Customer Reviews

Only Son

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is extremely rare that I start and finish a book on the same day. I typically like to enjoy a book over a week or so. But I could not put this book down!

I always respect an author that is capable of making you feel something you ordinarily would not. But not only does the author make you feel compassion for a criminal, but resenting those who try to bring him to "justice."

I'm still thinking about this book, its characters, and all the possible reasons this book has me spellbound. But you're better off reading it yourself anyway. I have a feeling it will mean many different things to many different people.

You have to read this book. It is a wonderful, compelling and emotion-stirring read! I raced through it and couldn't wait to see how all the strands of this engaging story came together. From the outset you wonder how all of this came about and how it could end like this!

You have a whole range of emotions to work through here - it is by turns melancholy, thrilling and sad... Just read it and see. The story flows smoothly and it is easy to read. Also it has a number of well developed characters and as you read, you begin to understand what motivates and touches them!

Go buy it right now!

Only Son strikes so many cords at once that it's hard to have a clear emotional response to it, at least while one's still reading it. Maternal instincts kept me sufficiently on guard throughout the entire book to ensure that I did not get suckered into liking the nice-guy-kidnapper...too much. But, when the last page was turned, my feelings about the book were crystal clear. Quite simply, I loved it. I've spent the last thirty minutes sorting out why.

The reason I shouldn't like it is obvious: It's about a child-snatcher who is portrayed as a nice, even responsible, human being, instead of a monster. As a mother, I have a huge problem with that.

On the other hand, that's exactly one of the reasons I liked the story. It plants the seed of possibility - a slim hope - that not all kidnapped kids suffer gruesome deaths or fates worse than death. My own children are safe in adulthood (well, maybe not safe, but you know what I mean), but I know that if my child had disappeared without a trace, I would very much want Only Son floating around in my memory bank. The story seems very realistic due to characters and circumstances that are rendered wonderfully believable by the author's skill and sensitivity, which is another reason I loved the book.

The story of Carl Jorgenson pulls the heart into a tender and confusing place; one so universal that I believe Only Son belongs on the shelf of "great books", not just "good books". Through Carl's story, O'Brien takes us into that emotionally gray area where nice, ordinary people - people we truly care about - make terribly wrong choices that have irreversible consequences for themselves and others. And there is nothing left to do, but live with ambivalent feelings and make the best of the forever altered path.

Wow, never in my life have I encountered such an amazingly written piece of art. Told from three different points of view, there is no way the reader can take sides between the emotional struggle of the main characters. The mother of a kidnapped child, the love of a child, and the love of the kidnapping father of the son. It is an emotional struggle to get through this book, and at the same time, you can not put it down while reading it! Have a box of Kleenex by your side for this one!

With ONLY SON, Mr. O'Brien has created one of the best novels of this decade. The writing flows so well, you find yourself reading for hours on end. It's a story without cardboard cutouts. Each point of view is treated fairly and you find yourself sympathizing for the mother and (believe it or not) the man who kidnapped her son. It's a book I won't forget for a long time. Thanks Kevin. You have a fan for life.

This was one of the best books I have read. Kevin's book "The first to die" was also an excellent read. I had a difficult time putting the books down and could not wait to read on to see what the next page would bring.

The book Only Son is a modern work of art expressing human needs and wants along with the confussion of real life. Charectors in this book are so realistic you feel as if they are people you know who have emotion no different than that of a friend. There is no good or bad just a gray area and Kevin O'Brian has captured the gray area that we all seem to fall into with a remarcable story.

I can only say this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Even though you know that a person who kidnaps a baby is a villian, you will be surprised to find yourself emotionally involved with the kidnapper. On the flip side, you will also be in tears with the mother's feelings. It is so well written that you will lose sleep trying to finish it. There is not one boring page throughout the entire book. As another reviewer stated "it is an amazingly written piece of art" and I couldn't agree more. I highly recommend it and everyone should put it on their "must read" list.

Only a great writer like Kevin O'Brien can transform a story about the heinous crime of enfant kidnapping, into a novel about love, compassion and forgiveness. This is a truly marvelous book that will tug at your heartstrings, moisten your eyes and make you believe that it's never to late to make things right. One of Mr O' Brien's best novels - read it!

Carl did not have the best childhood growing up. In fact, his father used to beat him and give him gifts that were not his to keep. Carl can remember the one time when his dad gave him a bike, only to have it have it taken away from him and Carl accused of being a thief. Carl is all grown up now but he has learned his lesson. When he gets something he hides it from the rest of the world, so no one can ever take it away from him again.

Young, married couple Paul and Amy McMurray just did the great thing they could ever do as a couple, give born to a baby boy, Eddie. One day something so terrible happened to the McMurrary's; it can be considered every parents worse nightmare...Eddie gets abducted. It has been about twelve years since Eddie's disappearance. Paul may have given up hope but Amy will never give up looking for her son. Amy senses in her heart and soul that her son is still alive and out there waiting for her to come take him home. Call it a mother's intuition.

Only Son may not be like all of Mr. O'Brien's that I have enjoyed reading so much that include a killer, who you don't know the identity of till the very end; where as in this story there is no killer and you know who is causing the harm. There is an element in Only Son that is scarier then any of the other books. It involves an innocent boy, who did not get a choice in who would love him. Mr. O'Brien draws on raw emotions of fear, trust, friendship, and most of all love. I already have made Mr. O'Brien, one of my favorite authors and now with this book, it has only cemented my amazement of this great author's. Kevin O'Brien will always have a fan in me.