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Only Child
Meeting at a luxury resort where their families are vacationing, four teenagers, each an only child, are unaware of the true nature of their visit until one of them disappears.
- GenresHorrorYoung AdultMystery
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 27, 2018
★★★★☆
(4 stars)
THRIFT STORE WHY: Back-cover text. Usually I buy pulp books for their covers, but sometimes a plot sounds exactly like my jam, and I live with the boring painting on the front. It's a well drawn bike, at least.
BACK COPY LIES (what the plot really is): A remarkably stupid teen is surprised to find he and many of the other teens from his town are going to a luxury camp retreat for a month. Oddly, all the kids have their birthday in july... and are all 17... and are only children... and once they turn 18, they are never seen again........
WOULD I RECC TO READ: Go for it.
Review:
This one was actually really gripping, suspenseful, not badly written, had human-like characters, and a lot of fun! The only main negative is that it took a WHILE to get into any answers, so a lot of the middle section was adding little to the premise. I got the gist and enjoyed not fully knowing what was going on, but the actual answers came at like, the last 10%, and the full truth is the last chapter or so.
Obviously, we all go in knowing what's going on at Sinter's Cover: suspicious things probably involving child death via parents. But the book is great in keeping you wondering WHY. There's only so many reasons that are possible (and probably your first guess will be the right one), but there's still a fun element of guessing throughout the book as to what is going on.
The writing is fast, involved, and engaging. The main character is dumb as rocks, as all pulp teens about to be killed by their parents are, but he's likable. I know, right? Actually likable enough, even if he's a little weirdly horny at times. He has a best friend he has a genuine friendship connection with. He has a steady girlfriend he is loyal to and gets along with. He doesn't always like his parents, but he sees they are only trying to raise him responsibly, and has enough insight to be concerned about his mother's unsteady emotions and unhealthy relationship with his dad.
This is all really shocking and unexpected. On the same line, there's MULTIPLE female characters in this and they are PERSON-LIKE. Main character's girlfriend? A fun, nice, regular girl who chills out with him and his friends, has her own friends, and doesn't just exist to be attractive/a girl in need of rescue/murdered. Other girls? Hell yeah! There's a strange christian girl who is trying to come out of her shell, the best friend of a missing party girl, and an older girl whose boyfriend goes missing early on. I wouldn't say I could pin point their personalities down solidly, but this is frankly an overwhelming amount of positivity for a book of this type and time.
As mentioned, the friendships are... healthy nice ones? The relationships involve... caring? Wack.
The biggest critique comes in terms of pacing and plot. There's a couple false turns and twists going on, but while we're left in the dark and guessing for most of the story... you do get a bit tired of not having answers. There really aren't even hints as to what is going on- demons? Ghosts? Aliens? Psychic powers? Who knows. The main characters bumble about and eventually solve it, but only in the last couple chapters- I'd say last one or two. It ends very quickly.
Also, of course, the main character is the dumbest idiot fool of all time. Night one of being at this resort campground, his friend is suspicious and notes everyone here seems to have been born in July and is an only child. This is really not discussed again for AGES, even though it is an incredibly suspicious thing, and an impossible coincidence: there's around 40 kids at the beginning, and everyone asked would be able to report they
-are an only child
-weren't expecting this vacation
-are about to turn 18
-were born this month (in july)
That's a big big warning sign that is POINTED OUT but then dropped, and that's crazy.
The end reveal, of course (I always feel guilty leaving the salacious details out of reviews, since most people probably will never read this book), is that the parents have been doing this on repeat for a long time (~about 80 years). They raise one child up to 18, and then due to a pact with 'Andrew Sinter' who owns this place, sacrifice that child for youth restoration. This Andrew guy sure never showed up, and there's some hand-waving on if he's a demon, or what. The exact process of the sacrificing isn't clear either, nor is how they were hiding all these bodies anyways, since the book implies they just dump them in the river.
(4 stars)
THRIFT STORE WHY: Back-cover text. Usually I buy pulp books for their covers, but sometimes a plot sounds exactly like my jam, and I live with the boring painting on the front. It's a well drawn bike, at least.
BACK COPY LIES (what the plot really is): A remarkably stupid teen is surprised to find he and many of the other teens from his town are going to a luxury camp retreat for a month. Oddly, all the kids have their birthday in july... and are all 17... and are only children... and once they turn 18, they are never seen again........
WOULD I RECC TO READ: Go for it.
Review:
This one was actually really gripping, suspenseful, not badly written, had human-like characters, and a lot of fun! The only main negative is that it took a WHILE to get into any answers, so a lot of the middle section was adding little to the premise. I got the gist and enjoyed not fully knowing what was going on, but the actual answers came at like, the last 10%, and the full truth is the last chapter or so.
Obviously, we all go in knowing what's going on at Sinter's Cover: suspicious things probably involving child death via parents. But the book is great in keeping you wondering WHY. There's only so many reasons that are possible (and probably your first guess will be the right one), but there's still a fun element of guessing throughout the book as to what is going on.
The writing is fast, involved, and engaging. The main character is dumb as rocks, as all pulp teens about to be killed by their parents are, but he's likable. I know, right? Actually likable enough, even if he's a little weirdly horny at times. He has a best friend he has a genuine friendship connection with. He has a steady girlfriend he is loyal to and gets along with. He doesn't always like his parents, but he sees they are only trying to raise him responsibly, and has enough insight to be concerned about his mother's unsteady emotions and unhealthy relationship with his dad.
