Book Review: Sister Dear

Synopsis:

Beauty. Wealth. Success.

She’s got it all.

And it all should’ve been mine.

Everything is slipping through Eleanor Hardwicke’s fingers. Her beloved father dies after a very brief illness, and she carries a tremendous amount of guilt about his final hours during which she learns a gut-wrenching, life-altering secret: the man she’s always believed to be her dad . . . isn’t her biological father. Rather, her birth was the product of an affair.

Eleanor’s biological father is living blissfully nearby with the family he chose. Her personal life spiraling out of control and desperate, Elanor seeks him out and discovers a branch on her family tree — an infuriatingly enviable half-sister, Victoria.

Victoria is perfectly perfect and has everything Eleanor dreams of: loving childhood, luxury home, successful career, devoted husband. All of it was stolen from Eleanor, the daughter cast aside who deserves everything Victoria enjoys every bit as much.

Now Eleanor plans to take what should have been hers from the start. After all, good sisters are supposed to share. And quiet, docile little Eleanor has been waiting far too long for her turn to play.

Review:

Author Hannah Mary McKinnon has published three prior novels, Time After Time, The Neighbors, and Her Secret Son, in addition to thirteen short shorties. She turned to writing after a corporate career, including fifteen years with an IT recruitment form. She attributes the transition either to a failed start-up company or early mid-life crisis. Whatever the impetus, she “decided to follow [her] oldest passion, started writing, and never wanted to look back.” After writing one romantic comedy, she segued into thrillers.

The inspiration for Sister Dear struck when McKinnon heard a story about a woman finding a wedding ring at a playground who was trying to track down the owner via social media. She began pondering a story about a woman who “found out the ring’s owner had a dream life and felt jealous.” She “realized realized the individuals had to be related somehow, and if I made them half-sisters, it would add to the drama and intrigue.” Because, after all, “some of the most despicable acts are carried out within families.” She describes Sister Dear as “twisted, dark, surprising.”

Eleanor has always had a toxic relationship with her mother and sister, Amy, who resides in Los Angeles and is trying to establish herself as an actress. Her mother has always compared her to Amy, and she has always come up short. Eleanor struggles with body dysmorphic disorder: she is an emotional eater who binges (and sometimes purges), especially when stressed, and loathes not just her body, but her overall appearance. McKinnon says that she knew, as she conceptualized the book, that “one of the sisters would have a distinct lack of confidence, particularly regarding her physical traits. She’d perceive herself far more negatively than anybody else does — primarily because of her relationship with her mother.” Despite her self-doubt, Eleanor is a talented web designer who has established her own web fledgling company, working out of her home. It has been some time since her last relationship ended.

Her father has always been Eleanor’s champion. He affectionately calls her “Freckles,” and they spend holidays and special occasions together. Eleanor recalls that he took “the brunt of my mother’s fury whenever he possibly could so I didn’t have to.” As the story opens, just eight weeks have passed since her father was diagnosed with inoperable, terminal pancreatic cancer with a life expectancy of four months. But he is already in hospice care and Eleanor is stricken by how quickly his health has deteriorated. When she arrives to visit him, she is shocked to find her mother there. After all, her mother visited him just a few days prior. And in the twenty years since their divorce, she has barely even spoken to him. Eleanor has had no contact at all with her mother for six months — not long enough to “treat the festering wounds, or get rid of her voice, which constantly berated me in my head.” Eleanor has never understood why her mother despises her, and her father has never explained it either, dismissively describing her mother as “a complicated woman.”

Eleanor’s father has expressed his final wishes to her and planned his own memorial service. But as Eleanor approaches the door to his room, she hears her mother berating him. It soon becomes clear that her mother is attempting to convince him to leave all of his assets to Amy, but he insists that what little property he has left will be divided evenly between the two girls. And then, before her parents realize she is there, Eleanor hears her mother say the words that will change her life forever: “You’re forgetting one thing, Bruce. Eleanor isn’t your daughter.” She is devastated. Because Bruce dies before she has a chance to ask all the questions that endlessly swirl through her thoughts, she has to seek answers elsewhere. Why did he hide the truth from her? “His intentions had no doubt been to protect me, as he always had, but what about him? When had he found out he wasn’t my father?” Not only is she left to mourn the loss of the man who raised her. She also mourns the loss of the only relationship that provided her stability and unconditional love.

