Thursday, July 18, 2019

#BookReview The Better Sister by Alafair Burke #TheBetterSister #AlafairBurke #Mystery #Thriller #Suspense @harperbooks

Book Details
Title: The Better Sister
Author: Alafair Burke
Publisher: Harper Books
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Pages:311




#TheBetterSister #AlafiarBurke #Suspense #Mystery #Thriller #Fiction #BookReview 



My Rating: 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠

Excerpt from GoodReads: 
From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife—comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments . . . but can they escape their past?

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky was always restless . . . and more than a little reckless—the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed like both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh, and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenaged stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

My Review:

This is my first read of this author and early on in the book I was intrigued. Readers are introduced to the relationship between Adam and Chloe, former in-laws now married. Adam was previously married to Chloe’s sister Nicky and they had a son, Ethan who Adam ended up getting full custody of. Chloe is very successful in her job and makes more money than Adam which she feels he resents. Chloe helps Adam get a prominent job with a fancy law firm and he quits his job as prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s office. But Adam hates his job, for him money doesn’t matter. He feels Chloe pressured him into taking a job he never wanted. So their marriage is not perfect and then Adam ends up dead.

The investigation into Adam’s murder begins and the police quickly zone in on Adam’s teenage son as a suspect. Nicky, Ethan’s real mother now shows up in New York to help out but Chloe who is just his guardian worries her sister will try to take Ethan away from her. Will Nicky want custody of Ethan after all these years? Chloe is sure her sister Nicky has never forgiven her from marrying Adam and raising her son. There is not a lot of trust between the sisters.

Chloe has always been the perfect one. She has the perfect job, the perfect husband, the perfect kid, the perfect life. Nicky on the other hand is the screw-up. Nicky can’t find the right man, she had problems with drugs and alcohol, and she lost custody of her only son. But now with problems like murder, her son dealing with drugs and guns, is Chloe’s life really as perfect as it seems?

The pacing of the book is perfect. I love how the author leads the reader along…slowly revealing tiny pieces of the puzzle. Definitely makes you want to keep reading. I can’t wait to read more books by this author. I loved the legal/courtroom proceeding portion of the book. The build-up of waiting on the jury to come back with their verdict…super exciting! I loved reading how the relationship between sisters, Nicky and Chloe, change throughout the book. Usually I can find at least one negative about a novel but not this one. 5 Stars for sure! Thanks to Alafair Burke and Harper for providing me with a copy of advanced reader edition to review.




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