About the Author

KEVIN O’BRIEN is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty suspense novels. Before his books landed him on the bestseller lists, he was a railroad inspector who wrote at night. He moved from the train tracks to become a full-time author in 1997 when his novel, Only Son, was picked up by Reader’s Digest and optioned for film. Since then, his books have been translated into fourteen languages. Born and raised in Chicago, O'Brien now lives in Seattle, where he is on the board of Seattle 7 Writers, a collective of bestselling, award-winning authors. He can be found online at KevinOBrienbooks.com/.

Reviews

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