This is all really shocking and unexpected. On the same line, there's MULTIPLE female characters in this and they are PERSON-LIKE. Main character's girlfriend? A fun, nice, regular girl who chills out with him and his friends, has her own friends, and doesn't just exist to be attractive/a girl in need of rescue/murdered. Other girls? Hell yeah! There's a strange christian girl who is trying to come out of her shell, the best friend of a missing party girl, and an older girl whose boyfriend goes missing early on. I wouldn't say I could pin point their personalities down solidly, but this is frankly an overwhelming amount of positivity for a book of this type and time.
As mentioned, the friendships are... healthy nice ones? The relationships involve... caring? Wack.
The biggest critique comes in terms of pacing and plot. There's a couple false turns and twists going on, but while we're left in the dark and guessing for most of the story... you do get a bit tired of not having answers. There really aren't even hints as to what is going on- demons? Ghosts? Aliens? Psychic powers? Who knows. The main characters bumble about and eventually solve it, but only in the last couple chapters- I'd say last one or two. It ends very quickly.
Also, of course, the main character is the dumbest idiot fool of all time. Night one of being at this resort campground, his friend is suspicious and notes everyone here seems to have been born in July and is an only child. This is really not discussed again for AGES, even though it is an incredibly suspicious thing, and an impossible coincidence: there's around 40 kids at the beginning, and everyone asked would be able to report they
-are an only child
-weren't expecting this vacation
-are about to turn 18
-were born this month (in july)
That's a big big warning sign that is POINTED OUT but then dropped, and that's crazy.
The end reveal, of course (I always feel guilty leaving the salacious details out of reviews, since most people probably will never read this book), is that the parents have been doing this on repeat for a long time (~about 80 years). They raise one child up to 18, and then due to a pact with 'Andrew Sinter' who owns this place, sacrifice that child for youth restoration. This Andrew guy sure never showed up, and there's some hand-waving on if he's a demon, or what. The exact process of the sacrificing isn't clear either, nor is how they were hiding all these bodies anyways, since the book implies they just dump them in the river.
August 20, 2021
This had…no plot? And the ending was a cop out.
January 4, 2014
This book had a decent plot. It was very predictable and had MANY grammatical errors!
June 3, 2024
Mild but vague spoilers:
Such an interesting premise at first but that was quickly squandered. The characters milled around doing nothing even when they were already suspicious. Then at the last minute a villainous character suddenly has a change of heart and the narrative acts as though he's redeemed and even heroic. Calling the climax anticlimactic would be generous. The epilogue was just nothing.
I do think there was something here that could have been good, even if every twist was predictable. I read the whole thing so that counts for something
Such an interesting premise at first but that was quickly squandered. The characters milled around doing nothing even when they were already suspicious. Then at the last minute a villainous character suddenly has a change of heart and the narrative acts as though he's redeemed and even heroic. Calling the climax anticlimactic would be generous. The epilogue was just nothing.
I do think there was something here that could have been good, even if every twist was predictable. I read the whole thing so that counts for something
October 5, 2022
I read this book for the first time in the 6th grade when I was about twelve. It was a book I read through the night to finish. I had gotten it from the school library. Fast forward twenty years and I still thought about this story over the years as my horror genre gateway book. I had forgotten the name and most of the details over the years but I never forgot the impact this story had on my reading life. At 32 I finally found this book again and can’t wait to order a copy and re-read. Reddit is a magical place. I do have to say that there are a good number of typos and the ending is a bit rushed but I’m glad I found this book again and was able to do a little re-read
December 19, 2010
This book stayed with me all these years. I really got freaked out the first time I read it, and I suppose it's those feelings that I still associate with the book. I just recently found it again.
It's a great story, especially if you want to scare someone into fear of their parents! Jesse Osburn really knows how to wrap the plot around his little finger.
It's a great story, especially if you want to scare someone into fear of their parents! Jesse Osburn really knows how to wrap the plot around his little finger.
October 7, 2012
This book REALLY stays with you once you read it. It's been many years since i've last read "Only Child" and i still remember the plot. It is a very disturbing book, yet very interesting. I never wanted to put it down, even staying up late just to finish a chapter. If you're into books that are very eerie, or just looking for something to get spooked about, you should pick this book up.
September 10, 2021
Boring, poorly set up and barely followed through. The cover, inside illustrations and chapter title fonts would have worked in a scarier, more tightly plotted, better book. Here, it was just cheesy. This is barely middle-school level reading about high schoolers. Lots of "telling not showing" and everyone was so flat. This could have been a hundred pages shorter and would have lost nothing.
May 30, 2017
Decent young adult thriller that I dug out of my childhood bookshelf the other day
February 22, 2023
Story takes a lot of time to build-up, and eventually the ending is disappointing. 🙃
September 21, 2013
I really enjoyed this book, until the completely anti-climatic ending. There was so much buildup, and then the ending seemed really rushed and totally lacked the amount of detail I expected. As a whole I enjoyed it, but with more drama in the last half and less fanfare throughout the rest of it, it would have been a lot more enjoyable.
June 17, 2007
This book is about parents killing their children. WHEE.
Read
July 27, 2011HATED this book!!!! I read it years ago and unfortunately it has stuck with me. Very disturbing.
January 28, 2014
I got this book in a grab bag of books at a local library for sale. I decided to read it. It got good for a while but didn't like the ending.
October 5, 2015
I have read a few Jesse Osburn books now, and they were all not so good. At least Only Child kept up with the trend.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews