Mother Daughter Sister Stranger|Book Review

By Hank Phillippi Ryan

A CREATIVE AND SUSPENSEFUL MYSTERY NOVEL

     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY

Eliza Ramsey, 17, and her sister Bea, 21, were flying home to Boston with their parents from Northampton on their dad’s single-engine plane. Bea had just graduated from college. Their dad was flying the plane as he had done so often.  Once airborne, the plane plummeted to the ground. Eliza and Bea miraculously survived, but their parents did not. They are subsequently raised by their Aunt Margaret until they both come of age.

Twelve years later, a determined and intelligent Eliza is working for a boutique publishing house in Boston. Bea, a successful fashion influencer, is married and has an adopted daughter, Piper, 11.  Piper has been staying with Eliza for a week while Bea travels.  Bea is due home today, but she never shows.  Tomorrow is the anniversary of the plane crash, and the sisters and Piper always go to the cemetery together that day.  Bea would never miss it.  But she does.  She doesn’t show up that day or the next.  Eliza is initially mad; she has already taken a week off work to stay with Piper. Her boss, Whitney, is calling and demanding to know why she is not back at work.  Eliza is beyond worried but cannot let Piper know; Bea is not answering her calls or texts, and Eliza has no idea where she has gone. She drives over to Bea’s house, and the police are called when things at Bea’s home are peculiar.  As Eliza continues to search for Bea, she discovers disturbing secrets about her parents’ deaths, Bea’s life, and the people she thought she could trust.

REVIEW

Mother Daughter Sister Stranger is a well-paced domestic thriller with complex family relationships.  Eliza’s search for Bea drives the narrative as everything she thought she knew about her family is unraveled and she finds it hard to know who to trust.

Author Hank Phillipi Ryan’s investigative journalism background certainly shows in the creative construction of this story and the gradual revelation of clues. She keeps us on the edge of our seats for the entire book and makes us reconsider what we thought we knew.

The writing is smartly structured with numerous shifts.  The leading characters are well-developed, with a determined Eliza and the adorable but exhausted Piper leading the search.  Eliza takes significant risks to find her sister, and we are holding our breath for the entire ride. Not only is she faced with finding her missing sister, but also with the realization that someone she thought she knew so well could suddenly become a stranger.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book. All opinions expressed in the Mother Daughter Sister Stranger | Book Review are my own.

Publisher    St. Martin’s Press

Published   September 1, 2016

Review       www.bluestockingreviews.com