My Son Is a Murderer by Spencer Guerrero

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🔪 My Son’s a Murderer by Spencer Guerrero — A Good Story Trapped in a Rough Draft ⭐1/2 (1.5 Stars)

⚠️ Trigger Warnings

  • Murder / graphic violence

  • Sexual assault / abuse (including minors)

  • Child exploitation

  • Domestic abuse

  • Suicide

  • Parental trauma

🚨 Spoiler Warning

This is a FULL spoiler review + complete plot breakdown of My Son’s a Murderer — including the ending. If you don’t want to know who the killer is… turn back now 😅

🤔 My Honest Thoughts (aka… what went wrong?)

Okay. Let’s talk about this.

This book had a really strong premise — like, grabby, bingeable, “I need to know what happened” kind of strong. A mother trying to prove her son isn’t a killer? I’m in. Immediately.

And to be fair… I was invested. I kept reading because I genuinely wanted answers.

BUT.

The execution? 😬

  • The writing is very rough — grammar issues, typos, continuity problems

  • Dialogue feels robotic and unnatural (no one talks like this, I promise)

  • The word “said” is doing Olympic-level heavy lifting

  • And the biggest issue for me: the police work makes zero sense

Like… arresting a high school student publicly…
👉 without a body
👉 without solid evidence
👉 in front of the entire school

Absolutely not. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works 😭

It constantly pulled me out of the story.

And honestly? The overall vibe feels like a first draft that skipped editing — which makes sense since this is Guerrero’s debut. But still… it needed more polish before being published.

📖 Plot Summary (FULL Spoilers + Ending Explained)

🔪 The Setup: A Murder in Blackwood Forest

The story kicks off with the brutal murder of Henry Cain, a popular high school athlete. He’s stabbed, thrown off a cliff, and his phone is destroyed. The killer plans to frame someone else.

👀 Immediately, we know this is going to be messy.

👩‍👦 Meet Sonya — The Mother in Denial

Sonya Salvador, a high school English teacher, is told her son Ethan is a suspect:

  • His fingerprints were on Henry

  • Witnesses saw them fighting

  • Sonya is best friends with Henry's mom Veronica

Sonya? Not having it. She’s fully in “my son would never” mode.

🏫 High School Drama… But Darker

At Skyview High, we learn:

  • Henry was a menace (harassment, assault, protected by his rich dad 🙄)

  • He targeted Ethan’s girlfriend, Layla

  • Multiple students feared him

Meanwhile, another student, Jonathan Locke, is arrested and immediately points the finger at Ethan.

🚩 Chaos begins.

🧍‍♂️ The Body Is Found… and Things Escalate Fast

A search party finds Henry’s body.

And in a move that made me pause and stare into the void…

👉 Ethan is publicly arrested at school

Again. No. That’s not how arrests work. But okay. We push forward.

⚖️ Evidence… or Something Like It

  • A box cutter is found in Ethan’s locker

  • There’s blood on his hands (explained… kind of)

  • His alibi is shaky

But then…

💥 Plot twist:
Security footage shows Jonathan planted the weapon

So who’s pulling the strings?

😳 Enter Mr. Griffin (and it gets DARK)

Sonya suspects teacher Mr. Griffin, and she’s actually… onto something.

Turns out:

  • Griffin is abusing students

  • He forced Jonathan to plant evidence

  • His computer contains child exploitation material

🚨 He is arrested — but NOT for murder.

🧬 Family Secrets Start Exploding

Now things get very soap-opera-meets-thriller:

  • Henry was secretly Felix’s son (Felix, Sonya's ex-husband, had an affair with Henry's mom Veronica)

  • Henry had a DNA test proving the father-son relationship

  • He was planning to expose it

Meanwhile:

  • Felix’s blood is found on the weapon (planted by Felix)

  • He confesses to the murder

Case closed?

LOL. No.

😱 The Real Twist

In the final reveal…

👉 Ethan confesses to Sonya

He killed Henry.

Why?

  • Henry taunted him with the DNA secret

  • Insulted Layla

  • Had a history of being abusive

Ethan snapped.

He:

  • Used Griffin’s box cutter

  • Killed Henry

  • Threw him off the cliff

And Felix?

👉 Took the fall to protect his son.

🧠 The Ending

  • Sonya chooses to protect Ethan’s secret 🤯

  • Felix goes to prison

  • Griffin is killed in prison by Felix (honestly… poetic)

  • Sonya and Ethan live on… carrying the truth

And just like that…

💀 Justice is… questionable at best.

📉 Final Verdict

This is the most frustrating kind of book for me because:

👉 The story itself? Pretty solid.
👉 The execution? Not ready.

If this had been heavily edited, tightened up, and made more realistic… it could’ve easily been a 3.5–4 star thriller.

Instead, the writing issues dragged it way down.

⭐ Rating Breakdown

  • Story: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5)

  • Writing: ⭐

  • Realism: 🚫

  • Overall: ⭐✨ (1.5 — and yes, that’s generous)

📚 If You Liked the Concept, Try These Instead

If you want that “is my child capable of murder?” tension done really well:

💬 Final Thoughts

I really wanted to love this one. I stayed for the mystery, I finished for the truth… but I struggled the whole way there.

That said — I did read Guerrero’s newer book (Locked in a Stranger’s Room), and there’s clear improvement 👏 So I’m actually curious to see how he grows as a writer.

Because the storytelling potential? It’s there.

It just needs a serious edit. 😅

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