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I really enjoyed this twist on the abducted children thriller trope. Instead of being told linearly from the moment of abduction forward, we meet the children as adults. We know they survived, but we also see what emotional and mental health impact being abducted had on them. Chapters alternate among characters and also among timelines . We see both the past and the present, and how they converge together at the 20th anniversary of their abduction.

In a way it may seem this twist removes all suspense – we know the sisters survived the abduction and were returned. But in fact it was still quite a suspenseful read. There’s still a lot of mystery. For example, we at first don’t know who did the abduction or why. We don’t know exactly what happened to the sisters when they were abducted and why that might have led to their current behaviors. And we also don’t know if Leah especially is correct to be anxious about something nefarious happening on the 20th anniversary or if it’s her PTSD and OCD tricking her.

I like how this book goes about exploring that what makes something traumatic isn’t necessarily the exact degree of physical trauma experienced but rather each individual’s own perception of the situation. Trauma is very personal, and what traumatizes some and not others is also personal. We see this very clearly in the sisters who had varying degrees of physical harm during the abduction, and yet their long-term trauma responses differed but not in direct proportion to the traumas they experienced. This is a very trauma-informed read.

The book also explores family and sisters. What makes us call someone a sister, and what makes us call someone family? Who gets to truly be our family and who doesn’t. What impact do those relationships have on us.

In general Leah’s OCD is well represented, although her magical number is a little low at 3. I understand why Leah’s number is 3 but a higher number is more common and obviously a higher magical number is more invasive in day to day life. Leah, for example, feels a compulsion to clean the floor 3 times. Cleaning the floor 10 times for a magical number of 10 is obviously more invasive in daily life. I also personally feel that she puts too much blame on herself for her OCD, and those around her let her. I’m fine with this happening but I’d like for it to be corrected by the end of the book. Instead she continues to blame herself for causing those around her to suffer from her OCD rather than understanding it’s not her fault.

Marie’s addiction is not explored as thoroughly as I would have liked but that’s my own personal preference. What is there is well-done. Carly’s feelings as the oldest who took on a lot of responsibility even at the age of 13 I found well-done.

Overall this is a creative exploration of the abducted children thriller trope that turns it on its head, following them as adults with flashbacks to childhood that still maintains suspense throughout. Recommended to those seeking a thriller more focused on the psychological than physical risks.

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Happy Halloween week! The Stolen Sisters is a new psychological thriller from Louise Jensen set in the UK that turns the abducted child plot on its head. Rather than seeing the abduction and the thrills coming from will they make it out, we meet the three abducted sisters as adults. We know they survived the abduction relatively physically unharmed but we see the mental health impacts in their adult lives. So where does the thrill come from? The 20th anniversary of the abduction is approaching and two sisters start receiving notes they find threatening. Have they really known the truth of the abduction all along? And is it too late to keep something sinister from happening again? Pictures with a honeynut squash. Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Link in profile to purchase the book or read my full review.

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Initially I was concerned that this might be too dark for me given the subject matter, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is certainly disturbing but the individual narratives keep it moving along on quite the roller-coaster ride to find out the truth behind the kidnapping. Louise Jensen has done it again with a book that is thoroughly engrossing and wickedly twisty! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Clear your schedule because you won't want to put this one down! An all-absorbing emotional domestic thriller with lots of twists, turns, secrets and trauma. An emotional read and so worth it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

Hooked me right from the start. The chapter with the girls being kidnapped truly had my heart in my mouth. You know the inevitable is going to happen but you're still hoping desperately that it doesn't. I wanted to reach in and grab the girls and pull them back into the safety of their home. And then you discover them as adults and their lives are very different from each other and you're not sure why. Twists and turns and constant guessing!

This book had an interesting premise, which drew me to read it. I have other books by Louise Jensen in my personal library, which I haven't read, so this was a first for me by this author. As much as I wanted to like this book, I just didn't. We follow the story of three sisters, who were kidnapped while looking for their dog that had escaped. I just could not get into this book, and was honestly quite bored. Also, the alternating timeline made the story jumbled for me, and I was getting very confused keeping the characters straight, who was who, and what was going on in that sisters' life. Sadly, this was just a miss for me. It really didn't feel like a thriller either, more of a drama.

Lots and lots of twists and turns. Just when you think you know what has happened, another twist appears again.

