His Wife's Sister by A J Wills is a disaster. A lot is wrong with the book, the least of which is switching between two spellings for the name of a character. An eleven-year old gets abducted and comes back after nineteen years of captivity. Her elder sister, who now has a family, takes her in laden with guilt. The husband feels neglected, but goes on to do what?!

Even though most of the twists are predictable, a few of them are truly outrageous. That is simply not how one builds up a suspense. Vague words are endlessly used to build up to an underwhelming ending. Totally disappointed.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: I read it so you don't have to.

This isn’t a bad book by any means, but it just didn’t seem like it was for me. I enjoy the psychological suspense genre and this fit that that to a tee. My issue was I couldn’t relate to the characters. For example, it seemed Lucia was very disassociated with her family once her sister came back into the picture and moved in. How she and Damian handled certain things just didn’t ring true in a normal family dynamic. The first two thirds were more of a slow burn and then it really picked up speed at the end. I do believe other readers who enjoy this genre would like this book.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this copy

“His Wife’s Sister”—AJ Willis [3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️] The description of this book definitely drew me in and the beginning and middle were so good, but then I was disappointed with the end and how things turned out. It’s hard to describe, but I didn’t find any of the three main characters likable, but then at times I felt sorry for them in their own ways. Mara Sitwell was eleven when she was abducted, where she claims she was held captive in an underground cell the whole time. She reappears nineteen years later and her sister Lucia is thrilled to have her back after all these years. Lucia has carried around so much guilt since Mara’s disappearance, so she insists she live with her at her house with her husband Damian and their two kids. Damian doesn’t think it’s a good idea at all as he thinks Mara is hiding a big secret and he thinks she’s a danger to his family. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t what I was fully expecting, so I would still recommend checking out to see what others think. *Thank you to NetGalley and Cherry Tree Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book I’m exchange for my honest review* 📚

I really enjoyed this book I could not put it down when started to read it, it had me hooked from start to finish it is the first book by this Author I have read & definitely would read of of this Athour's work 10/10

I really enjoyed this book. Character development was good. The plot was very interesting. Not a lot of typos.

His Wife's Sister was a creepy and interesting read for the first 3/4's of the book. His Wife's Sister is about Mara who was abducted by James Finch when she was 11. She is found again 19 years later in a hospital having run away from Finch's house. Lucia, Mara's sister is delighted to have found Mara as she always knew her sister was alive. Damian, Lucia's husband is not so thrilled. Mara moves into their home and Lucia is making sure everything is perfect for Mara. The first have of the book is fast-paced and I turned each page waiting for what will happen next. The last 1/4 of the book fell flat for me. I couldn't wrap my head around why Damian reacted the way that he did. In thrillers so many of the characters are unpredictable but this one went a little too far off for my likely. Overall an enjoyable summer thriller but was disappointed by the ending. Thank you to Cherry Tree Publishing and Netgalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC, I liked the first part, from the husband's POV. It was intriguing and interesting, with a lot of underlying tension. Then th part form Mara's POV everything changed and suddenly we were expected to believe HER. And the story suddenly was not as intriguing, and any underlying tension was gone, maybe because everything was just out there in the open. I don't like books that describe disgusting things/acts/violence against women, so I think this book was not for me.

A woman returns , 19 years after being taken from her backyard. Her sister is overjoyed, but her brother in law is suspicious....

I was hooked , none of the characters were hugely likeable but I think this added to the thriller and made it more realistic. You're not going to come back from 19years with your kidnapper, a box of fluffies and if you have a sister in law move in after never meeting her, it's going to be a tough adjustment.

This reads like a classic psychological thriller with a twist at the end. I did leave the book with more questions that answers and would have liked to see a couple of loose ends tied up. I guess I will have to use my imagination, or perhaps the author wanted to leave it ambiguous to let the reader make up their own mind? Either way, I would have liked things in the last chapter better explained.

Overall, an enjoyable read. Those who enjoy a creepy thriller will enjoy this, and would be great for those who enjoyed the likes of Gone Girl.I can't wait to get stuck into the author's other books.

I usually read quick thrillers to help me get out of reading slumps. This book immediately drew me in and I appreciate the easy-to-read tone and pacing. The prologue was a stand-out for me as we immediately get into the mind of a young girl being abducted. Then we get into the point of view of Damian --who views the return of Mara as a threat.

The first half of the story is from Damian's point of view, and then switches to Mara's. While this was a good device, I think it would have been better to alternate throughout the story to show the different sides of the events as it happened. The switch to Mara's POV felt a little disjointed as it came towards the end and still does not explain some of the events earlier in the story.

Most of the novel seemingly paints the victim as the villain which is a little problematic. We don't get to know Mara and we can't fully invest in Mara as seen through Damian's eyes. With Damian being an unreliable narrator, we have niggling doubts as to Mara's veracity.

