Only Son

Dear Reader,

This is a spoiler alert. No one is murdered in this book!

Only Son was my second novel, written in 1996, before I started writing thrillers. While the body count is zero, I think you’ll still find plenty of suspense, surprises and excitement in Only Son. If you’ve read some of my thrillers, you’ll be in familiar territory here. The story is set in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a single mother, searching for her missing son. There’s also a devoted, single dad with a dark secret. And then there’s Sam Jorgenson, the first in a long line of complex teenage characters to appear in my novels. He’s still one of my favorites.

Since this novel is over twenty years old, you’ll have to go back to a time before Smart Phones, global warming awareness, the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, X-Boxes, DNA testing, security lines in airports, Fox News and the Kardashians.

So—please, adjust your reading accordingly.

Many readers—good friends and family members among them—have told me that Only Son is still their favorite of my books. I’ve always had a soft spot for this novel. I wrote it when I was still a railroad inspector. But thanks to the sales from this book, I became a full-time author. It was also the first of sixteen books (so far) that I’ve written with my editor, John Scognamiglio, at Kensington Publishing.

I’m thrilled Kensington has brought Only Son back into print after two decades. I hope it’s a hit with you.

Thanks so much for picking it up!

Kevin O’Brien