The first thing I’m going to say is, this book is brilliant. It’s harrowing but at the same time compelling. An honest and realistic depiction of family, parenthood and what constitutes being a good parent, through the eyes of a mother transfixed with guilt for her teenage son’s monstrous actions.

For a bit of background on the narrative, this book focuses on Eva Khatchadourian, a woman whose son, Kevin, has been imprisoned for murdering a number of his classmates and two staff members at his school. The book is narrated from Eva’s perspective through a number of letters addressed to Kevin’s father, Franklin.

Throughout the course of the novel, Eva delves into occurrences in Kevin’s childhood which imply his lack of empathy and care for others, and give substance to his troubled character. The narrative gives a lot of fuel to both sides of the controversial “Nature vs Nurture” debate. We see her reflecting on whether or not her and Franklin’s respective ideals on parenting were the trigger of Kevin’s violent attack on his peers. We are also given insight into Kevin’s misbehavior from birth and are still left wondering by the end, if Kevin was born wicked or if his upbringing by a cold parent influenced him to perform such an evil act.

The book is a fantastic read, with quite a twist near the end which brings the narrative to a harrowing finish, somewhat also providing a sense of closure for Eva’s character and in the closing paragraph the conflict of her strained relationship with her son is resolved through a realisation she has finally come to terms with in relation to Kevin.

This book has quite a dark subject matter, but if that is something you don’t mind, I’d definitely recommend for you to go out and buy it.

Rating; 9.5/10