The Good Son

“I was picking my son up at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he had murdered.”

Nearly three years after being convicted for beating his girlfriend, Belinda McCormack, to death while high on a cocktail of drugs, 20 year old Stefan Christiansen is released from prison. Despite everything, his mother, university professor Thea, is determined to support Stefan and encourage him to rebuild his life. She knows it won’t be easy, though Stefan remembers nothing of the crime he confessed to he is tormented by remorse and self-loathing, and the family is subject to sustained harassment, not only from supporters of a campaign spearheaded by Belinda’s devastated mother, Jill, but also a hooded figure and an anonymous show more caller.

Unfolding from Thea’s perspective, Jacqueline Mitchard presents a provocative narrative that explores the themes of guilt, redemption and unconditional love in The Good Son.

Thea is an sympathetic character, contemplating myself and my ‘good son’ in such a situation is unnerving. I thought Thea’s inner conflict was well articulated as she struggled to reconcile her love for her son with the crime he committed. While I didn’t always agree with her actions, I felt her character behaved consistently. I liked that Mitchard explored the stigma Thea faced as the mother of a murderer, though I wondered if she went quite far enough.

In the main I felt Mitchard’s portrayal of Stefan’s character was believable, his mercurial attitude in the weeks after his release seemed genuine and appropriate to his age. His struggles to rejoin society were thoughtfully represented, raising issues I’d given little thought to. I found myself torn between sympathy for, and a kind of impatience with, Stefan, a dynamic which I think was skilfully exploited by the author to illustrate the maxim that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.

While I think the premise of the story is powerful, the execution was quite uneven. The pacing was an issue for me, the middle third dragged, and it definitely affected the suspense related to the identity and motivations of the family’s stalker. I’m conflicted with regards to the ending too. I think the novel would have been stronger had Mitchard chosen another, less melodramatic and arguably more authentic, path.

Though not without its flaws, I did find The Good Son to be a thought-provoking read, and I do believe it would be a rewarding choice for a book club, as it explores issues sure to stimulate a lively discussion. show less

Author Ann Patchett said that if a book doesn't grab her from the first sentence or page, she will stop reading it. The first sentence of Jacquelyn Mitchard's novel, The Good Son, grabs the reader hard.
"I was picking up my son at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he murdered."
How can you not read on after that?

Thea was at the prison to pick up Stefan, her twenty year-old son who had just served nearly three years in prison for killing his girlfriend in a drug-induced haze. He was so out of it, he didn't remember what he had done.

As the story progresses, we discover that Stefan was obsessed with his high school girlfriend Belinda, and was distraught when she went away to college. They continued to see each other, and show more Stefan was planning on going to the same college when she was killed.

Thea and her husband Jep saw that Stefan was obsessed, but didn't know what to do. For the past three years, Thea has visited Stefan in prison every chance she could, but her and Jep's life settled into a routine; Jep is a well-respected college football coach, Thea a professor. Other than the young women (organized by Belinda's devout and distraught mother) who protested about domestic violence outside of their home on a daily basis, life went on.

But things changed when Stefan came home. He had to adjust to life outside prison, and plan for a new life. No one would hire him. He was depressed, and Thea and Jep feared that he might harm himself. Stefan needed to find a purpose for his life or he was doomed.

There were repercussions for Stefan coming home. His release made people in the community uncomfortable, including the people at Thea's college. Now that people were face-to-face with Stefan and his crime, reactions to the family were different than when he was away in prison.

They were used to getting phone calls about Stefan's crime while he was in prison, but now a young woman keeps calling Thea saying that they don't know the truth about what happened the night Stefan killed Belinda. There is also a man who keeps showing up wherever Thea and Stefan are, trying to run them off the road, and even breaking into their home.

I liked the premise of the book- what if your child did something so horrible, it was unforgiveable? How do you live with that as a parent, and still love and support your son? Do you question what you did or didn't do as a parent? Mitchard does an wonderful job putting the reader in Thea's shoes.

There is the question of redemption, can Stefan redeem himself in his own eyes and the eyes of the community? And what does he owe the mother of the woman he killed?

Without giving away the ending of the book, I will say that I found the end disappointing. Up until the end, I liked where Mitchard had taken us with this book, but the resolution took it in a different direction. I really liked Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean, she knows how to write family drama that gets you right in the heart, and The Good Son does the same. I recommend it for that reason.

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on Jacquelyn Mitchard's tour. show less

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

#FirstLine ~ I was picking my son up at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he had murdered.

This book was something! It had a lot of emotions contained within. You cannot help but put yourself in the place of the characters and experience this journey along side them. The Good Son is filled with unconditional love that mixes with deeply fleshed out characters and story. These elements make for a story that keeps you up well past your bedtime. I read this book in one day because I could not put it down. It was so beautifully written and tugs at all the parts of your heart and mind!

The Good Son by Jacqueline Mitchard is a 2022 Mira publication.

Edgy Domestic Drama…

A night of tragedy sends Stephan to prison for murdering, Belinda, the love of his life, in a drug fueled haze. He’s released after only a few years, though, and his parents, Jep and Thea are ready for life to begin moving forward again.

But it they thought life would simply resume where it left off, they were sorely mistaken. For starters, Thea is told to take a year-long sabbatical from her job, and Stephan finds that most people are not ready to accept him back in society or help him get work, making it even more difficult for him to put his life back together.

