Malia's Reviews > The Silent Sister

4.5 stars
This was my fifth book by Shalini Boland, and I will be happy to read whatever she writes next as well. The Silent Sister has the clever, twisty plot of her other books and the characters I can connect to, without making it feel that she is following a simple, tried and true mold, I find some other writers of this genre sometimes slip into (not necessary a bad thing, if it's not broke . . . ) This book introduces Lizzie, a twenty-something woman who lives with her boyfriend, Joe, in a small town near Bristol. She lives a content life until a mysterious series of vaguely threatening, definitely creepy letters arrives for her, leading her (and me as the reader) to suspect everyone in her life. Lizzie's estrangement with her sister, Emma, even has her wondering whether she could be behind the threats, or is it Joe, or her friend and colleague, Pippa, their boss . . . The Silent Sister offers plenty of red herrings and twists and turns, and though the person I suspected was proven the villain, I didn't mind having guessed the reveal beforehand. Now for a tiny niggle - I felt, having two sisters myself, that Lizzie was a little too quick to suspect Emma. Just because they were estranged, I thought it was a stretch to suspect her of something quite so awful. That being said, the book is called The Silent Sister. I won't say more about the plot, because I really don't want to spoil this one for anybody. I will just say, I enjoyed it and it was perfect holiday reading. Boland has a style of writing that makes me feel instantly engaged and characters who intrigue me, they feel very real and not like strange caricatures, which can happen all too often in psychological thrillers. If you are looking for a clever, engaging read this summer, I can definitely recommend this book and this author!


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Thanks to Bookouture for supplying me with a copy of The Silent Sister in exchange for an honest review.