The Sister-in-Law is a gripping story about the frailty of family and a battle of wills between a wife and a sister-in-law, hellbent on revenge. The Wife: Lane won Candace's heart over chocolate martinis and karaoke. But weeks into their whirlwind marriage, Candace realized Lane came with burdensome baggage in the form of his possessive live-in sister and her eerily watchful six-year-old son. Lane had a secret that seemed to hold him hostage, and Candace would do anything to uncover it. The Sister-in-Law: Harper was the kind of woman who cooked homemade meals and dusted under the furniture. It was the least she could do for her brother after her husband's mysterious death, and Lane took her and her kids in. Then Candace showed up like a tornado passing through, threatening and destructive. But Harper had other plans for her new "sister," plans Lane could never find out about. The Husband: All Lane had ever wanted was a white-picket-fence life. The wife. The two-point-five kids. The happy little family.

Everything seemed to be falling into place with Candace until Harper's jealous streak got in the way, again. But choosing between his sister and wife would be costly and knowing Harper, the price would be blood. This is one psychotic sister that will not let her brother slip through her hands no matter what the cost may be. This is a captivating, enthralling and well written domestic-based thriller and Crane’s best and most ambitious book to date. It's so often that the obsessive and/or possessive character in a story is a man using his power horribly and in a controlling manner over a woman that's it's interesting to see the tables turned. It's even weirder that this controlling and toxic relationship is between a brother and sister rather than those in a romantic relationship. It's, at its heart, a tale of extreme revenge and the mindset ”if I cannot have him then no one can”. This is an addictive, riveting and deeply unsettling story and one that holds you in its vice-like grip from the very beginning.

This was my first book by Pamela Crane and it definitely won’t be the last because this was freaking awesome. I really enjoyed the multiple points of view because I was able to see what each character was feeling and thinking.

I actually really liked Candace especially when she would stand up for herself against Harper. She made me laugh a lot and I found her very intriguing. I absolutely could not stand Harper one single little bit. I found her to be stuck up and really judgemental. I wasn’t surprised that her mother was exactly the same.

I never predicted that ending but oh boy was it brilliant. I love how the author was like oh look over there when in actual fact I should have been looking at what was right in front of me the whole time. This was a great story and I can’t wait to see what is next.

I recieved an advanced copy for free, and this is my honest opinion.

3.5 stars
This is a good read.
Harper arrives home to find her husband dead. It looks to be a suicide but she calls her brother for help as she doesn’t know what to do.
They both realise the life insurance won't pay out if his death is by suicide so Lane makes it look like a break in gone wrong.
Harper then turns up on Lane’s doorstep asking to stay with him with her two children as well. Unbeknownst to her, Lane has married Candace after a bit if a whirlwind romance.
The two women couldn’t be much more different and clash almost immediately.
It’s clear we don’t know the whole truth and it was good how it all slowly unravelled through the story.
Thanks to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Sister-in-Law by Pamela Crane is a solid 4 star read, although it was a bit of a slow burner for me. That being said, well-written, complex characters and an intriguing premise certainly kept me turning the pages.

When Candace marries Lane, she has no idea that his sister Harper and her children will be a part of the domestic package. Harper's husband Ben has died under mysterious circumstances, and she must rely on her brother Lane to see her through this difficult time. Soon Lane is caught between a wife and a sister, whose dislike of each other is very much apparent from the very start. There is not room for three in this marriage, particularly when secrets and jealousies pervade the domestic tableau.

While I did not find any of these characters to be particularly sympathetic, I was engaged enough to see it all through, and would be interested to read more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an ARC of this title.

Wow... this had me gripped from page one. An emotional roller-coaster that's tense and twisty... all the things you look for in a Psychological Thriller.

Absolutely loved it.

