The Only Child

April 10, 2017
Edgar-winner Pyper (The Damned) misfires in this supernatural thriller, which becomes less compelling and less scary the more explicit the threat to the lead gets. Doctor Lily Dominick, who works at New York’s Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, was traumatized at age six when her mother was torn to pieces by a creature, probably a bear, that broke into their home in Alaska. Lily knows that her memories are flawed, since she’s unable to explain why her mother’s corpse was not consumed or why the animal left no tracks. That mystery is reawakened with a vengeance when Lily is assigned a new patient who says he has no name—and who has been charged with assault after ripping off a man’s ears with his bare hands. The patient unsettles Lily by asserting that he committed the crime so that he could meet her and that he knows the truth about her mother. As his explanation for his provocative statements unfolds, readers will strain to suspend disbelief. The characters are less well formed than in Pyper’s better works. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Company.

April 15, 2017
Savvy readers will be puzzled by forensic psychiatrist Lily Dominick's behavior at the start of this bloody thriller. She's taken in by the seductive manner of a vicious subject? It happens. But shrinks are trained to quash that, aren't they? Or seek counsel from another shrink. Why doesn't she? A few pages later, she comes across a written confession by the killer. Why doesn't she rush it to the police? Instead, she begins her own investigation into this man, ostensibly because he claims to know the real story of her mother's murder in a snowbound cabin decades ago. The manhe calls himself Michaelhas so ensorcelled her that she listens while he claims to be a 200-year-old laboratory creation and the original for Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and Mr. Hyde. It's clear now that Michael also has plans for Lily, and the working out of those plans is the occasion for some fine, tense scenes. As the narrative comes to its violent conclusion, we learn that the ambiguities of the opening are foreshadowings, and there is more than one monster among us.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)