The Locked Ward
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for free digital review copy in advance. This one hit shelves on August 5th.
Georgia is in a psychiatric ward of the hospital after being accused of killing her younger sister. She was adopted into a wealthy family as a newborn and has always been at odds with the family’s biological daughter. The twist? The person Georgia seeks out for help is her biological twin, separated at birth, Amanda. Mandy didn’t know she had a sister, let alone a twin, just a couple of hours away. Is Georgia a master manipulator and killer or the sister Mandy never knew she had or needed?
This is my second novel by this author, although my other was The Golden Couple, one co-written with Greer Hendricks. I’d describe both as a sort of slow-burn, psychological thriller with family elements. This one explored sisterhood and family, nature versus nurture, betrayal, wealth, and secrets.
I constantly asked myself who cold be trusted, who is the real unstable one, and who has the psychology of a killer. There was a whodunnit element in figuring out the culprit of the crime and while I wasn’t completely surprised, there were quite a few turns along the way.
What didn’t work for me so well were a couple of side-characters and storylines that in my opinion didn’t serve the plot in any meaningful way. Georgia has a predator in the ward with her and Mandy has a brief tryst with another character. Neither of these elements really pushed us forward, nor did they develop the characters much.
What made this special to me was the point of view. Alternating chapters are told from each twin’s perspective. For Amanda we get a straight-forward first-person voice, but for Georgia we get a second-person present-tense voice… “you wake up in the cold room,” etc.. This isn’t something I read very often, and it held my attention.
Overall, I enjoyed this and will probably pick up more by Sarah Pekkanen when I’m in the mood for a thriller with deeper family themes.
Do you read thrillers? Do you have a must-read author in this genre?
