The Only Child by Andrew Pyper

I took a course last summer that required me to read from genres outside of my normal reading tastes. Horror is a genre I haven't touched since the mid 1980's, when I read Stephen King's Pet Cemetery, became terrified of my roommate's cat, and had to sleep with the light on for a week!

The other day I noticed a book called The Only Child by Andrew Pyper. When I saw National Post quoted on the cover saying "Pyper could be the next Stephen King" and then discovered that Pyper is Canadian, I was willing to give horror another try.

The Only Child revolves around the character of Dr. Lily Dominick, a forensic psychiatrist, who became obsessed with the human mind after witnessing her mother's death at the age of six.  Lily's newest patient, however, shakes her to the core: not only does he claim to be 200 years old, but he says he knew her mother. Lily struggles between what is real and not real, both in the memories of her mother and the stories this "man" tells her about his life. The patient/man/monster quickly establishes a hold on Lily that keeps both her and the reader in suspense and looking over a shoulder until the end of the book. 

Elements of the characters of classic horror, including Jeykll and Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein are present in this storyline, so it definitely had the potential to be terrifying.  However, I found the book to be more creepy than scary. I was able to determine a couple of plot twists way in advance, which also helped reduce my fright (and our hydro bill). Overall, I would give The Only Child a 3 out of 5.

Click!  Light turned off for the night.