Sister by Rosamund Lupton, is one of the most extraordinary books I have read. It chronicles the story of Beatrice as she tries to find out what is behind the death of her Sister, Tess. Not once does she ever stray from this determination, despite being ignored, fobbed off and treated as though she was becoming as ‘mad’ as Tess was, when she committed suicide.
As the story unfolds, we understand more and more about the sister’s relationship, as Beatrice is forced to examine herself and how she relates to others. Rather than being told from the usual police point of view, the whole story is from Beatrice’s point of view. The telling of the story centres around a letter Beatrice writes to her dead sister and therefore changes from the present, to the past and back again. In her stark prose, Ms Lupton evokes the intense emotion felt by Beatrice, her fiancé and her mother, without resorting to platitudes or clichés, making it easy for the reader to become emotionally involved in the story.
One reviewer on the book cover describes the book as ‘where crime fiction and literature coincide’, which is a description I totally agree with. Whilst this read is not an adrenaline rush, there are still the elements of mystery and surprise that crime readers love and the ending has a twist that I confess I didn’t see coming.
A highly recommended e-thriller read.
By Wendy Cartmell
http://wendycartmell.webs.com/apps/blog/
Tagged in Sister