.

North then backtracks in time to tell Tess’ story from when her husband is killed to the present, a story which focuses on the Tess’ grief and her attempts to deal with it and to get her life back in order. Tess’ character is very well developed, and the reader can truly feel her pain as she goes through bouts of being totally unconsolable and significantly paranoid and she appears to be pretty unhinged most of the time. She does not know who to trust, and she particularly questions the motives of Ian, her brother-in-law, and Shelly, her grief counselor and new best friend.

North successfully builds suspense around Tess’ relationships with Ian and Shelley, as well as with her son, as Tess struggles to cope with the reality surrounding her as a newly widowed mother. Although the plot was a bit slow-going for me, especially at the beginning, there were enough twists and turns to make this a decent page turner. And, even though I was somewhat disappointed in the ending because if found it a bit too formulaic, I can see where other readers might think that the ending really makes this novel. I do look forward to reading more from Lauren North!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. ( )

The Perfect Son by Lauren North is a psychological thriller, my favorite genre, about a young woman whose husband was killed in an airplane crash. She lives alone with her son, and her grieving consumes her making her life unbearable. She feels that she is a bad mom because of it. She and her husband had moved to a remote town in a tranquil English town, her husband's deceased mom's home, it is isolated which does not help her to overcome her grief.

She wakes up in the hospital with a stab wound in her stomach and her son missing.
She has a grief counselor, Shelley who Tess befriends, who is there in the hospital with her. While in the hospital, Tess tries to piece together the events that led her to the hospital.

The story starts 1 day after Jamie's birthday. Jamie is Tess's son and we learn that Tess is in the hospital. Then we go to 55 days before Jamie's birthday. The book goes on in this vein, counting down the days before the fateful day that changes Tess's world. I found this way of telling the story interesting. I enjoyed the author's style and found the story suspenseful and sad at the same time. Sad because I could not imagine what Tess was going though, suspenseful because I kept turning the pages, finished the book in two sittings. To me, if an author can keep me in suspense and be surprised by the ending, then this is a good author! I really enjoyed the book! Keep writing Lauren! ( )