Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Good Son by Jacqueline Mitchard. Thank you Mira Books for inviting me to participate.
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: January 18, 2022
Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley
Summary:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard comes the gripping, emotionally charged novel of a mother who must help her son after he is convicted of a devastating crime.
What do you do when the person you love best becomes unrecognizable to you? For Thea Demetriou, the answer is both simple and agonizing: you keep loving him somehow.
Stefan was just seventeen when he went to prison for the drug-fueled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother, once Thea’s good friend, galvanizes the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbors, employers, even some members of Thea’s own family turn away.
Meanwhile Thea struggles to understand her son. At times, he is still the sweet boy he has always been; at others, he is a young man tormented by guilt and almost broken by his time in prison. But as his efforts to make amends meet escalating resistance and threats, Thea suspects more forces are at play than just community outrage. And if there is so much she never knew about her own son, what other secrets has she yet to uncover—especially about the night Belinda died?
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Jacqueline Mitchard and I’m not quite sure how that it possible when she has written so many books. And if they are all as powerful and thought-provoking as this one, I definitely need to add them to my list.
This book is quite the page-turner, and even if you are not a parent like me, it will still get you thinking and questioning so many different things throughout the book. What would you do if a loved one were in a similar position? How would you handle it? These are just some of the many questions that ran through my mind as I was reading this book.
I loved how this one was structured, only told through Thea’s point of view. We really get a deep-dive into her consciousness as she tries to process everything that is going on. She needs to figure out not only how she feels about her son but also needs to navigate this new normal, having a felon living at home with her.
I also loved that this is a hint of mystery throughout the book that really kept me engaged. Did what was reported to happen the night Belinda died really happen or did something else go on that has been covered up? Why is Thea getting text messages from an unknown person and who is stalking her? Are they out to hurt her and Stefan or protect them?
This book is one that, while at times does drag a bit, did keep me on guard and constantly thinking. There is so much to unpack here, making it a fantastic book club selection. A thought-provoking and heartbreaking story that deserves to be read.
About the author:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard has written nine previous novels for adults; six young adult novels; four children’s books; a memoir, Mother Less Child; and a collection of essays, The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship. Her first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, and later adapted for a feature film. Mitchard is a frequent lecturer and a professor of fiction and creative nonfiction at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and their nine children.
Authors Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
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