I haven’t read many of Jacquelyn Mitchard’s novels (although I recall Deep End of the Ocean — I looked it up and it was 1997, which shocked me!), but I am happy that I received a copy of The Good Son from Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. 

This story relates the experiences of Stefan, a young man who went to prison for apparently murdering his longtime girlfriend when he was blackout stoned on a cocktail of drugs that he can’t even remember taking — let alone the murder of the girl he loved (some might say obsessively).  His mother, Thea, is a college professor with some similar personality traits: she admits that “…my personality was such that once I got involved with something it was like hearing a fragment of a song…having no choice but to sing the whole thing in your head, over and over, for days, until something blessedly intervened…” Thea and her husband Jep raised Stefan to be a hard worker as they were: “Getting what you wanted…was just a matter of setting your eyes on the prize and refusing to surrender…when I followed my process, it always led to resolution–not always the resolution I wanted, but some resolution.”

When Thea brings Stefan home from prison, they are confronted by an angry community, led by the mother of the victim (who had been Thea’s good friend prior to the murder). The media painted Stefan as a symbol of white privilege, and friends and neighbors turn their backs on the family. Thea has to come to grips with how she sees people in general, as well as trying to deal with the increasingly creepy and threatening messages and actions that confront them daily. Her view of people in general is that they “…are usually good when it suits them, and often some will make a special effort to be good when there’s a special need. But most people aren’t naturally inclined to goodness, particularly if it gets in the way of something they want.” There is also the issue of just who Stefan is after his time in prison. He is tormented by guilt for the actions he cannot remember, and works hard to try to make amends and make something of himself. Thea realizes that there are secrets she had no clue were part of their lives, and during her forced sabbatical from her teaching job, she explores both the specific incident that got Stefan sent to prison as well as her feelings about the world in general. 

I didn’t guess the ending (no surprise — I rarely do), and the well-written story took me away from worries about the pandemic and the end of democracy. I liked it a LOT. Four stars.