Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Only Child: A Novel
    The Only Child: A Novel
    The Only Child: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Only Child: A Novel

    Written by Mi-ae Seo

    Narrated by Greta Jung

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    An eerie and absorbing novel following a criminal psychologist who has discovered shocking and possibly dangerous connections between a serial killer and her stepdaughter.

    Criminal psychologist Seonkyeong receives an unexpected call one day. Yi Byeongdo, a serial killer whose gruesome murders shook the world, wants to be interviewed. Yi Byeongdo, who has refused to speak to anyone until now, asks specifically for her. Seonkyeong agrees out of curiosity.

    That same day Hayeong, her husband’s eleven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, shows up at their door after her grandparents, with whom she lived after her mother passed away, die in a sudden fire. Seonkyeong wants her to feel at home, but is gradually unnerved as the young girl says very little and acts strangely.

    At work and at home, Seonkyeong starts to unravel the pasts of the two new arrivals in her life and begins to see startling similarities. Hayeong looks at her the same way Yi Byeongdo does when he recounts the abuse he experienced as a child; Hayeong’s serene expression masks a temper that she can’t control. Plus, the story she tells about her grandparents’ death, and her mother’s before that, deeply troubles Seonkyeong. So much so that Yi Byeongdo picks up on it and starts giving her advice.

    Written with exquisite precision and persistent creepiness, The Only Child is psychological suspense at its very best.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 11, 2020
    ISBN9780062988478
    Author

    Mi-ae Seo

    Mi-Ae Seo is a bestselling thriller writer and screenwriter in Korea.

    Related to The Only Child

    Related audiobooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Alexa , Help!

      May 18, 2023

      Alexa , Help!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Alexa, Call 999!

      Apr 14, 2022

      Alexa, Call 999!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Little Liffsaver

      Dec 28, 2023

      Little Liffsaver
      6 min read

    • Article

      My Hero

      Jan 27, 2022

      My Hero
      5 min read

    • Article

      Rescuers, Survivors Describe Horrors Of Building Inferno

      Sep 2, 2023

      FLOOR by floor, police with dogs scoured the gutted multi-storey Johannesburg building for bodies that might have been missed. It was the last sweep yesterday afternoon before the emergency services handed the building over to the SAPS and it became

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tiny Lifesaver

      Apr 18, 2024

      Tiny Lifesaver
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Real Cat-astrophe

      Mar 21, 2024

      A Real Cat-astrophe
      4 min read

    • Article

      Little lifesaver

      Dec 28, 2023

      Little lifesaver
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hong Kong Actress Elvina Kong Loses HK$160,000 In Cash And Valuables After Home Burgled For Fifth Time

      Jan 15, 2024

      The home of a Hong Kong actress has been broken into for a fifth time, with the burglar making off with HK$160,000 (US$20,500) in cash and valuables despite a security system being installed after the previous cases. Officers were sent to TVB actress

      2 min read

    • Article

      Thrown Into Thin Air

      Jul 23, 2021

      Thrown Into Thin Air
      4 min read

    • Article

      Death By Fire

      Aug 31, 2021

      Death By Fire
      4 min read

    • Article

      Super Pooch!

      Nov 4, 2021

      Super Pooch!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Intruder Alert

      Apr 20, 2023

      Intruder Alert
      3 min read

    • Article

      This Is Your Fault

      Nov 3, 2022

      However, after a few days, he was gripped to his phone again, and didn’t even speak to me. And just a week later, Sean snapped once again. We ordered a Chinese, and after I dished up, I realised I’d forgotten to bring out the cutlery for us. ‘Please

      3 min read

    • Article

      This Is Your Fault

      Nov 3, 2022

      However, after a few days, he was gripped to his phone again, and didn’t even speak to me. And just a week later, Sean snapped once again. We ordered a Chinese, and after I dished up, I realised I’d forgotten to bring out the cutlery for us. ‘Please

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Very Bad man

      Jul 28, 2022

      A Very Bad man
      4 min read

    • Article

      Stranger On The Stairs

      Apr 8, 2021

      Stranger On The Stairs
      4 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Apr 21, 2022

      It Happened to Me…
      8 min read

    • Article

      My Hero

      Jun 25, 2020

      My Hero
      3 min read

    • Article

      BAD TO The Bone

      Jan 6, 2022

      BAD TO The Bone
      2 min read

    • Article

      Timber

      Jan 27, 2022

      Timber
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dance with The Devil

      Feb 2, 2023

      Dance with The Devil
      4 min read

    • Article

      What Is that?!

      Oct 6, 2022

      What Is that?!
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Only Child

    3.5/5

    52 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Yi Byeongdo is a serial killer sitting on death row. He hasn’t said much to anyone about the murders he’s committed and the police are anxious to learn just how many murders there were. Unexpectedly, Yi Byeongdo has asked to be interviewed by a criminal psychologist by the name of Seonkyeong. Seonkyeong has no idea why Yi Byeongdo has singled her out as she does not know him.Seonkyeong has just been surprised by her husband with the arrival of his eleven-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Hayeong. There has been a fire and Hayeong’s grandparents with whom she was living have died. Seonkyeong is anxious to help Hayeong feel at home but soon starts to feel out of her depth. Seonkyeong starts to see quite a few similarities in the histories of both Yi Byeongdo and Hayeong.I must say that I was disappointed with this one. I have enjoyed the writing of other Korean authors and apparently Mi-ae Seo is a bestselling thriller author and screenwriter in Korea. I just could not get into this story and found it to be written in quite a lackluster way. There were moments when I thought, OK, here we go, but then nothing much happened. For being a criminal psychologist, Seonkyeong’s thinking and decisions were disconcerting. She should have known better in so many instances and that leant the book a feeling of unreality. There were quite a few unbelievable incidents in the book. While the author did a good job of weaving the separate storylines together, all I could think at the ending of the book was “You have to be kidding”.Hopefully this book will find an audience that will love it but it’s not one that I can honestly recommend, even though it did have its moments.This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.