Mara's character was not fully developed and I think this was crucial to the story to give it more depth. As most other reviewers note, the characters were not really likeable. While I think that is purposeful (especially for Damian), it doesn't propel the story forward. The unfolding of the events was also largely unrealistic. While this it is easy for readers to suspend their beliefs somewhat, there was still a high degree of improbability here.

Overall, the premise of the novel was good, and AJ Wills' writing was crisp and clear.. It is an entertaining read, however, the payoff was not what I expected.

Thank you Net Galley and Cherry Tree Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

The title rings of an affair or a murder committed by a woman’s husband. However, this story is not those two things.
The book starts off with a very realistic, strikingly scary account of a little girl riding in the back of the van and being taken to a strangers house, only to be secluded and locked up in his basement.
Many years ago, Lucia’s sister Mara was taken, kidnapped, and chained up in a basement. Much to Lucia and her husband’s surprise, the child called Mara was recently discovered, and she’s now a woman .
What happened to Mara? Where was she for all of those years, and who took her?

I went from being interested to uninterested so many times while reading this book.

It was quite far fetched, and the characters weren't all that likable. This is one I struggled to get through, and the ending kind of left me feeling unsatisfied.

This book wasn't really an enjoyable read for me, but maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It had me hooked from the first few pages.
There were a few twist and turns and I really wasn’t expecting what happened at the end.
A real page turner and highly recommended.

Such a great wonderfully written thriller!
Fast paced. Sure kept me on the edge of my seat!

If you love a good suspense read. This is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and AJ Wills for this ARC

Standard "psychological thriller. It wasn't bad, but I definitely skimmed to the end. I didn't like any of the characters. Honestly, this book is a hot mess. It is obvious from the very beginning how this situation is going to play out. Coincidences and plot holes galore and to top it all off none of this would have ever of happened had Mara just been honest about what happened to her when she was discovered. There wasn't any reason that she shouldn't have been truthful. She basically just said "I don't know. I didn't feel like it." Really???

I appreciated the chance to read this book, but it just was not my cup of tea. For me it was slow paced and seemed to go in very strange directions with two unreliable narrators. I felt terrible for Mara (and her sister Lucia) whose family had been torn apart by the creep that kidnapped Mara as a young girl. But, I did not "care" about them --I was not made to care for any of the characters. The perv who kidnapped Mara was barely mentioned at all and when he was the writing seemed lacking in my opinion. ALL extremely unlikeable characters except for the two children. I gave it three stars due to the fact that it was an original story and I did want to find out what happened in the end.
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

This book was not for me.

The author had me interested for the first half. He has an easy and page turning writing style and did a nice job at writing one particularly repugnant character, who, for the first half, was fun to read about.

But about halfway through this book took a nosedive for me - first with things that were totally unbelievable like implausible plot twists and explanations for behavior that made no sense. But where I really struggled was the ending. It was both ridiculous and telegraphed from a mile away. I’ll just say, I read and enjoy a lot of stories about unlikeable characters. But you gotta give me SOMEONE well developed and interesting enough to root for.

Finally, and this is hard to say without spoiling - the main thing that pushed this down to a two star for me is that I was pretty offended by one aspect of the “resolution” of the kidnapping. Mind you, this is coming from someone who reads a lot of twisted murder stories and is pretty hard to offend, (I enjoyed Gone Girl and American Psycho, for example). But this ending was just completely off-putting.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I knew I was going to love this as soon as I saw the cover! It was just one of those thrillers that you could not get enough of. Go read it!

I wanted to read this book as I was intrigued by the premise: a young woman, kidnapped at just 11 is returned to her family.

However, the writing and storyline just didn’t live up to the early promise. The characters were all unlikeable and the big twist wasn’t so much a twist as the author deciding things had happened differently and saying it was so. There were also procedural mistakes that grated- there is simply no way that the police wouldn’t have checked the garden and Damien would never have been able to get access so easily. I read a lot of crime and these are the sort of details that can really ruin the enjoyment of a good story.

I’m really disappointed as I wanted to love this but it was mediocre at best. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

This book wasn’t terrible. I never found interest in any of the characters because they all loped back and forth from decent to disturbing. The twist was different than I would have normally expected out if a thriller and was also somewhat of a let down. Give it a chance if you’re looking for a simple read.

4 stars: I really enjoyed this book and finished it in a day - I just couldn’t put it down!

His Wife’s Sister is a fast-paced psychological thriller that quickly builds suspense from the first chapter and keeps you guessing throughout.

The plot moved along quickly and kept me interested; I just had to know what was going to happen next!

My opinion of the main characters kept changing throughout the book, especially Damian, whose character was the main point of view. Most of the time he was unlikeable, and came across as controlling, but he also seemed to care about the best interests of his family.

The twist was unexpected, but as it developed it became more unbelievable. There are still some unanswered questions, but I quite like that not everything is perfectly tied up.

I’m glad I discovered this book and will be looking out for more to read from this author.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers and looking for a page-turner, then give this one a go!