A middle-of-the-road thriller with a lot of intense moments and a predictable ending.Some interesting character development.

RATING: 2 STARS
2018; Grand Central Publishing

I just didn't find this one as suspenseful as I hoped, and there were several parts I found that it dragged the story. And, since I did not do the review right away I have no clue what else did and didn't work for me. NOTE to self: Oh, Kris, you need to do this at least in the same year!

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

A good thriller with a decent story, great writing and fantastic characterization. It was a pretty quick read. Interesting as well as engaging, this book managed to keep me engrossed throughout the story.

I would recommend this book to all thriller readers.

This was my first time reading a book by this author and I really enjoyed her writing style.
This psychological thriller starts out like wow!! It will get your attention right from the start, Andrea has been in a bad car wreck where she wrapped her car around a tree. She don't know if she was conscious or not when she seen a man appear in the road.
Once Andrea leaves the hospital we begin our journey into her life, finding out more about her and her story. Andrea has a twin brother she hasn't seen in 15 years. not since their parents died at the hands of her brother. Andrea then had to spend her like with her adoptive parents as her brother Eli was in prison for the murder of their parents.
Eli is now out and yet again he is wanted for murder. I like a story that puts you in the present, and then flashbacks to the past, in this case 15 years ago to the horrific past. There are also little bites and pieces of the murders.

This book is told in alternating timelines – parts are told 15 years before the fire, parts are told in the present 15 years after the fire. Bit by bit we get glimpses of what happened and get to piece the puzzle together to get a clear understanding of what happened.

What My Sister Knew starts off with Addie after a car crash. She wakes up in her car and starts to look for help, and wakes up again later in a hospital with no memory of what happened. Eventually she is released from the hospital to go back home with her adoptive mother, since her parents have died years ago in a house fire that was started by her brother Eli.

Addie is watching TV one day, and sees that her brother Eli is suspected of murder. Addie is contacted by the police, as the police think that Addie can help them find her brother Eli. What unfolds is a shocking tale of twists and turns that you will not see coming, and nothing is what it seems. Will Addie be able to help the police find her brother? Is her brother Eli innocent?

A great book that will have you guessing to the end, and will shock you with all the secrets and lies. A must read!

Wow. I really wasn’t quite sure from the description if I would enjoy this book. It was kind of vague, but intriguing, so I picked it up.

I am so glad that I did. This book was a awesomely tense and suspenseful psychological thriller that kept me guessing until the very end.

Andrea is one-half of an infamous set of twins: When they were 12-years-old her brother, Eli, set fire to the family home and killed their mother and stepfather, pulling her out of the inferno just in time. Eli, a sociopath by all indications, was sentenced to 12 years in psychiatric facilities and prison. Andrea never spoke to him again and tried to move on with her life. But now, Eli has done something. And it could unravel Andrea’s life once and for all.

I loved this book, where nothing is quite what it seems. Some of the reveals weren’t too much of a surprise, but they still gave the book a nice dramatic quality that I really enjoyed and just added layers to the story, like mini-episodes of a soap opera.

The only thing I would say I didn’t like is that I wish there was an epilogue. A “cool down” after the big climax. The book does wrap up most of the issues and makes predictions into the future, but I would have liked to see how all of that panned out. It seems like the book just....ends.

But I still really liked the book, even with that small issue. I wouldn’t let it deter anyone from reading. This book is a great thriller that will keep you turning pages late into the night!

A set of twins, a boy and a girl. There are secrets old and new. There are questions and maybe they will get answered.

I loved this book. I love when a book's purpose is to make me question if the narrator is reliable or not. I wondered off and on if I thought that Andrew was "the good twin" and if she was not at fault for anything at all. Of course, I will not divulge anything, but I loved how the whole twin part of the book went down.

The other major part of the book in my opinion was the concept of your sins of your past still not being settled. I loved how the secrets, the lies and the drama from the past kept coming up and nothing would get resolved until all of it came out into the open.

