"The Sister"

“The Sister”

Written by Louise Jensen

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

An interesting premise and a new-to-me author piqued my interest, and I bought a copy of this the other day. Louise Jensen has written four other psychological thrillers after this debut novel.

“The Sister” follows our main character, Grace, who has been in a rocky relationship with her boyfriend, Dan. Grace has not fully healed from the death of her best friend, Charlie. Grace is approached by a woman, Anna, who has said that her sister was Charlie. Grace allows Anna to stay with her and Dan, against his wishes, until Anna can find a new job. Anna’s behaviour grows suspicious, as odd occurrences begin happening at Grace’s house.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed by this story. The book blurb and logline both hint towards a startling plot twist, which was quite small. We already knew exactly where the story was going, but the small twists hardly impacted the novel to cause the readers to be shocked.

This felt like a very generic thriller, but I can attest that this is the debut novel of the author. I expected more character development, better dialogue, and better twists. The lack of interesting red herrings or tension weakened the plot and the novel overall.

In conclusion, this was a disappointing novel, but it was at least entertaining. I enjoy novels in this genre, and as a thriller goes, it was a worthy entry into the genre. I expect more from this author and plan to continue reading her other books, in hopes that I enjoy them more, as her writing skills strengthen.