Title: Little Sister
Author: Isabel Ashdown
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Rating: *****
Publishers: Kensington
(June 26, 2018)
Hardback: 336 pages
ISBN: 978-1496714770
FTC Disclosure: Copy provided by the public library
No one knows you better than a sister—your dreams, your fears, your mistakes, and all your secrets.
It was just that way when Jess and her older sister, Emily, were children. Born barely a year apart, they were deeply entwined, complementing each other in their differences. When Jess felt awkward and shy, Emily, the consummate big sister, was happy to take the lead.
After a long estrangement, they’ve become close again. Jess moves into the comfortable Isle of Wight home Emily shares with her husband, step-daughter, and toddler. Any misgivings about the past are swept away and forgotten.
And then, on New Year’s Eve, little Daisy disappears while in Jess’s care.
Jess is in shock, unable to remember what happened. Emily, traumatized, watches helplessly as her life unravels. But as the search intensifies and the police detective’s questions grow more pointed, a different picture emerges. Behind the image of a seemingly happy family—Daisy’s doting teenage sister, Chloe, loving father and husband, James, and siblings Emily and Jess—there are devastating deceptions and long-ago choices that can never be unmade. And underlying everything is the story of what really happened to drive Emily and Jess apart years ago.
Unfolding through shifting perspectives, Little Sister is a brilliantly plotted, dark, and constantly surprising tale of love, rivalry, and broken loyalty that reveals how far one sister might go to protect—or destroy—another . . .
It was just that way when Jess and her older sister, Emily, were children. Born barely a year apart, they were deeply entwined, complementing each other in their differences. When Jess felt awkward and shy, Emily, the consummate big sister, was happy to take the lead.
After a long estrangement, they’ve become close again. Jess moves into the comfortable Isle of Wight home Emily shares with her husband, step-daughter, and toddler. Any misgivings about the past are swept away and forgotten.
And then, on New Year’s Eve, little Daisy disappears while in Jess’s care.
Jess is in shock, unable to remember what happened. Emily, traumatized, watches helplessly as her life unravels. But as the search intensifies and the police detective’s questions grow more pointed, a different picture emerges. Behind the image of a seemingly happy family—Daisy’s doting teenage sister, Chloe, loving father and husband, James, and siblings Emily and Jess—there are devastating deceptions and long-ago choices that can never be unmade. And underlying everything is the story of what really happened to drive Emily and Jess apart years ago.
Unfolding through shifting perspectives, Little Sister is a brilliantly plotted, dark, and constantly surprising tale of love, rivalry, and broken loyalty that reveals how far one sister might go to protect—or destroy—another . . .
First of all--can I just say WOW! This was one of the best psychological thrillers I've read in a while. While I'm not fond of books told from two or three different POVs, as I tend to forget who it is that is speaking and I get lost, I was able to tolerate it for this story. Other than for two facts, the book kept me guessing pretty much all the way to the end.
What was particularly disturbing for me is that I could so relate to these sisters as I have a younger sister that is a habitual liar, has been all her life, and I saw so many characteristics of her grasp of reality/truth and the ability to fabricate an ongoing lie, that it really shook me up to think that she so could have starred in this book. Pretty damn scary, I must say.
I've got to agree with several other reviewers, that the long ago party could have had less time spent on it, yes I figured out what really happened here right off the bat. But on the whole it was twisty enough to keep me reading almost nonstop.
This is an author that I intend to check out further.
If you enjoy this type of thriller, check out THE PERFECT NANNY
https://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/2018/12/review-for-perfect-nanny-by-leila.html