What kind of a person keeps secrets from their family?

McKinnon details how Eleanor learns her biological father’s identity, as well as the truth about the circumstances surrounding her birth. Eleanor is insecure and needy, frequently exasperatingly so, as McKinnon reveals her continuously self-deprecating inner dialogue. McKinnon says she strove to make “Eleanor relatable, even though she doesn’t necessarily make the best choices. She’s human, flawed, and down to earth. . . . I hope readers will care for her.” Indeed, Eleanor is empathetic because her anger is justified, especially when she learns that her father is a wealthy, successful businessperson who has been happily married for many years and, together with his lovely wife, raised the pampered, entitled Victoria. Eleanor concludes that all the criticisms her mother as hurled at her are accurate. “I was nothing. Nobody. Pathetic. Useless. Fat. Ugly. Stupid.” In order to “get deep into her psyche and understand how her childhood had impacted her, how she became the way she is,” McKinnon relates that she “interviewed” Eleanor before she became writing the book, adding that the technique brought Eleanor to life for her. “Nobody is 100% good or bad, we’re all nuanced and layered, so I make sure these fictional people are, too.”

Eleanor is determined and tenacious, even though she knows she is about to engage in a dangerous game that can only end badly, unable to stop herself. She risks everything, including her budding relationship with Lewis, her handsome upstairs neighbor. Lewis genuinely cares for Eleanor, finding her clever, intelligent, attractive, and far more interesting that the other women he has dated. But Eleanor is laser-focused on boldly infiltrating Victoria’s life in order to extract revenge. McKinnon says the “adored developing Eleanor. Taking her from self-conscious to brazen . . . was quite the ride, and I could feel her backbone growing . . . ” As Eleanor and Victoria grow closer, Eleanor observes, “Playing a game when you were the only one who knew the rules — and made them up as you went along — felt exhilarating and intoxicating. The wickedness I never knew I had inside me clambered from the bottom of my heart like a demon. Instead of pushing it way, I greeted it, let it crawl to my ear, tell me this wasn’t a fairy-tale life where things worked out in the end. I had to take charge, and it wouldn’t happen by letting people walk all over me, as I always had. It was time to come out of the shadows, reclaim all the ground I’d given up and rebuild my confidence that had been eroded like cliffs on a storm-battered beach.”

McKinnon propels the action forward at a quick, unrelenting pace, and it is not at all clear how Eleanor’s tale will resolve. Indeed, at the midpoint, the story threatens to meander in a fairly unfocused fashion. But McKinnon remains in control of her narrative, rewarding tenacious readers as the tale quickly gains traction and McKinnon injects numerous plot twists and revelations. As Eleanor’s self-confidence grows, so does her consternation and guilt about having taken Victoria’s engagement ring from the counter in the ladies restroom of the restaurant where she initially followed Victoria, her mother, and cousin so that she could observe them. As she reconsiders her initial motives — because she sees Victoria differently as they get acquainted and Eleanor learns about Victoria’s relationship with her her husband — she allows herself to consider the possibility that she and Victoria might actually enjoy a loving, sisterly relationship, after all.

Sister Dear is an absorbing, cleverly plotted thriller replete with diabolical surprises that elevate the story and ultimately reveal the breathtakingly sinister darkness that lurks just beneath the surface of her realistically developed and believable characters. McKinnon credibly illustrates how Eleanor’s greed, envy, self-pity, desire for revenge, and, ultimately, vulnerability determine her fate. It’s a stylish, sly commentary on the importance of familial relationships and how the absence of meaningful connections with those we expect to love us beyond measure and in spite of our shortcomings can lead to longing, compulsion, and reckless behavior. And it’s all capped off with a bombshell conclusion that leaves readers wondering why they never saw it coming.

Sister Dear is one of 2020’s best domestic thrillers.

Excerpt from Sister Dear

Also by Hannah Mary McKinnon:

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of Sister Dear free of charge from the author via Net Galley. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own. This disclosure complies with 16 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.