The Stolen Sisters is a story about Carly, the oldest, twins Leah and Marie. Carly is watching her younger sisters and the dog somehow gets loose and they all go looking for him. Only they find themselves being taken away from home. The story is told from several points of view and weaves the past and the present together.

A shocking reveal will take you for a ride until the very end.

4.5 Stars

Oh wow, what a book! This is my fourth read by this author and I have loved every single one. In this one we have three sisters who were kidnapped twenty years ago and all three blame themselves for what happened. Carly was thirteen at the time and twins Leah and Marie were only eight. Each deals with the aftermath in their own way but all three are suffering. The story is told in now and then chapters from the sisters point of view and we also have Leah's husband, George, chime in with his own chapters.

There were so many surprises in this book and none of them did I see coming. I liked how the author dealt with the mental health issues with sensitivity, and there was a new one I enjoyed learning about. The plot sucked me right in and wouldn't let me go, I just had to find out what was going on...not only with the sisters but with George as well. I literally couldn't put this book down and read it in a day. I am shocked at how surprised I was with all the twists, and believe me there are plenty. I highly recommend this read and all others by this author.

Brilliant book. Loved the characters, loved the suspense. Couldn’t put it down and looking forward to reading more from the author!

I really enjoyed this one! It was a particularly creepy psychological thriller with tons of twists and turns. The author did a great job of slowly doling out pieces of the story to make the reader need to read more! I will definitely look for more books by this author, loved it!

The present day hasn’t been too kind to sisters Carly, Leah, and Marie because 20 years ago, they were kidnapped. Their busy working parents places the eldest sister Carly in charge of watching her twin sisters. After their family dog gets out, the sister search for him. The dog doesn’t come home that night and neither do the sisters. The book alternates between the present and the frightening past, leading up to the 20 year anniversary of their abduction. No matter how hard they try to move on from their kidnapping, nothing ever stays in the past.

The build up of Leah’s kidnapping story in present day was decent, even leaving the reader with a good twist of the people behind the horrendous event. I was leaning towards a solid four star rating for the ongoing tension, more because of the past when the girls were held captive than the present. Expect authentic heart pounding while reading the kidnapping scenes. The girls face authentic danger as their prospects rapidly dim in the care of their abductors.

However, several issues pulled this book down. The “mentally ill or unstable” unreliable narrator has been overplayed, so there’s nothing new here. Leah’s diagnosis, OCD, and many phobias becomes too repetitive and doesn’t create any thrilling events in her present day, which should be expected with the countdown letters to the kidnapping anniversary. We get a lot of “maybe” she saw her kidnapper in her daily life, but it’s more like she cries wolf at every corner because of her special diagnosis.

An unfortunate shift happens, breaking all the building tension in the story, when Marie shares, or rather flat out “tells” her side of events. The same happens with Carly while quick chapters drop, only handing out whiplash. Reveals come fast but they no longer hold any hard punches. This letdown is very similar to the Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, which also lost all its building tension when the storytelling shifts to the husband’s side of the kidnapping tale.

I really wish the author stuck with Leah’s narrative to see the story through. It’s her child, marriage, livelihood, and well-being the reader is most invested in. The twist with Marie’s kidnapping secret she’s carried for years holds very little tension. Then add in Carly’s reactions and the story quickly unravels.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for the copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.

Carly, Leah, and Marie, also known as the Sinclair sisters, were abducted almost twenty years ago. Each one blames themselves and they have never recovered from the horrible experience. Carly, the oldest, can't forgive herself for not protecting her sisters. Leah, married with a young son, keeps seeing the kidnapper everywhere and is extremely OCD. Marie has addiction issues and cannot hold a steady job.
The story revolves around how each sister is coping and the stress of the twentieth anniversary of the abduction coming up, plus the knowledge that the person responsible is now out of jail. The book switches from past to present and the perspective of the different characters. There are many secrets being kept and I definitely was not expecting all that was revealed. I really felt bad for Leah, especially at the end, but she was a bit annoying at times. I think I emphasized with Carly the most and Marie next. We don't really get much about Marie til towards the end and it made a lot of sense why she turned out the way she did.
I think it was a good plot, but for some reason, the execution wasn't there. I felt it dragged a bit and didn't get really interesting til the last few chapters when things were slowly revealed.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper 360 for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve enjoyed every single book I’ve read by Louise Jensen, this one was no exception! Written in that unique, beautiful, and perfected style with superb character development, really captivated and attached me to the story! I found it fast paced, unputdownable, thrilling, intense, and mind blowing good! Absolutely highly recommend, as it’s definitely not one to miss if you are a fan of the author or thrillers! Loved, loved, loved!

