Book Review: Her Sister’s Child by Alison James

Hello and Happy New Year! I’m excited to be back with my first review of 2021. I hope you enjoy it!

Goodreads Blurb

Her Sister’s Child by Alison James

She rolls over and reaches for her instinctively: her baby. Her hand hits air and flaps redundantly. She stumbles out of bed and switches on the light. But this only confirms it. The baby is gone. Someone has taken her.

Sixteen years ago, Lizzie Armitage woke to find her newborn baby gone. Just days later, Lizzie was dead.

Her sister Paula swore she would do everything she could to find the child. If she hadn’t promised to keep Lizzie’s pregnancy secret, maybe the baby wouldn’t have disappeared. And maybe Lizzie would still be alive. But, in nearly a decade, Paula’s never found any trace. Until now…

When Paula bumps into an old friend from the past, she realises she wasn’t the only one who knew about her sister’s child. Someone knows what happened that day. Someone knows where Lizzie’s baby went.

But can Paula find out the truth before another family is ripped apart?

A twisty, unputdownable psychological thriller that will you hooked until the last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Friend Request and The Girl on the Train will love Her Sister’s Child.

Review

If you want to dive right into 2021 with something fast-paced and exciting, Her Sister’s Child is the book for you. This book has a lot going on and will keep you interested until the very end. Saying that, a disclaimer is required: this story isn’t entirely unpredictable. While there are some twists, there were also some parts of the story I could guess, and that led to a bit of skimming on my part as soon as I knew how the story would develop.

Her Sister’s Child is one of those books you enjoy despite a lack of likeable characters. I initially believed that Paula would be the main character but I found her status diminished as the story progressed. By the time I was coming to the end of the book, I found her chapters the least enjoyable. Luckily, the accompanying chapters made up for that. Paula’s chapters also include Johnny, an ex-boyfriend of Lizzie. To be honest, I felt the book could have done without him. While he did add some value to the story he was the least developed and believable character, and his actions could have been placed with another character. The most interesting character of them all was Marion, but you will have to read Her Sister’s Child to find out who she is and why.

Overall, Her Sister’s Child was a well-written story with a plot placed excellently together. I can’t say it was one of my favourite reads of late but I would certainly recommend giving it a read.

Her Sister’s Child is available to buy now.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.