Eva is dealing with her father and his dementia when one day the hospital calls and confronts her with the news that her sister has brain injuries. But until this day Eva didn’t knew she had a sister, 16 years older than her.
The beginning was quite slow though after the first part it took up speed and was full with tension. Definitely a book with a lot of twists and turns to keep your mind busy and a bunch of unforseeable plot twists.

Thank you NetGalley / Bookouture for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so looking forward to reading this book and I was not disappointed, I loved the fast pacing of the story, the roller coaster of what was going on as well as the roller coaster of emotions that you could sense through the characters, I was guessing a bit as the storyline had a few things thrown in that I never though off and in some places my mind was screaming out, I really loved this book and look for forward to reading more from Rona

I had earlier read Rona Halsall’s ‘The Ex-Boyfriend’ and expected a light & easy read. While I was right in general, there was quite a lot which was different about this book, and I found it to be much better as well.

Eva is 24 years old and is now helping her stepmother Linda take care of her dad who has dementia, and his health has deteriorated considerably. Eva lost her biological mother the day she was born, and Linda has raised her right since her infancy. One day Linda receives a call from a hospital and informs Eva that she has a sister Nancy who is in hospital with a head injury. Nancy ran away from home right away Eva was born and was presumed dead, and Eva was never told about her. Eva is shocked but volunteers to go to the hospital and check on what Nancy needs.

The book starts off very slowly and just about crawls till about half-way. The second half, however, packs very good pace, twists and ties up the story very well. As I got past halfway, I loved how the story progressed and though I feel such a slow first half was not necessary, the build-up in the later part was imaginative, interesting, and made me sit up. As the author states in the afterword, this book tackles concepts of entrapment leading to a kind of modern-day slavery very well.

Overall, an interesting read.

My rating: 3.75 / 5.

Aged 24 and struggling to accept her father's dementia, Eva finds out she has a sister 16 years older than her. And that's not the only secret she's going to unearth.
The Missing Sister is a family related psychological thriller, with a lot of twists and turns to keep you engaged till the very end.
I have to say that this is a very slow burn, I found the first part hard to get into honestly, but then the second one starts and BAM it hits you and becomes a real page turner, definitely unputdownable!
Highly recommended if you don't mind a slow burn.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow what a brilliant thrilling family drama this is, I just couldn't stop reading and loved every page, so well written.

All the characters were so well described and what a great ending it was, I just cannot speak highly enough about this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it. Well done Rona.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book.

This newest book from Rona Halsall is a fantastic psychological thriller. I was hooked from the first few pages and just couldn't put it down. It's dark, fast paced and just a little bit creepy, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. There were lots of "Oh , I didn't see that coming" comments from me throughout the book. I love that this story is unpredictable so I wasn't able to guess the outcome.

Just as you think the story has reached its conclusion, it's then that Rona hits you with a final punch. It's such a joy to read a book that has the pace just right and doesn't fall flat or rushes the ending. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes 'on the edge of your seat' thrillers.

I’ve read a few Rona Halsall books and enjoyed them all. This was no exception. Eva’s dad has dementia and 24 year old Eva has taken a break from work to help her step mother, Linda, care for him. Eva’s mother died when she was born so Linda is the only mother she has known. The phone rings, Linda answers and the colour drains from her face. The call is from a hospital in Wales. Eva’s 40 year old sister, Nancy, has had an accident, a head injury, and is now being discharged but she needs someone to care for her for a few days. What the? Eva never knew she had a sister and her dad and Linda thought she was dead. Clearly that is not the case.

Eva is furious that she was never told she had a sister. The rationale was that she was dead anyway. After the mother died, a 16 year old Nancy (who hated Linda) ran away from home and faked her death. Since the family had never heard from her they finally assumed she really was dead. Eva decides to go and pick her up, Linda tries to stop her but that only reinforces Eva’s determination. Now, if you think this is going to be a happy family reunion - think again!

Nancy seems decidedly strange and stand offish. There is evidence in the farmhouse that Nancy lives in that other people had, or still do, live there but Nancy insists she lives alone. Very strange! There are also things that go bump in the night and other things that go missing. All in all, Eva is a little freaked out and not so sure she wants to stay any longer - but, can she actually leave?

While the first half of the book is a little slow the second half is wonderfully fraught with tension. I actually enjoyed the start as well, thinking there were many interesting ways the plot could develop from there. And the way author chose to do so was inspired. You never quite knew how things were going to end so I was madly reading, very keen to see how it ended. I think one of the takeaways from this book is that most people are not all “good” or all “bad”. Most of us have the capacity for both good and bad behaviour and it is often the circumstances we find ourselves in that determine how we will act.

