In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over twenty years later, her father has passed away and she’s in New Bern, North Carolina cleaning out his house when she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years … those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family. Riley must decide what the past means for her present, and what she will do with her newfound reality, in this engrossing New York Times bestselling mystery from Diane Chamberlain.
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Family secrets and the damage they can do. That is the theme of this page-turning book. The alternating points of view (later on) give the reader different perspectives but do not prepare us for a big surprise. Well worth the time I took away from my own writing to read this one!
I was impressed with this book. The story is quite captivating. I loved the characters and how they interacted with each other. It is different yet powerful in emotion. I love how this author writes. You won’t be sorry to read this book. It is quite a story.
Another case where 1/2 stars are needed as this is a 4.5 in my book!
A page turning pick-me-up with so much action going on it will make your head spin. Excellent story, great characters and with many surprises thrown in for good measure. It is one of those beach books that you will get burned reading because you just don’t want to put it down to move into the shade!
Wow, Dianne Chamberlain knows how to write books that you don’t want to put down! Another winner!
I could feel the emotions coming through the pages. You never know what life is going to throw at you. Great book.
Engaging — I read it straight through. My heart went out to all the characters.
Diane Chamberlain always exceeds one’s expectations and she did not
disappoint in this one. This is one of her best. Prepare to lose sleep
so you can finish it.
The story was good, but it got s little long.
I liked parts of this book, but I really didn’t like the ending or the overall message.
For starters, it was pretty easy to figure out what happened and why. I was right on about 90% of it. I kept listening to the audiobook to make sure I was right, but if I’d had the actual book I would have flipped to the end to check, and I kind of wish I had.
**MILD SPOILER**
I won’t tell you exactly what happened, but I will tell you there’s not a satisfying ending (for me, anyway). This is one of those places where I can see a big difference in the Christian and general markets. This being a general market book, no one does the right thing in the end, they just do the right thing for themselves. Everyone lies to each other. There’s very little empathy or grace for other people. In the end, it’s okay to hurt people if they hurt you first. If A hurts B, then B can hurt A. If hurting A hurts C, then C should forgive B, but B is never expected to forgive A.
All in all, the characters are willing to lie, hurt, and destroy if they think it’s right. It’s sad to me that people think that way, and I hate seeing it accepted in literature.
Overall it was an okay book, but it was predictable and you have to be willing to accept “do as I say, don’t do as I do” in order to really enjoy the ending.
R-rated for language and violence
This book had everything to make it great. Wonderful writing, compelling story, and plenty of twists to keep you reading. It was impossible not to care about Riley and feel her frustration as she discovers that her life was not what she thought it was. It really makes you ask “Do we really know the people we love most?”
It was my first book by this author and won’t be my last. If you pick it up, you won’t want to put it down. It’s that good.
I listened to the audio book. When pulled away, I couldn’t wait to get back to the story. I really felt for all the characters. Highly recommend.
I don’t want to spoil the story, so some things I cannot say. There was one character (the brother ) who’s reasons I tried to understand. The first few chapters were dragging, but stay with the story as it becomes a page turner.
Different kind of book, I liked that story with the siblings having different attitudes toward the problem sister. Just did not see believeable because of the parents actions.
I could not put this book down. I really enjoyed my FIRST Diane Chamberlain book…won’t be my last!
Diane Chamberlain does not disappoint in this book about family, lies, and secrets. The twists and turns and depth of the characters kept me interested from page one. Her exploration of the human side of some dark actions kept me going to see how the story ended. Highly recommend!
I like the author’s way of writing.
The best thing about this book was the wonderful development of characters (within the family and their acquaintances). Location descriptions are very realistic. She is one of my favorite authors.
This book had interesting plot lines that the author ultimately had mixed success in weaving together. The author clearly struggled in tying all the loose ends together (rather unbelievably with too good to be true resolutions) at the end which weakened considerably what had been, until about the 3/4 point of the book, well written and believable characters and plot.
A story with a different ending than what you would have expected. I just had to keep reading to know what would happen! Well written.
Interesting plot. The ending was expected, but the parallel stories made it interesting.