Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Pages: 320
Publisher: Atria Books
My Rating: ⭐⭐
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“Julia and Sienna Larkin are sisters-in-law, connected by Julia’s husband and Sienna’s brother, Jason. More than that, the two have been devoted best friends since Jason introduced them. To Sienna, Jason can do no wrong, and although Julia knows he’s not perfect, they’ve built a comfortable life and family together. Recently, Jason has been putting in long hours to secure a promotion at work, so when his boss is found brutally murdered–his lips sewn shut–the Larkins are shocked and unsettled, especially as local gossip swirls.
A few days later, Julia and Sienna’s lives are upended when Jason gets into a car accident and is placed in a medically induced coma. Worse, the police arrive with news that he’s the prime suspect in the murder investigation. With Jason unable to respond–and with Julia and Sienna working to clear his name–the two women find their friendship threatened for the first time: Sienna staunchly maintains her brother’s innocence, but as their investigation uncovers a complicated web of secrets, Julia is less sure she’s willing to defend her husband.”
My Review:
Warning: This review may be slightly spoilery! As I am not recommending that you read it, I just really don’t care.
I was so excited to read this and, sadly, it was very disappointing for me.
Julia and Jason have, until now, had a picturesque marriage and family life with their teenage son, Aiden. Julia and Sienna, Jason’s sister, became fast friends. The book is dual POV from both Julia and Sienna.
Sienna feels very righteous towards female empowerment, obsessive over the death of their parents by a drunk driver, and unwilling to re-commit to her now ex-boyfriend after his infidelity. Sienna is hot-tempered, extroverted, and not afraid to speak her mind.
In contrast, Julia is meek, aims to please others, and is willing to keep the peace over her own happiness, and has lived her life by her mothers mantra to “never trust a man.”
At first I found the writing to be punchy and the personalities quirky until they became annoying. The story starts with a bang. In chapter one alone I found myself OMGing several times.
Jason’s boss is found stabbed, suffocated, and with his mouth sewn shut. After an accident, evidence is found in Jason’s car linking him to the crime, except he is in a coma and unable to give his account of events. Thus begins the sort of amateur investigation by the sisters.
And then it all fizzles out from there. The story was overly concerned with their character arcs, whereas the plot could have been so much more enthralling. The twists weren’t all that exciting or surprising.
It is extremely dialogue heavy and very telling instead of showing. Nothing ever really happens, we are simply taken from one conversation or inner monologue to the next. It was all rather slow and boring actually.
The murder mystery was lack-luster. And it fell prey to one of my absolute most hated tropes where the bad guy tells all in an endless monologue in the ending chapters, which always feels silly, stupid, unrealistic, and unsatisfying.
The writing was bland, the plot was bland, the characters were bland. The first few chapters had me and then the rest was meh. It’s really the writing that failed me most I think. The premise had a lot to work with and it just wasn’t executed in an engaging way.
From the beginning, Julia and Sienna’s relationship has very off-putting vibes. They are oddly, overly close to one another. I really expected the story to play more into this dynamic with some sinister twist happening there, especially considering the title. But it was more about them taking their own personal growth stories and learning how to be less codependent on one another.
It also explores the nuances of parenting a teenager. As well as not thinking about people in terms of absolute, good or bad, but rather accepting people as being somewhere in between and loving them anyway.
Two stars because I usually reserve one star for DNFs. I cannot recommend this. I didn’t enjoy it and I don’t think others will that much either. It wasn’t a thrilling read. It tried to have the depth of a contemporary/literary read and failed. It just wasn’t great and with so many books and so little time, I’d say skip it. There are better family murder dramas out there than this one.
This is not me hating on the author. In fact, I’m willing to chalk this up as just a flop and I still really want to read whatever she writes next. I just don’t think that this book accomplished what it intended to.
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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