Rona Halsall has a talent for putting human behaviour under the microscope and playing with our emotions. I very much enjoyed this story and will be looking for more from this author. My thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Rona Halsall for providing a copy to review. My opinions are my own.

Whenever I pick up one of Rona’s books I know that I’m going to get a gripping tale that will keep me turning the pages and this one didn’t disappoint. An unputdownable family drama with dark secrets, complicated characters and plenty of twists and turns, also an original take on coercive control and the depths some people go to manipulate someone to do what they want. The story starts with Eva’s mother getting a phone call to say that her older sister has been injured. But Eva didn’t know she had an older sister, and her mother’s explanation as to why she wasn’t told makes her curious enough to drive the few hundred miles to pick up her sister from hospital and look after her when she is better. Her home turns out to be in a very remote farmhouse and the story gets creepier and creepier. Told from different viewpoints this book held my attention right to the unexpected punch at the end. Highly recommended.

Rona Halsall does not disappoint in her new domestic thriller, The Missing Sister! Full of twist and turns, it's the story of Eva who at 24 discovers that she has an older sister, Nancy, that her parents had ever told her existed! She sets off to take care of her after Nancy has been in a bad accident. But why hadn't anyone ever told her about Nancy? Why has Nancy stayed away for so long? And why isn't her mother excited about the recent turn of events? This is definitely an unputdownable story with so much family drama, you might just come to appreciate your own boring family even more! Hahahaha!

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an early copy of The Missing Sister. A Rona Halsall new novel, soooooo exciting but it wasn’t. I’m sorry to say this was nothing like I like to read, it was creepy and WOW just hard to read. Very sad how sick a human can be and what they do to others. I couldn’t wait to be done because I was very disturbed by this book. The ending was a beautiful one but the journey to get to it was hard!

This book dives straight into the life of Eva and very quickly she is shocked to learn that she has a sister she never knew about.
From there the story continues and I must admit I’m one of those people who like to read the clues and guess what is going to happen.
I thought I was being clever and had guessed but boy was I wrong!
After a few chapters of the tension building, this book just goes off like a rocket - believe me it just gets better and better. There’s a particular point where you realise there is so much more to this story and the twists and turns start.
I stayed up into the early hours to finish the book as I needed to find out how it would all end.
I would highly recommend this book as an excellent psychological thriller and rated it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The premise was great but it did fall short for me. Still it was a decent and dark family/ domestic thriller.

The setting was atmospheric. But other than that the writing wasn't that impressive. I feel like the main characters avoided pressing end asking questions because the author didn't want to or know how to move the plot along and they become annoying. Eva was incredibly weak in all senses.

So much information and things were unnecessarily added that didn't add any value.

I'm rounding from 2.5 to 3🌟

Stories about family secrets always intrigue me so this book sounded perfect for me and, even if I was worried when I found out that the heroine's father had dementia (hard to escape in a book when something reminds you of a current real life problem), I then enjoyed following her as she went to meet the sister she had never known and started to explore the uncomfortably isolated place where that woman lived. I also particularly enjoyed reading the part about Nancy (the newly discovered sister), which told us what happened after she ran away from home 24 years earlier, right after Eva's birth.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories with dark secrets, tension and twists.

I have read all Rona Halsall’s books and The missing sister, her 7th book doesn’t disappoint.
Eva’s mother Linda gets a phone call from a hospital that her sister Nancy has been admitted with a head injury. Linda is shocked because she thought Nancy committed suicide and Eva didn’t even know that she had a sister. The hospital also said that Nancy would be soon discharged but can’t stay on her own in her desolate cottage in the hills of Snowdonia. Eva is curious and excited to know her sister she didn’t know she had so she decides to go and stay with her while she recuperates, against the wished of her mother.
But after a few days, Eva realises that some things don’t add up with what Nancy has told her and her mother Linda. After 24 years is this really Nancy and why has she been lost for 24 years and not contacted the family sooner?
This is another great novel from Rona Halsall. This is a good page turner with and original storyline with lots of twists and turns, and secrets and lies. Also, how one person can manipulate someone to do their bidding for such a long time. Four stars from me.

I absolutely love this authors books and was super excited to be able to read this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint. This was a brilliant psychological thriller that had me hooked from the very first page and I couldn’t put down and devoured it in a day. The story was gripping and had lot of twists and turns and hooked me in it was a dark tale of lies and deception and how families are not always as they seem and how events that happened in the past can shadow and shape the future.