I will say that I do read a lot of mystery thriller books and I probably predicted the ending a lot earlier than I wish I had. I wish that it hadn't been as obvious where it was going to go, but I still appreciated the journey of the story.

I liked this Nina Laurin book a bit more than her other, Girl Last Seen. I will more than likely read her next one when it comes out!

I was completely engrossed in this book. I couldn't wait to see what was next. I loved the interspersions of excerpts from the tell-all book. I felt that was a clever way to let the reader know the "facts" without bogging down in an infodump.

Jade's 4 out of 5 "True Lies" Blushes 

I was immediately intrigued when I scanned the synopsis for What My Sister Knew.  I  LIVE for twisted and dark and a story that puts me into a place where you constantly question it's characters.  What My Sister Knew did exactly that.


Eli and Andrea are twins but the polar opposites in every way imaginable.  Eli is sinister and manipulative and has always had a hold on Andrea, molding and calculating the events in her life.  After a fire is set to their house by Eli, killing their parents, Eli goes to jail for fifteen years, Andrea is placed within another home, but this home will shape her and affect her for the rest of her life.  Eli's fifteen years are up and he's being released... and all hell breaks loose.  She finds herself searching for truths she never knew she needed to look for.  The unravel is of these thrilling characters is beyond intense!

The story jumps back and forth to different parts of Eli and Andrea's lives.  And with each piece that Nina Laurin gives you learn so much of how they came to be.  This is fantastically written and you'll be on the edge of your seat throughout!

Gripping and disturbing.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This story started off strong, gripping the reader and making them wonder just what was going on and what secret Andrea was hiding. However, as the story progressed it became predictable to the point of tedious. In fact, the ending was so obvious that by the time I got to it, I just didn't care. Which was a shame as this story had a lot of potential to be the gripping psychological thriller it claimed to be.

I do believe there are people who will enjoy this novel (as evidenced by the 4 and 5 star reviews it has already accumulated), however this one was just not for me.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

With psychological thrillers being all the rage, most of them try to distinguish themselves with twists that readers can’t see coming. Reading, then, becomes more about trying to guess the twist than really losing oneself in the novel. Nina Laurin’s latest thriller, What My Sister Knew, seems designed for this game.

I really enjoyed Nina's first book Girl Unseen, so decided to give this book a go as it sounded intriguing. I love stories like this that flit between the past and present. Fifteen years ago Andrea's aka Addie's twin brother Eli set fire to their parents home and stood by as their parents burned to death. He ended up with twelve years in prison and an institution. Her brother has been out for three years and she hasn't seen or heard a peep from him or has she? Now a woman has turned up dead and Eli is wanted for her murder. The toll is totaling up and it seems like everyone who is involved with the original case is now dead or near-death. The memories of what really happened that night will come flooding back to Addie as she must determine the truth of who caused the fire and why? Addie has built herself up a life and she can't have Eli ruining it for her. Can Addie track down Eli and put a stop to things before it becomes too difficult and he is left to his own resources on a revenge-seeking mission. What My Sister Knew by Nina Laurin was a good murder mystery with an ending I didn't see coming and filled with twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.
If you are in the mood for a good murder mystery then check out "What My Sister Knew" by Nina Laurin today.

Nina Laurin is SLAYING the psychological thriller writing game! She has just released her second, and it did NOT disappoint! What My Sister Knew is dark, fast paced, and had my heart racing the entire time! Nina knew just when to give the reader clues and just when to leave the reader hanging in suspense!

What My Sister Knew by Nina Lauri is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Andrea "Addie" Warren has just been in a car accident and the circumstances surrounded it are all hazy. Did she really see a man by the side of the road? At the hospital, her foster mother shows up to take Addie to her home, not Addie's, and it becomes clear that something else is going on, something Addie doesn't have a clue about. At her foster mothers she manages to catch a TV news clip and sees that her twin brother, Eli, is back in the news. What did Eli do this time?

