This may seem like a simple question, but...

Can you design the routine that creates the SELECT to put it in the proper format to begin with and avoid having a parsing routine to process after the fact?

By forcing the wildcard to be at the end of the string, you're actually limiting the capability of the wildcard. It's possible to use LIKE "%son" or LIKE "J%son". So, the location of the ending quote can't be predicted.

In any case, if you're processing a literal value from the user, the generator should surround that value with quotes.

Jay