The Sister-in-Law starts with a bang. Harper arrives home to find her husband Ben lying on the couch with a knife embedded in his chest, a suicide note by his side. She immediately calls her brother Lane. They are close siblings, each always there for the other. Harper realises her husband’s suicide means financial ruin and so with Lane’s help she reconstructs the scene to make it look like a burglary gone wrong, pocketing the note.
The subsequent police investigation draws a blank on possible culprits, meaning the insurance company is dragging its feet on payment while suicide might still be an option.. Because of the delay, Harper decides to rent out her house and moves in with Lane and his new wife Candace.
The Sister-in-Law is a three way narrative (Candace, Harper and Lane’s), which means we get to see both women’s side of the story as well as that of Lane, caught between the two of them as chaotic Candace constantly clashes with ultra-neat and tidy Harper.
Nothing in this novel is what it appears. Everyone has their secrets. Everyone, it seems, could be the murderer. Because the more she thinks about it, the surer Harper is that someone has killed him. Culprits abound as she discovers things about Ben she was unaware of. And then Candace. Unhappy with the intrusion of not only Lane’s sister but also her two dreadful children. Lane soon finds himself caught between his loyalty to his sister and his love for his new wife.
A wonderful twisty read that deals with family relationships, murder and ever surfacing secrets concerning Harper’s husband Ben. A man it seems, she never really knew at all.
I would like to thank Avon and Netgalley for an ARC of The Sister-in-Law in exchange for an honest review.

Tense and suspenseful, The Sister-in-Law is a creeping, domestic thriller novel.

The book follows three main characters - siblings Harper and Lane, and Lane's new wife Candace. The lives of the trio are intertwined and woven together by lies, deceit, and plenty of secrets that soon get revealed throughout the story.

The characters are all different and each has his or her own flaws, strengths, and weaknesses. Despite this, though, I struggled to empathise with any of the characters and found their personalities to be rather uninspiring. Much of the early parts of the book are taken up by verbal catfights between Harper and Candace which I felt detracted from the main plot.

It's always difficult to know who to root for in a thriller like this, but sadly, I was not invested in the characters' lives at all. They seem to change their opinions on a whim, going from one extreme to the next, chapter by chapter. This leaves the story feeling disjointed and I did find my attention wandering a few times while reading the book.

This book's pace is quite slow, helping to build the tension and create a tauter atmosphere as the stakes climb higher. While the overall plot flows well, it does drag at points yet seems to rush through others. The initial premise and set-up of the story are great and it's really involving right from the start. However, the rest of the book seemed unable to live up to its promising opening. There are multiple twists and turns throughout the book - as well as a few red herrings - but unfortunately, I saw the final twist coming a long way off.

While The Sister-in-Law wasn't for me, it might just be your next favourite read!

This book was everything I love about thrillers. Completely kept me guessing right until the last chapter and I didn't guess anything correctly. It was very clever, the author does not shy away from providing lots of information on the characters on their past and manages to do this and still not give the end away.
I particularly liked how this book never really relaxed, each chapter could almost be an autonomous story itself.
I would definitely read any more books by this author.
5 stars from me!!!

Thank you to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Wow! I really freaking enjoyed this book! There were so many plot twists, some of which I did see coming but some good ones I didn't expect at all. The writing was absolutely fantastic. I was drawn into this story from the start and stayed captivated on the edge of my seat until it was over. I ended up finishing this book in two sittings, I didn't want to put it down the first time but I just couldn't stay awake. It wrapped up so beautifully. There was no drag or over explanation of what happened after, it was literally just enough.

So let's talk characters. I didn't like any of them. I thought they were fleshed out enough so that I got to get to know each one a little bit but I still didn't know who I could trust and who I couldn't. We get the story from the perspective of Candace, the wife; Lane, the husband; and Harper the sister-in-law. I loved seeing into each one of their perspectives. Each character voice was distinguishable. Floating back and forth from perspective was effortless and smooth.

At this point I feel like I'm just gushing, which I totally am. however I'm going to leave this here with this final thought. I've never read Pamela Crane before but dammit I can't wait to devour another one of her books.

Harper comes home one night and discovers her husband has a knife buried in his chest. He is gone but the question is who did it. Harper immediately becomes worried that she will no longer be entitled to her husbands life insurance due to his suicide. She calls her brother to come over and help stage the scene to look like he was murdered instead.

Harper moves in with her brother as she cannot stand the sight of living in the house where her husband died. However, what’s news to Harper is that her brother decided to get married and his new wife is also pregnant with their first child.

Harper immediately has a bad feeling about her new sister in law but what unfolds she could not have ever imagined.

I read this author for the first time last year and absolutely loved the book and was excited to get a chance to read this one. This book grips you pretty quick and I had the reaction like “ok let’s go this is going to be fantastic”. I did find parts in the middle a little bit slower but the end is incredible fast paced and just had so many twists that I couldn’t have predicted. The ending wrapped up all the questions I had nicely and overall really enjoyed the story.