Eli killed their mother and stepfather by burning down their house fifteen years ago, when they were both twelve. He was locked up, and when he was finally released it was under the condition that he does not contact Addie. A sensational book was written about the horrific crime so Eli's name is relatively well known. Now a woman has been found murdered in his apartment and the police are searching for him. Naturally, they are interested in talking to Addie too.

The narrative switches between current events and the past. Included before some chapters are excerpts from the true crime book written about Eli. These excerpts along with Addie's recollections about her childhood help create a picture of the childhood of the twins before the murder. We also learn about Addie's current life and the struggles she has been trying to overcome. Do the twins really have a connection, as the police suspect?

The writing is quite good and Laurin provides some twists and surprises along the way. Perhaps you will guess the twists, but, honestly, it's my opinion that Laurin wants you to fear Eli is back to torment Addie. Why else would she have Addie see a mysterious figure during the car crash right at the opening? Laurin does spend some time developing her characters, especially Addie, which adds a depth to the novel and helps intensify the suspense. This is a satisfying, albeit somewhat disturbing, thriller. Addie's scrambling in the middle might go on a tad too long, but, ultimately, What My Sister Knew held my attention and the ending was satisfying.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.
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Andrea wakes up in the hospital after crashing her car. She remembers seeing a man in the road ahead of her covered in blood. Her boyfriend, Milt, comes to the hospital and wants to care for her. He knows she has had a rough time in life.

Andrea’s adoptive mother, Cynthia, arrives at the hospital to take her home instead of letting Andrea goes home to her own place. Cynthia believes that Andrea has just pulled more of her shenanigans again. Andrea’s adoptive parents are divorced but Cynthia has a nice home. The woman’s biological daughter hates Andrea and wants her to go to her own place. Soon, Andrea finds the media is after her because her brother, Eli, is wanted for killing someone.

Andrea and Eli are twins born in 1990. Their mother is Cassie. After suffering physical abuse by her husband, she got away from him and managed to raise the twins with the little money she made from minimum wage jobs. She married a man named Sergio and had a nice home until tragedy struck. When the twins were 12, their parents died in a house fire and Andrea was severely burned. It is believed that Eli set the fire and he served time in prison. Now that he is out of prison and wanted for another murder, the police want Andrea to stay protected because they think Eli may kill her too. But can she stay away from her twin brother even with his past?

This story is very gritty and dark. I felt like I knew what the ending would be and I was right. Unfortunately, the trip from the beginning to the end of this book was a difficult and sad read.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After reading the excellent Girl Last Seen last year was I curious to see if Nina Laurin next book What My Sister Knew would be just as good. I'm glad to say that it worked very well for me.

One thing I want to say about this book and that I didn't find the story that surprising, actually I had a pretty good idea about what would happen, and what secrets Andrea had. Not that the whole story was predictable, some nice surprises occurred. However, despite the fact that I suspected the truth is the writing so compelling. And the characters, especially Andrea and her brother Eli, are so interesting that the book hooked me and wouldn't let me go. The flashbacks to their childhood and to the fire that killed their mother and stepfather made the book extra interesting. And, since the present story was interwoven with the flashbacks do we get a little bit of the past at the time which makes the story even more compelling.

I will end this review by stating that Nina Laurin has once again made it. What My Sister Knew is great thanks to excellent writing and character that got under your skin. Now I can't wait to read Laurin's next book!

What My Sister Knew is a psychological thriller that will grab your attention from the very beginning. Nina Laurin writes a gripping tale about Andrea. We first meet her when she is wrapping her car around tree, while in and out of consciousness she sees a man in the middle of the road….who is this man and why was he in the middle road. While she in the hospital we learn that Andrea has a twin brother that she hasn’t seen since the death of their parents and their death was at the hands of her twin……
This gripping story will keep you glued until the very end.

Another thriller and a cover pick. I would recommend this to fans of the thriller genre, it was a good read.

There was nothing really new to capture the reader in this predictable Suspense/Thriller. I found all the characters (except Milton) to be unlikable. While entertaining, this reader was not overly thrilled with this book. Fortunately it was a quick read.