Sister by Rosamund Lupton

I use the word "unputdownable" very lightly, as it's been overdone in the reading world lately.  But this book fits that adjective and once again, reading other people's reviews gave me a read that kept me anxious, angry, and at times in tears.  Wooohoo!  This was a great novel!


Sister is about two sisters, Tess and Beatrice.  Beatrice lives in New York City, newly engaged to a man and living a 'safe' life.  She receives a phone call from her mother telling her Tess is missing.  Beatrice flies to London, sure that her artsy sister has just done one of her silly stunts, and will be found quickly.  When Beatrice arrives, she quickly realizes it's much more serious that she expects, and starts to question the police about the circumstances of her sister's disappearance.  It's even more important to find her sister because she is 8 months pregnant.


Sadly, her sister is found dead in a Hyde Park toilet building, wrists slashed.  Everyone quickly comes to the conclusion that she committed suicide in the depths of depression.  Only Beatrice insists it was murder.  She knows her sister, and knows she would never kill herself.  This begins Beatrice's determination to investigate her sister's death on  her own, talking to everyone her sister knew, and uncovering shocking information in the process.  Can she find the killer while dealing with the mind numbing grief of losing her sister?


I don't think you need to have a sister to understand the powerful moments of grief over losing a loved one.  If you love someone wholeheartedly, losing them is the worst thing in the world.  Rosamund Lupton writes about Beatrice's and her mother's grief so eloquently and movingly that it does bring tears.  Beatrice is heart broken to have her sister put in the ground, when she always felt her sister was a free spirit that soared with the birds.  Lupton's description of her mother 'silently screaming' at the gravesite is a heart breaker.  


The book moves quickly, and the end really is clever and a shocker.  The story is told as a letter to Tess from Beatrice, and Beatrice is talking about the murder after everything has happened and is giving her statement to an officer for the court case.  You admire Beatrice for her unwillingness to give up, to believe in her sister, and her discovery that she is more like her sister than she ever knew. 


I can't say enough about this book.  A psychological thriller that you can't put down!  And when you're done, you have to go back and re-read the end.  Excellent for book club discussions!


My rating:  5/5


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Sister by Rosamund Lupton