Wow , I loved this book . More twists and turns than I was expecting. It’s true what they say , you marry someone and marry their family too . Reading this book , I thought I had the story sussed out but I was pleasantly surprised. Great read , definitely 5 star

SO much drama! Harper's husband Ben died, leaving her bereft and confused so she, and her kids, moved in with her brother Lane. One problem- Lane has recently romanced and married Candace. Two very very different women both competing for Lane. Oh, and a creepy kid. The thing is, Candace has a secret and so does Harper. Who will Lane protect? All three of these people have good points and bad points and they turn them on each other. It's very twisty and entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I read this inside on a. rainy dreary day but it would be an excellent beach read.

Hmmm, who'd of thunk?
Harper comes home to find her husband dead with a suicide note. She calls her ever present brother, Lane for help. The problem is the insurance won't pay out on a suicide so they devise to stage it so it looks like murder. Harper can't stay in her house so she takes her two kids and moves in with Lane and his new wife, Candice. Both women vie for Lane's attention and sparks fly. The story is narrated by these three with both the women being unreliable narrators leading to miss directions and the question of who did it. Throw in Harper and Lanes mother who has her own questionable history with the characters and you've got a real page turning mystery.
I found this to be a well written story with a plausible plot that kept me guessing from the start. Harpers dead husband had lots of secrets and had a negative impact on lots of people. So many possibilities but only one stunning conclusion.
If you enjoy a mystery with lots of red herrings and questions surrounding almost every character, I recommend you add this to your TBR and pick it up as soon as it's released later this year.

I loved this book - I devoured it in one sitting. I could not put it down once I started it as there were so many twists and turns that I just needed to finish it.
I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

What do you get when you take:

- A POV character, Harper, - mother of two small children (one of them very strange), Harper is in shock from the discovery of her husband Ben’s body. It’s clear very early on that Ben is not the man Harper thought he was.

- The second main POV character, a mysterious sister-in-law, Candace. A beautifully jagged survivor with a past, Candace is Harper’s sister-in-law, a product of a rushed marriage to Harper’s brother, Lane. Candace is an enigma - a tough and antagonistic teller of stories that just do not add up.

- A third POV character, Candace’s brother, Lane takes the narrative reins only briefly, contributing more questions than answers to the puzzling plot. An E.R. nurse, and a pillar of support, Lane is willing to share his sisters secrets and may be hiding some of his own - he is definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Who will you end up trusting? What are their motivations and what does it all mean in this murky trail they are taking us on? And ultimately - who, in this story, is good and who is “evil”?

“The problem with evil is that is was sticky. It left a residue that you spent every waking moment trying to wipe off. But you couldn’t. It stained your soul. And over time it spread, making you ugly to the point where you didn’t recognize where you end and the evil begins. “

Loss, betrayal, trauma, grief, love in all its tragic yearnings - in their POV entries these characters reveal soft vulnerable insides that conflict (or perhaps explain?) their cruel and unusual treatment of others around them. And could it be that one of them is a murderer?

If you enjoy head-scratchers you will enjoy this story which has you guessing and then guessing again right up to the finale.

A fast-paced read, this book will hold your interest on a train ride or lazy afternoon. The story is thick with dialogue, and in some cases, particularly in conversations between Candace and Harper, the dialogue moves so quickly that I found it hard to keep track of who was speaking.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Impossible to believe a character who is distraught over he hubby on the settee in front of her with a knife in his chest suddenly within seconds starts moaning about her floorboards and window being smashed,if she really was like that then equally dont have the patience or time to read a book about her so either way was a DNF for me

This book was a bit of a slow burner, it started off well and then I got a little bit bogged down with the different characters. Unfortunately none of them were particularly likeable and I couldn’t find myself rooting for any of them. It did pick up a lot at the end though and I didn’t see the twist coming which is always a good test of a thriller book for me.

So this had the promise to be amazing - and I love a good old domestic thriller. However this did fall a little short in my opinion.
When Harper moves in with her brother Lane after her husbands death, she is shocked to find out he has married his new girlfriend of 5 minutes. Candace is hideous, Harper is hideous and their treatment of each other is hideous! But sadly it isn’t done in that clever way that I love so much, but just an unbelievable bitchy horrible way that dominates the book.
Having said that; I still enjoyed it, and was glad to see how the ending tied everything together.

