Book Review: The Sister by Louise Jensen

This psychological thriller had so many twists and turns
that I was kept on edge right up to the very end. The  main character Grace is grieving the loss of her best friend Charlie. The story of Charlie’s death and how she died is slowly unraveled. The novel is told from Grace’s perspective for the most part, in alternating periods of time, the present, “now” and the past which is described as “then”. In the “now” Grace is an adult who is grief stricken and depressed and “then”, the past which gives slowly gives the full backstory of Grace and Charlie meeting at age nine, the development of their friendship, up until 18.  

Jensen does a fantastic job at creating tension and the sense of danger is so real and the pain that Grace feels is so raw that the reader is drawn to her side even when she makes some very big mistakes, like seriously just stupid decisions. It is a good debut novel and the suspense that was created was truly good.

I was completely taken right up the very end. Yes right to the very end and then I was disappointed. I expected more and then that last twist was so unexpected it was almost unbelievable. The problem lies not in Jensen’s writing or the unfolding of the story itself but in the challenge of closing a psychological thriller. Unlike a mystery where the plot wraps up with the whodunit reveal, the psychological thriller pulls at the emotions of the reader and forces the writer to play certain mind games and just when or how to stop is really a difficult matter for any writer. 

I got this book from NetGalley. Thanks to Bookouture for granting me access to this ARC. The book is still available on NetGalley, an archive date has not been set.  The Sister will be officially released on  July 7, 2016. 

Goodreads Summary: 

“I did something terrible Grace. I hope you can forgive me …”

Grace hasn’t been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie’s words, the last time she saw her, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie’s. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn’t know about her best friend.

When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie’s father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie’s sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan’s home.

But something isn’t right. Things disappear, Dan’s acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace’s mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger?

There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie …or was there?

A compelling, gripping psychological thriller.