Mother Daughter Sister Stranger: A Novel

Synopsis: Eleven years after surviving the plane crash that killed their parents, Eliza’s life is turned upside down when her sister, Bea, disappears, leaving behind her young daughter. As Eliza searches for the truth, she uncovers dark family secrets and a dangerous connection between Bea’s disappearance and the tragedy that changed their lives. With her niece at risk, Eliza must expose the past before it claims another victim. Review: Mother Daughter Sister Stranger is told entirely from Eliza’s point of view, which I liked because it really lets you experience everything along with her. You understand her fear and frustration as she tries to figure out what happened to her sister, and it makes it easier to become invested in her search for answers. The entire story takes place over only three days, and the chapters are short and easy to get through. Unfortunately, even with the short chapters, the story started to feel repetitive. Eliza seems to have the same thoughts and conversations over and over again, and for a thriller, I never really felt much suspense or urgency. The characters are well developed, and most of the time I cared about what happened to them. I especially wanted Eliza to find her sister and get some answers. That being said, there were moments when Eliza frustrated me. She wants to be this strong, determined character, but occasionally she slips into a whiny “poor me” mode that didn’t really fit with the rest of her personality. There aren’t a lot of characters, which is both good and bad. It’s easy to keep track of everyone and everything that’s happening, but it also makes it easier to figure out how certain people are connected and where parts of the story are going. There were also a few things that simply didn’t make sense to me. Logan throwing his phone into a rain barrel and then just leaving it there was one of them. If he felt the need to get rid of the phone, why wouldn’t he take it with him and destroy it? Leaving it behind somewhere it could easily be found felt more convenient for the plot than believable. The attempted twist involving Piper’s parentage didn’t work for me either. It was pretty obvious that the author was trying to make you question who her parent was, but I never believed the misdirection. When the truth was finally revealed, it was pretty much what I expected. Thankfully, the ending helped make up for some of my problems with the rest of the book. There are several twists packed into the final chapters. Some I saw coming, but a few came completely out of nowhere and genuinely surprised me. Those were the moments I had been waiting for throughout the book, and they definitely saved the story for me. Overall, this was an easy read with characters I cared about and an ending that delivered some great surprises. I just wish the rest of the book had carried the same suspense and unpredictability as those final chapters. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

You are two hundred miles from home, hiding in a childhood cabin. Your only sister has mysteriously vanished, and your niece is asleep in the next room. You are sitting on your sister's bed in the middle of the night, gripping your father's shocking manuscript in your hands. Your own father was writing a nonfiction book about unsolved murders–murders plural!!!---and a serial killer near your lakehouse! Your real life feels as if it is edging closer to true crime. Being part of a crime fiction saga–or the victim–is not on your Bingo card. Although, it seems like everyone in your family is a victim. You’re a romance writer, but your hopes for a happy ending are circling the drain. Even in your wildest superpower-ending imagination, there is no conclusion where this could end well. It makes you wonder if any of us understand what ‘happy ending’ even means. There are things in the universe none of us can predict. All the things we know about each other, and all the things we don't. Sisters, yet strangers, both at the same time. Families are complicated. And they can be dangerous, too: a revolving door of mother, daughter, sister; mother, daughter, sister. But although you will never be able to predict the future, you can be certain there are always more stories, of our own lives and of the lives of others. And even the lives of strangers. We are all powerful forces, and our future is yet to be written. Talk about a book as a weapon! Grab a bag or trail mix, because you are about to set out on the trail to find a missing mother/daughter/sister…Are you buckled in?” Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Mother Daughter Sister Stranger is maternal suspense at its best–incendiary!