Pamela Crane, The Sister-in-Law, Avon A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London, 2021.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this proof for review.

Everyone in The Sister-in-Law has created a tangled web of truths, half-truths, lies, prejudices, positive and negative qualities, and excuses for seeing their own desires and demands as paramount. Both Harper Paris and Candace Moriarty could be the sister-in-law of the title: they are equal protagonists and the relationship is fraught for both when they are forced to live together. The novel begins with Harper returning home and finding her husband, Ben, dead, a knife in his hand and a suicide note beside him. Her subsequent dependence upon her brother extends their domestic tangled web to include the police and a murder investigation. The story ends a year later with a solution to the mystery of Ben’s death, development of the relationships, and adults and children moving forward from the lies, deceits, and dependence to some resolution.

Candace is newly married to Lane Flynn, Harper’s brother. The two women are established as competitors for Lane’s attention, financial support, and house. Candace is in residence and is a strong woman. However, her position is weakened by Harper’s long history of closeness with her brother; his mother’s disapproval; and Harper’s children’s dislike. Unknown to Candace, Jackson and Elise’s negative behaviour evolves from past as well as present events. The webs woven by the children, and on their behalf by their family, are smaller and less complex than those of the adults. However, they also impact on events between the sisters-in-law.

Harper, Candace, and Lane tell their stories in separate chapters over the weeks of the investigation, describing current and past events from their perspectives. Harper’s recall of the past provides an explanation for her behaviour. However, this backstory is fed in drips, so that the reader is constantly caught up in exasperation with her behaviour in the present. This is cleverly done so that Candace’s vehement defence of her right to have her home to herself is not challenged too early in the narrative. Although the picture of Candace’s shoddy housework and slovenly behaviour may not excite sympathy with all readers, her reaction to Harper’s criticism and determination to impose her standards is understandable.

Candace’s back story is also established slowly so that Harper’s immediate antagonism to her sister-in-law is shown to be based on jealousy and prejudice. The explanations for the women’s behaviour are developed gradually enough to create constant tension around the way in which the characters can be understood. Both women are protecting themselves, their children in Harper’s case and unborn baby in that of Candace, as well as secrets. Their common goal is to win Lane as their saviour. He is expected to provide stability against their present difficulties and common experience of past partners’ failures. Lane’s character is largely developed through the women’s demands upon him and his reactions. He is strangely insubstantial. In contrast, Ben’s tangled web unravels slowly, with explanations for his behaviour, and then death, slowly becoming apparent.

At the same time as there are resentments and, on Harper’s part, attempts to destroy her brother’s marriage, there are instances in which the women are depicted as trying to become friends. I found these attempts unbelievable. It is difficult to comprehend women set up to compete with nothing to mitigate their competition changing course so rapidly. Not only are they in competition but the sisters-in-law depict starkly different lifestyles. There is nothing to suggest that they could overcome this general difference through bonding over simple things. After all, the expected baby is a source of contention, as are the children; more basically they have radically different tastes in shopping and attitudes to household duties.

The mystery of Ben’s death provides a welcome change from the, at times, claustrophobic feel of the characters’ domestic lives. I found it hard to warm to the characters who seemed so entangled in unpleasant events of their own making. That there was some explanation for the characters’ behaviours is welcome, giving readers an understanding of how children cope in such adverse circumstances, and dealing well with Harper’s relationship with Jackson. However, Harper’s ruminations on her feelings and sympathy for herself conflicted with her lack of compassion for her brother caught up in her trouble and its negative impact on his marriage.

This novel was a mixture of clever devices, such as the slowly developing back stories that created the opportunity for the reader to be drawn back and forth between liking and disliking the characters, and to me, some actions that lacked authenticity. The latter left me largely unsatisfied with the novel. However, I recognise that Pamela Crane has written a competent domestic drama, with a well thought out mysterious death. In addition, she has provided plenty of twists and turns to maintain interest and developed characters that can excite both sympathy and antipathy.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the premise a lot but at the same time the story relied to much on trivialities to fill in the space between the story relevant scenes, making the pacing feel drawn out at times. I enjoyed Harper and Candace and how the friction between the too carried most of the tension in the story but also felt that some reactions and actions were more plot driven than natural to their character. Lane wasn’t as prominent as a POV character as I thought he would be however I understand that the story wasn’t as much about him as it was about Harper and Candace. All in all this was a solid 4 stars read.