What would you do when, one afternoon, you received a phone call turning your whole world upside down?
Would you rush away trying to find answers to the one million questions running through your mind and in the meantime putting some distance between yourself and the lies you have been fed all those years or are you jumping out of the frying pan into the fire?
You start wondering if there is anyone left to trust. People lie to protect loved ones or to protect themselves and keep their secrets hidden? People lie because they want to help you or to gain something for themselves?
Can broken relationships be glued together again or are they beyond repair? Honesty certainly is a big step in the right direction, but will it be enough?
I liked the way the story was structured. The first part takes place in the present. The second part takes us back in time and little by little we travel through the years until we are in the present again, ready to devour the third part.
From the very beginning a feeling of creepiness crept into the book. I felt I had to be on guard the whole time. There never seemed to be a safe place. It was like there was always someone watching, following your every move and that’s just great. (when it’s in a book, of course 😉 ). I thoroughly enjoyed it. 5 stars.

Thank you, Rona Halsall and Bookouture

Eva returns home to care for her sick father, who has Dementia. She feels guilty that her stepmom has been the only one home with him. One day, a shocking call reveals something Eva never knew...she has a sister, one she’s never known about in her 24 years of life. Her name is Nancy, and she’s in the hospital and needs someone to come get her.

After a brief and unsatisfying explanation from her stepmom as to why she never knew of Nancy’s existence, Eva decides she will drive the few hours and pick Nancy up from the hospital...and stay with her until she’s better. Eva is excited to get to know the sister she never knew about.

What could go wrong staying in a remote farmhouse with someone you literally don’t know?

This is definitely one where it is best to go in blind. I’ll be honest. Part 1 of this book barely held my attention. I found the characters annoying and unbelievable, and my mind was wandering. Then, we get to the Part 2, and BAM!!! I was hooked! The only problem is that part 2 doesn’t start until 46% of the way into the book.

After that, this is a compelling and suspenseful tale with quite a few surprises in store. I love when a book goes in an unexpected direction, and that is what it did here. I found the second half to be tense, fast-paced, and gripping. I would’ve been more appreciative of Part 1 if it came after Part 2, but then there wouldn’t have been twists.

I recommend this book to those who don’t mind a slow start...knowing that the payoff may be worth it.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on: 4/26/21.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

This had a super cool premise-Eva’s mom gets a call from the hospital saying that her daughter has been brought in and needs someone to come to the hospital before they can discharge her-the only problem is, she thought her daughter committed suicide over 20 years ago. Eva decides to go to the hospital and see what’s going on, with the hopes that it really is her sister and get some answers as to where she’s been all this time. However, once Eva starts uncovering some of the layers to her “sister” she realizes that there’s a whole lot of secrets in her family, and her sister isn’t the only one keeping them.
This was a dark family/domestic thriller and I liked that there were so many secrets revealed and just when you think that there’s no more, there’s more! Some of them I saw coming, but others I didn’t. Definitely a page turner.

The Missing Sister is the sixth book I’ve read by Rona Halsall and this I thought was up there with the best.
Eva has given her career up to help her step mother look after her ill father. That is until Eva receives a phone call that says her sister is in hospital and needs help at home for a few days while she recovers. Eva doesn’t have a sister does she? It turns out though that she does and she went missing when Eva was born, it was presumed she had committed suicide so her father and step mum decided to not mention anything about Nancy. Eva rushes to help her sister who lives on a farm in Snowdonia but not everything is as it seems and it soon becomes apparent that maybe Eva has bitten off a little more than she can manage as Nancy is nothing like what she thought she’d be like.
This was a decent psychological thriller, it started off at a fast pace and although slowed down a little throughout the middle part it was still an enjoyable read that dealt with some sensitive issues.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The Missing Sister - Rona Halsall

Eva's life is thrown into turmoil when she receives a phone call from a hospital saying her sister has been rushed in with head injuries.

Eva doesn't have a sister.

So begins this atmospheric unconventional thriller.

Most of it is set in a remote hill farm in Snowdownia, I found this rather atmospheric, particularly during the early sections.

The story is pretty good, though I found things to be a little over explained, not leaving much doubt or questioning. I do appreciate some readers prefer this kind of clarity over the anxiety and confusion found in many modern psychological thrillers.

Sorry to say that I thought it started well, but didn't maintain the atmosphere or tension. Part 1 was the best in my opinion, and I found it rather slow and steady as it progressed.

Obviously, there are some secrets and lies revealed but nothing that shocked me or that I haven't seen before.

3.5*


Thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutre