The Better Sister by Alafair Burke

It’s pub day for The Better Sister by Alafair Burke

We are so excited to bring you our reviews.

Elaborate, suspenseful, and twisty!

THE BETTER SISTER by ALAFAIR BURKE is an exciting, intriguing, engrossing, disturbing, and fantastic domestic mystery/thriller that had me totally absorbed in this emotionally complex storyline. I was fully immersed and totally interested in the mystery and the interaction between these two sisters, Chloe and Nicky as it was quite dynamic.

ALAFAIR BURKE is such a fabulous storyteller and has this way of hooking you in right away with her extremely fast-paced narrative and her subtly sneaky delivery.  Which immediately had me questioning and wanting answers, even re-reading certain parts because I was certain I had to have missed something and dang if I did. She’s sneaky! lol

ALAFAIR BURKE delivers a compelling and well-written story here that is full of intrigue, suspense, courtroom drama, and familial dynamics. The topical storyline is timely and well-plotted, flowed seamlessly and had interesting and great characters.

This was another one of those books for me where the fantastic storytelling guided and entertained me right to the very end.  The courtroom drama was extremely interesting and smartly written without overwhelming you with complicated details. I could definitely tell that ALAFAIR BURKE knows her stuff.

Two estranged sisters, a murdered husband and father, some courtroom drama and a whole lot of messy family drama. 

The Better Sister is a simple yet intriguing whodunit domestic thriller with some interesting simple courtroom drama and a lot of family drama that didn’t feel too overly complicated to me. 

Now I am not sure I would describe this one as fast-paced or really entertaining. I felt the strength in this one was in the drama. Now that is something I never thought I would say, not being much of a fan of drama. There is a lot of messy family drama going on here with these very different sisters that unfolded slowly throughout the story instead of coming at you all at once. One sister who craves and needs routine and the other who lives in constant drama. I was hooked right from the start and I was turning the pages as fast as I could as the twists and turns came. I started to question who was the better sister as we learn more about some of their family secrets.

The ending came as a surprise and I didn’t see it coming. Maybe a bit weak with the big reveal and one you might find unsatisfying with a few holes. For me, it all came together well and I thought the pacing was well done as the drama slowly unfolded

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Absolutely love that dramatic, striking, breathtaking and extremely fitting cover. 
Title: Simple, impactful and a fabulous representation to storyline. 
Writing/Prose: Well-written, skilled, elaborate, suspenseful and engaging.
Plot: Engrossing, suspenseful, dramatic, realistic, interesting, fast-paced, and entertaining.
Ending: The ending made me pause and reflect but in the end I was completely satisfied with the outcome. 
Overall: The storyline is full of twists and turns and so subtly interspersed that I didn’t think this was predictable at all. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was all that surprising though when everything all played out but it was completely satisfying to me. ALAFAIR BURKE does it again and has another winner here with THE BETTER SISTER!! Would highly recommend!

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for our complimentary copy to read and review.

Have you read this one? Want to read this one? Drop us a comment! We would love to hear from you!