The Only Child

September 1, 2019

Even as she interviews a serial killer at his request, criminal psychologist Seonkyeong takes in her husband's 11-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, now that she's homeless after her grandparents' death in a fire. These two new people in her life resonate so uncannily that the killer starts giving her advice. From a best-selling Korean thriller writer and screenwriter; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 21, 2019
Korean author Seo makes her U.S. debut with a creepy psychological thriller. Forensic psychologist Seonkyeong, nicknamed Clarice for the Silence of the Lambs character by the Seoul college students in her criminal psych course, scores a potentially career-making coup when condemned serial killer Yi Byeongdo, who has previously rebuffed all interview requests, announces he wants to talk to her. But she finds herself hard-pressed to focus on the looming challenge when her personal life implodes: 11-year-old Hayeong, her physician husband’s daughter from a previous marriage, suddenly lands on their doorstep after the grandparents raising her die in a suspicious fire. And it quickly becomes evident to Seonkyeong, if not her workaholic spouse, that the girl appears to have issues—including some alarming similarities in her behavior to Yi Byeongdo. Seo stealthily spins an ever-tightening narrative web setting up a doubly shocking climax. Though the hair-raising plot leans too heavily on contrivance and coincidence, it’s a measure of Seo’s skill that she manages to find flashes of humanity in a ruthless murderer. Fans of Nexflix’s Mindhunter should feel right at home. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency.

December 1, 2019
As a psychologist interviews a famous serial killer, her new stepdaughter exhibits disturbing behavior. In Seoul, Seonkyeong, an FBI-trained criminal-psychology teacher, is surprised when she's granted an interview with the serial killer Yi Byeongdo, who has refused to speak to anyone else. Meanwhile, her workaholic husband, Jaeseong, has reluctantly taken custody of his daughter, who had been living with her maternal grandparents ever since his ex-wife's death, when his in-laws die in a mysterious fire. Seonkyeong immediately welcomes the child as part of the family, but something about her is off. She's cold to Seonkyeong one minute and throwing violent tantrums the next. But her behavior is hard to correct, as she transforms into a much more obedient child when her father is home. As Seonkyeong gets to know both the killer and the child, she sees disturbing similarities between the two. Yi Byeongdo is handsome but brutal. His violent tendencies began in childhood when his mother rejected him; he shares the details in intermittent chapters. Hayeong, though outwardly angelic, was often her mother's pawn in a ruthless game to get back at Jaeseong for having left them. Between the two of them, Hayeong is the creepiest. As she fights Seonkyeong for control of the house, she ticks off all the childhood characteristics of a future serial killer, notably her cruelty to animals. Even more disturbing is the way she gives her stepmother false hope that she, unlike Yi Byeongdo, is young enough to be saved. Both of Seonkyeong's charges have affection for her, but it's not to be mistaken for trust. With cold precision, Seo creates a chilling and engrossing profile of a next-generation serial killer.

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December 1, 2019
Criminal-psychology professor Yi Seonkyeong is interested to learn that Seoul's infamous serial killer, Yi Byeongdo, has agreed to a prison interview, but she doesn't understand the inmate's stipulation that Seonkyeong must be the one asking the questions. In a strange coincidence, the day Seonkyeong learns of the killer's request, her life takes another twist: her 11-year-old stepdaughter, Hayeong, unexpectedly comes to live with her and her husband, Jayseong, after her custodial grandparents are killed in a fire. Forcibly estranged from Jayseong for years, Hayeong has difficulty adjusting, her behavior punctuated with violent outbursts. Seonkyeong increasingly spends her time occupied with Byeongdo's disjointed recollections and Hayeong's calculated manipulation. Slowly, she recognizes disturbing parallels in their behavior. As the tension mounts, Seonkyeong realizes that hers and Hayeong's lives depend on deciphering the clues that are buried in Byeongdo's revelations, clues that suggest a connection to Hayeong. This strong addition to the growing collection of Asian crime fiction available in English shares unflinching narration and the unsettling atmosphere of a horror film with the work of Kanae Minato, Natsuo Kirino, and Masako Togawa.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)