Thea’s adjustment is more jarring due to her constant communication with a young show more woman who claims to have information about Belinda’s death that nobody else knows. Not only that, but she also begs Thea not to ever tell anyone, if Stephan ever starts to remember details from the night Belinda died.

This prompts Thea to consider the possibility that Stephan might not be solely responsible for Belinda’s death. Is there some truth to these sinister messages or is Thea being conned- or worse- could she and Stephan be in danger?

I thought the premise of this book sounded compelling. What if your only son was sent to prison for a horrible crime? What would life be like once his sentence was served? Naturally, Thea was horrified by what Stephan did. She lost her best friend, a girl she loved like a daughter, and her only son, in one felled swoop. But her loyalties lie with her son, though she must grapple with the guilt that he’s still alive, and Belinda is not- a fact Belinda’s mother, Jill, makes sure to drive home at every opportunity.

On the other hand, the stigma of his crime is one that will follow Stephan for the rest of his life, but the wounds he caused are torn open anew when he is released and instead of easing himself back into society, he finds himself a prisoner in his parent’s home, dogged by reporters and harassed by an unforgiving township. No one will hire him, or he’s forced off the job, leaving him aimless. But Stephan is resilient- and finds a way to productively use his time.

Would you be able to sympathize with Thea or Stephan or do you think Stephan got off easy, comparatively speaking, due to the nature of his crime?

The book examines these thoughts and emotions as Stephan grapples with the court of public opinion, who have handed down a life sentence with no chance of parole, making it increasingly difficult to become a productive citizen after his release.

All these issues and the character’s response to the challenges they are facing, makes for some very heavy drama. Yet, while the drama is unfolding, a mystery develops in the background that slowly builds to a stunning, shocking, crescendo.

This book is thought-provoking on several levels. The mystery angle is most definitely a slow, slow burn with the drama taking up much of the book.

The various angles explored are compelling, and once I realized the direction the story was headed, a strong feeling of foreboding took over. I had no idea how it would all play out, but it got pretty intense there for a minute. The characterizations, unfortunately, were flat, especially Jep, in my opinion, and the dialogue is often stilted, which kept the emotional intensity from having the desired impact.

Overall, though, I did find the story absorbing and it made me consider some issues from a different perspective. Though the pacing is quite lopsided, I think one’s patience will be rewarded with one incredibly taut conclusion.

3.5 stars show less

Interesting Story, Perhaps Better Served By A Different Storytelling Technique. This is an interesting story of what happens after a person who has been accused of a heinous crime is released from prison and the toll wrought on the person and their family and friends - particularly in the face of continued harassment from the community. Readers who hate multi-perspective stories will enjoy the fact that we only really get one perspective here, but this is actually the weakest thing about the book to my own mind. For me, having a multi-perspective book with the prisoner's mother (the perspective we get here), the prisoner, and maybe even the stranger and the victim's mother, would have made this story quite a bit tighter and potentially, show more assuming it was done right, that much more interesting. The issues that the book does explore well - restorative justice, repentance, forgiveness, mother's love, etc - could have been further strengthened by this other technique as well. Still, for what we do get here, it is fairly solid but not "edge of your seat" reading. If you go into this expecting a thrill-a-minute... you're reading the wrong dang book. But if you look at this more as a character study / family drama with elements of suspense and thriller, you're likely going to leave this book more satisfied. Very much recommended. show less

The Good Son begins with a powerful sentence and a unique premise. Thea and Jep's son is being released from prison after serving 3 years for the murder of his long-time special friend, Belinda. We often feel great sympathy for the victims'' families, but not much support for those who loved the perpetrators; in fact, there is often guilt by association as seen in this book and real life.

Stephan was 17 when Belinda was killed in a drug-filled evening and has few memories of the event despite confessing initially. His first weeks at home after being released are challenging. At the same time, Thea begins to receive numerous (endless) calls and texts from a mystery girl claiming to know what really happened. The mystery seems to stagnate show more at this point. Somewhere along the way, Jep is lost in the interactions with his son. Stephan reported that he had introduced several innovative activities for the inmates that included a chef with cooking demonstrations, a librarian providing books and a renowned football team. Really? At some point after his homecoming, Stephan began a successful horticultural design business with no previous experience.

The progression of this book was very, very slow. I read it because I like Mitchard's writing, but this one was a disappointment. show less

Thea Demetriou greeted her son, Stefan, at the prison gate when he was released from prison after killing his long-time girlfriend in a drug-induced rage. Hoping for a better future, her wishes are destroyed when a person dressed in black, face in the shadows of a hoodie, tries to run them off the Wisconsin road during a blizzard on their return home. Their lives are complicated by the girlfriend’s mother a long-time friend, who has started a campaign to bring domestic violence to the forefront. Protester gather outside their home and it's impossible to have a private life. Theo is forced to take a sabbatical from her job as a university professor. The figure in the hoodie continues to haunt the family in both person and on the phone show more as Stefan struggles to return to a normal life and tries to determine a way he had atone for what he did by helping others. Michaud has proven she can bring domestic fiction to life. She’s created a taunt, love-filled story as she brings forth a family who know the guilt of a crime but want to move forward. show less