‘Her Sister’s Child’ by Alison James is a tense psychological thriller that certainly lives up to it’s genre!
It centres on the worst thing that could happen to any parent ever. Sixteen years previously Paula Armitage’s older, alcholic, sister Lizzie swears Paula to secrecy over the fact that she is pregnant. Paula last saw her sister when she was in labour, since then nothing. Days later she discovers Lizzie is dead, but there is nothing about a baby. Paula realises she is the only one who knew this key information. She decides to tell her mum, but, sadly, her mum waves the information away, convinced Paula is just in the mad throes of grieving. In the present day, Paula still carries the guilt and goes to visit Lizzie’s grave on her 40th birthday. She makes the decision to attempt to trace the child with Johnny, her friend.
We learn of Charlie, pregnant due to a slip up, her boyfriend has only stuck around because she has plenty of money that he can spend. Their relationship unsurprisingly falls apart and after talking it through with her parents, Charlie moves back home. The day she moves back in, someone kidnaps her baby.
Told in multiple perspectives, these two stories are linked together and it all plays out as the story unfolds. I was really turning those pages to see what curveball was coming next! The twists were brilliant and the characters so fleshed out. Another fantastic thriller that holds you all the way to the final page.
Thank you to Bookouture, Alison James and NetGalley for my copy of the book to give you my thoughts today.
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