I jumped at the chance to read this upcoming mystery/thriller, as I loved the author’s last book, House of Glass. While this was a fun book to read, the ending and big reveal to both mysteries seemed a bit contrived.
Georgia is in the locked ward, being found insane and guilty of murdering her sister Annabelle. We don’t know Mandy, but out of the blue she is contacted and told she has a fraternal twin. Conveniently her parents are both dead. So she does a DNA test to confirm that she and Georgia are sisters. Alternating short chapters are Georgia in the locked ward- trying to prove her innocence and trying to recruit her long lost twin. The other chapters are Mandy as she tries to solve two mysteries; why were she and Georgia separated at birth, why did her parents never tell her she had a sibling? And the second mystery, who killed Annabelle and how did they frame Georgia?
Overall the plot was pretty silly at times, it felt a little too melodramatic and it was hard to determine why the characters were acting the way they were. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development. Also it seemed kind of convenient that Georgia just found out about Mandy just before being accused of murder.
I did have fun reading this, as it has good pacing and the short chapters keep you turning the pages. But it was missing a lot of elements that we love in a good mystery. Hopefully Sarah Pekkanen’s next book will be back up to her standards.
Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC. Book to be published August 5, 2025.
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