(The Only Child was released in 2017)

 

“She was awakened by the monster knocking at the door.”

Up to this point, I’d read a number of Andrew’s works and loved them all. I’d not been staying on top of the ball with his most recent releases and as I became more involved in the Twitter/Instagram book world, I always found it amazing when other’s mentioned they loved Pyper’s works as well.

Look, I know, I know. Andrew is an International Bestseller, Award-winning author and millions of people have read his books.

But a part of me still considered him to be my secret author.

It was during a Twitter exchange with either Sadie Hartman or Mindi Snyder where they asked if I’d read ‘The Only Child’ to which I replied ‘of course!’

Only it took me a moment to realize, that I had not in fact read it. I had confused it with another book. Which one? No idea.

But I righted that wrong, snagged the book and then let it sit.

Part of the reason I let it sit was knowing ‘The Homecoming’ had been announced and I didn’t want to fly through this and be left without the impending announcement of more Pyper. I know, that sounds odd, especially considering there were still other releases of his that I hadn’t read yet.

A common thread that you’ll find in these retrospectives is my personal fear of ‘what if?’ I’ve said it a few times, and it’ll pop up in a few more during this month, but what if I read something and I don’t like it? If you look at the quote on the cover of ‘The Only Child’ and in fact this quote appears on a number of Mr. Pyper’s covers, it says “Pyper could be the next Stephen King.” This was from a National Post feature on him, some years back. Well, to me – Andrew is my Stephen King.

King was my introduction to the horror game, and as mentioned in the first piece I shared here about ‘The Demonologist,’ for many years was my main horror source. Hell, I only just read a Clive Barker book in the last few years. So, time and time again, I went to King and there’s very few pieces of his I haven’t enjoyed. But truth be told – I’ve never related to King on any sort of level. It’s an interesting thing to sit down and digest. And I’m not talking about the fact he’s a millionaire many times over, has 60 books out, has 25 or so adaptations of his work on the big screen. No, I’m talking about not relating to him because of where he’s from and the fact he’s almost double my age. He doesn’t write at all about Canada or Canadian locations etc.

With Pyper, I’ve found an author whom I greatly admire as a master of his craft, but also as a proud Canadian who doesn’t shy away from including that. On Friday, the piece I’ll be posting will be a re-sharing of Andrew’s embrace of Canada in his works made me a better writer, so I won’t touch on that much here.

What I’ll instead say, is that I connect with Andrew because of shared upbringings, shared experiences, that only comes from that country connection. Of the love of hearing pucks hit the end boards during warm ups before a game, of the smell the air gets before a crisp early snowfall happens, and of the idea that no matter where someone comes from, being nice is always the first option.

Before I dive a bit deeper into ‘The Only Child’ let’s pop back for one second. I’m the worlds most extroverted introvert. I love, love being on my own and just reading and writing. There was a week a few years back where my wife and son went to visit her mom in Fort McMurray. I came back from a conference and had a few days off before needing to pick them up. When I went to get them, on the 5 hour drive from Edmonton to Fort Mac, I realized I hadn’t spoken a word out loud in almost 5 days. But, people are often surprised when meeting me. How outgoing I am. I can talk to anyone, anywhere about anything at anytime. I have no filter and at group gatherings, people will often assume I’ve had a few too many, because I’m the one to willingly climb something, jump off something or jump into something. All of this is to say, that when I first messaged Andrew, he could have easily said “Thanks, take care.” But instead, he engaged and has always been gracious when I’ve contacted him.

I try not be a pest, and it’s tough, but seriously – Andrew Pyper is my Stephen King. If Stephen King was kind enough to reply, wouldn’t you say have a few questions back? 🙂

(And this isn’t said to imply King is mean or doesn’t like people or is unrelateable.)

So, back to where the hell I was going, yeah?

I decided to dive into ‘The Only Child’ with a sense of dread over what I would find. That was allayed with the opening sentence, which I quoted at the start.

“She was awakened by the monster knocking at the door.”

That line is my single favorite opening line and from there, Andrew doesn’t let up. ‘The Only Child’ is an immersive read, to the point of having a Dan Brown feel. Now, I know some people see Brown’s name and spit on the ground as though they are from Dog River and you’ve just mentioned Wullerton.

If you’re not sure of that joke;

But it’s an accurate description, in that the book takes us all over the world, starting with one of Andrew’s calling cards – a far North setting.

The book follows Dr. Lily Dominick, a forensic psychiatrist working in New York. Tasked with assessing the worst of the worst, things go astray when she’s assigned Client 46874-A. The nameless man tells her that he is the living inspiration for Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

WHHHHAAATT!

Yeah, I know right. What a pull in. Immediately Pyper immerses you in what is and what is not, and you soon find that not only are you questioning the around the world journey Lily embarks on as she tracks this man, but also why there is a strange connection between them.

There will be two reviews posted about ‘The Only Child,’ today as well, mine and my friend Jennifer’s, so I won’t go too deep into the rest of the book, but when I was done reading this, I was left speechless.

The story moved at such a break neck pace and as I’ve said before, Pyper has the single best writing voice out there. It’s like the Uncle at a family reunion who you haven’t seen in a few years, but you can’t wait to sit down and chat with.

One last note before I wrap this one up.

I’ve always loved this cover. It tends to lend some resemblance to all three of the ‘inspiration’ aspects featured within, but a part of me, deep down, believes that the figure on the cover walking away is actually Andrew. I searched once before, trying to find out if it was, but haven’t had any luck. I love the thought so much though, that I haven’t worked up the courage to actually ask Andrew.

Who know’s, maybe he’ll read this and message me?

Be cool if it was, eh?

(Now, go buy the book!)