Book Review: It’s One of Us | J.T. Ellison

As a long-time fan of everything J.T. Ellison has ever written, I was so excited about her latest thriller. In It’s One of Us, the concept of how much of us can be explained by shared DNA is put on hyperdrive in a suspenseful thriller loosely inspired by an issue near and dear to J.T. Ellison’s heart—infertility. Absolutely gripping and one that left me thinking for weeks after finishing!

About the Book

Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can’t be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park.

DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession. Many years ago, Park donated sperm to a clinic. He has no idea how many times it was sold—or how many children he has sired.

As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. With every revelation, Olivia must face the unthinkable. The man she married has fathered a killer. But can she hold that against him when she keeps such dark secrets of her own?…

Themes

This is a juicy, salacious, twisty thriller that will certainly have you engaged to the very last page. At the same time, none of that should take away from or undermine the deep themes of the story, which deals heavily with the complexities of infertility, genetics, nature versus nurture, and the ethics of communicating to your children about their parentage.

I read an essay by the author J.T. Ellison as well as a Q&A she did with another site and learned that the idea for this thriller were deeply personal for her from her own struggles with fertility. I don’t think I can begin to do justice to her story, but I want to link her essay which is not only beautifully written, but raw and emotional, addressing the inspiration (from her own life and other real stories) as well as why she chose to write certain elements the way she did.

Plot

Olivia Bender wants a child more than anything, but finds herself plagued by rounds of failed fertility treatments and miscarriages. Despite a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and a successful career as an interior designer, Olivia feels that the one thing she truly wants she can’t buy, no matter how successful she is. A child of her own.

Olivia’s husband Park is a writer and he spends his days trying to hold his wife together through their trouble with conception and healthy pregnancies. When the police arrive one day and inform Park that a DNA test has confirmed that he fathered the leading suspect in a murder investigation and they are trying to locate this person, Park is stunned. Until he confesses that many years earlier he had donated sperm to a bank whose mission it is to help other couples or individuals seeking to get pregnant.

If this weren’t difficult enough, it soon becomes clear that the clinic isn’t as honest as they seem and Park has genetically fathered an ever-growing group of offspring without his knowledge or consent. But which one of them is a murderer? And is it possible it’s genetic? Afterall, Park has a few skeletons in his past that he hoped would stay buried.

Characters

One thing I liked about the characters in It’s One of Us was how well-developed they are. Olivia herself could easily be a perfect victim, one whom we feel nothing but sympathy for and who never makes a mistake. But Olivia herself is quite flawed. At times I felt she was being selfish even though I also thought it was understandable given the circumstances. I like when an author can let their leading character be imperfect, because it makes them feel real. Olivia also has a complicated backstory, some of which we get from her and some of which we get from other characters.

Park is another complicated character. I feel it must be difficult to be the male in these miscarriage and infertility struggles because they carry their own burden but it is different from the woman’s and I thought it was portrayed well through Park that he is able to have a different sort of resilience about the struggles than Olivia can because in a way he isn’t as close to it. At times it also felt like he didn’t feel he had space to grieve himself because Olivia’s was so overwhelming. At the same time, the donor situation (while not entirely his fault) really created a crack in their marriage. Park understandably wants to know more about the offspring he unknowingly fathered and at the same time, this hurts Olivia. The backstory between Park and his brother is a whole other story that I won’t comment on because I don’t want to spoil it!

Final Thoughts

This book is heavy and not heavy at the same time (I’m not sure if that makes sense). I felt the emotions of Olivia and Park’s situation, but the mystery and twists brought intrigue that kept the plot racing forwards when it would be easy in another story to get caught in the fertility, genetics, and betrayal part of it.

I also won’t spoil it but the way Ellison chose to write the murderer was fascinating to me, and in reading her essay it was a very conscious choice she made. I won’t say much more but she intentionally avoided a commentary on nature versus nurture, and instead the message was more about the ethics of the fertility situation and the mystery about what happened in the past and in the present. I also loved some of the other characters introduced, starting with one of the other donor children (not the murderer) and her mother’s story. It was a different view of a sperm donor situation that made me think and relate to that mother in a way I hadn’t expected.

All together this is a must-read, in my opinion. Expertly written, dynamic twists, and a thoughtful message.