I really enjoyed this one, good suspense from Louise Jensen.
20 years ago, three young sisters were kidnapped. All three were miraculously rescued. Who took them, and why, is unraveled through the book, while showing that even though you may be rescued, you may not be unharmed. How the sisters ended up are vastly different from each other, based on their trauma.

“A pinky promise can’t be broke
Or you’ll disappear in a puff of smoke
This is my vow to you
I’ll keep my promise through and through”

The Sinclair Sisters. Three sisters, dancing and playing. Three sisters, stolen and hid away. Three sisters, with secrets, lies, fears and regrets.

An emotional read of true sibling bonds, of true love and survival. The story unfolds with the abduction of the three Sinclair Sisters. What they went through and how they survived.

The story will shock you and make you mad. But you will continue to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have truly never read a book written in this way. How engaging and thrilling! I could NOT put this one down. This book jumps from POV to POV as it details kidnapping from the POV of each of the girls kidnapped. This book is gripping, and I never saw the ending coming AT ALL! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360, HQ for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This was so good! Kept me on he edge of my seat the whole way through! Good writing, compelling characters, a plot that kept me VERY interested and and ending that I didn't see coming and surprised the heck out of me!

I liked this book though it didn’t totally wow me. Nothing really super stood out but it kept me interested throughout. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

This tense psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat and break your heart while you’re there! Twenty years ago, the Sinclair sisters were kidnapped as children. As the 20th anniversary of the crime approaches, vaguely threatening notes arrive on doorsteps and creepy things start happening.

Louise Jensen is a masterful voice in the psychological thriller genre, and she deftly weaves a dark tale on two timelines – one during the girls’ abduction and the other in present day. The girls’ kidnapping is tragic and hard to read at points, but also influences the adult sisters’ personalities, relationships, and mental well-being. Ms. Jensen skillfully and empathetically depicts OCD and the lesser-known Fregoli syndrome. These disorders make Leah a particularly unreliable narrator, as the reader and Leah are both constantly unsure whether her experiences are real or paranoid.

Just when I thought I knew where the story was going, this twisty thriller would prove me wrong. It’s compulsively readable, and its short chapters and their cliffhanger endings had me saying “just one more” and turning the pages until the wee hours. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper 360 for the eARC.
I loved the two prior Louise Jensen books that I read, but unfortunately did not like this one. The Stolen Sisters tell the story of three sisters that are kidnapped and held in terrible conditions. We learn about the individual stories of the three both in the past and now. The long-term effects of their mental health plays out in different, but equally horrible ways. The OCD description is particularly harrowing.
But the explanation of the WHY, the reason for the abduction, was unbelievable to me, it seemed totally out there. Why keep them in such a dire, filthy location, feeding them garbage, with no toilet facilities? The media would love that, but it would have been just as good and lucrative a story had they been treated even a bit better. The reason for the kidnap was also over the top to me.
My review is definitely in the minority compared to all the other stellar reviews, which pains me a bit ...
sorry.

The Stolen Sisters, a suspense thriller, is the latest release from Louise Jensen, an author whose books I've read in the past. Twentyish years ago, three sisters (around 8 to 12) were kidnapped. The story is told in the present and the past, and from all of their perspectives, plus a few people from their present day. We know from the beginning that all three were somehow rescued, but it's unclear what actually happened until far into the tale.

I enjoyed the book, but I did struggle to connect with some parts. I loved the confusion in terms of not knowing how they made it out until at least two-thirds thru the story. It kept me turning the pages; however, there were some boundary issues between the three sisters in which having their POV both in the past and the present was a bit difficult. I had to decide who was fibbing or exaggerating, plus focus on their different personal lives. Knowing they were kids when it happened was hard too because they seemed too young to talk the way they did at times. But, these weren't major problems... just what kept me from giving it the full five stars.

The story is fascinating - who kidnapped and them and why. Someone in their present lives is connected with it, and we learn one of the girls might have had more insight than we were led to believe (not that a kid planned it but that a kid had begun piecing things together yet didn't tell anyone until too late). All that said, the writing is strong, and I plan to read the remaining two novels by Jensen that I haven't gotten to yet - later this fall, most likely. But the author is quite good, so I want to be current with her past works before 2022 arrives, so I can devour the latest when it publishes.