Oh boy I couldn't get enough of this one.

What a premise, just imagine pulling something like this off in real life.

I'm looking forward to reading more of Katherine Kovacic's work in the future.

A compelling story that is scarily too real. Naomi's therapist Mia suggests she joins her support group and there is one thing that they all have in common they all have sisters who have been murdered by there abusive partners. I was utterly addicted to the storyline because it was so believable and different because in this one you are cheering for the potential murderers. A great domestic thriller.

Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic was a powerful unique story of what seven female strangers could do to bring their sister's murderer to justice.

This was my first Katherine Kovacic book, I’m hoping to read Katherine’s book The Schoolgirl Strangler which is her non fiction true story book.


I really loved how Seven Sisters played out. Set in Sydney, Australia, Naomi is struggling to come to terms with her sister's murder. Talking to her therapist Mia, Mia invites Noami to a support group for women who have lost their sister due to domestic violence. The sisters then make a pack to help one another. Reading Seven Sisters kind of reminds me of the women coming together in the book called The Hush by Sara Foster.

Seven Sisters was on the edge of being a thriller but I feel it was leaning towards the women fiction genre too. Perfect for those readers who want an easy reading book with the odd heart racing moment.

Thus will certainly be a book talked about in 2023.

Thank you to Katherine Kovacic, Harper Collins and Netgalley for the digital copy of Seven Sisters for reviewing purposes.

Too many male perpetrators of female partner killings are let off far too lightly, if not completely, by our court system. It’s outrageous and heartbreaking, so this is an important theme of Seven Sisters – but for me (and I appreciate that some other readers will strongly disagree), much as I loved the same author’s recent novel The Shifting Landscape (Alex Clayton Art Mystery #3)), and wanted to love Seven Sisters, I couldn’t. In this story, a female therapist (who has a professional duty of care is to her patients’ wellbeing, to helping them cope with their loss and emotional distress!!) actively recruits and manipulates six of her patients to become cold-blooded murders. She has them make a Strangers on a Train-style pact to avenge the deaths of their sisters by male partners, effectively perpetuating violence, murder. The narrative follows every one of those women, the therapist (whose own sister was a victim of domestic violence and the system) and a female detective, and that means there are a lot of main characters so it’s hard to deeply connect with any of them. The sisters’ stories are tragic but by nature quite similar, and again because there are so many going on, this sadly lessens the impact of those stories and the reader’s connection with the victims. Apart from this, Seven Sisters is well written, as expected of this author, and I give it 3.5 stars.
Seven Sisters is for those readers who love stories about revenge killing. Underlying that is the real-life distressing, heartbreaking theme of partner violence and failures of the legal system.

A brilliant premise, a brilliantly executed plot with plenty of twists, fabulous and believable characters and an eminently satisfying ending make this book a must read if you love revenge thrillers. Definitely a keeper!

This is an almost unputdownable thriller where as a reader you are completely on the side of the murderer. The seven women of the title each had a sister who was a victim of domestic violence and the perpetrators either got away completely free of punishment or a light sentence. The group of women include their therapist Mia and they have a plan like Strangers on a Train where they are going to kill the murderers of their sisters. It’s a great setup considering the statistics, all of us are related to or know women who have experienced domestic violence, there are the horrific cases regularly on the news and the perpetrators have often breached AVOs, so a book where revenge is the motive… it really works. My only criticism would be that some of the women are indistinguishable but the pacing is excellent and I really got involved in the story hoping the cops wouldn’t catch them! A great, escapist read but with the reality of the horrors of domestic violence never far away.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Told through multiple points of view, Seven Sisters is a fast paced thriller that asks the question, what would you do to gat justice when the courts have failed?
When six women all of whom have lost a sister to domestic violence meet in therapy it doesn’t take long before they start making plans to mete out justice to the men who destroyed their families.
While I’m not a big fan of this genre I found it a quick easy read, and although it wasn’t as thrilling as I expected, there was enough tension to keep me turning the pages.

Australian author Katherine Kovacic delivers on a powerful and provocative premise that explores grief, guilt, justice and vengeance in Seven Sisters.

“Each one met her eye, and in each face there was grief and understanding and something else – a reflection of the bleakness she saw whenever she dared to look in a mirror.”

Struggling to cope with her feelings of rage and frustration in the aftermath of her sister’s murder at the hands of her abusive partner, for which he received only a suspended sentence, Naomi doesn’t expect group therapy will be much help. She is stunned when Mia, her psychologist, introduces her to the five other members and learns that not only do they sympathise with her loss, but understand it. Like her, Gabrielle, Brooke, Katy, Olivia and Amy have each lost a beloved sister as a result of domestic violence, and similarly, the perpetrator faced few consequences.

Drawing inspiration from the classic film ‘Strangers on a Train’, the women all agree these men must be stopped, and carefully devise ways to exact justice in a manner that will seem accidental. No plan is perfect however and there are several very tense moments as each woman attempts to fulfil their task by creative, but plausible, methods. I enjoyed the suspense generated by each situation, especially when things threaten to go awry, and then a lone detective begins to grow suspicious about the string of deaths.

I sympathised with each woman, easily imagining the depth of their loss, and the anguish of knowing that the person’s responsible escaped serious repercussions. I can’t really fault them for their desire for revenge especially when the law has failed so badly at meting out justice. Kovacic addresses the moral issues thoughtfully, but honestly it’s hard to muster up any outrage for their actions. Though this is fiction, and I don’t condone murder, I indulge in a little revenge fantasy myself whenever I read in the news of yet another man who receives a ludicrously light sentence or none at all for an assault on a woman.

Compelling, bold and fast paced, Seven Sisters is a well written and exciting revenge thriller.

Naomi’s sister Jo was killed by her rugby player partner Malik, when she tried to leave the abusive relationship. Despite reporting Malik to the police several times for domestic abuse before she tried to leave him, he managed to convince the jury at his trial that he accidently stabbed her and was given a suspended sentence. To cope with not being able to get justice for her sister, Naomi had tried seeing several grief therapists before finding Mia and agreeing to try her group therapy sessions. She’s reluctant at first, but soon discovers that like her all the women in the group have lost a sister to domestic violence and been let down by the justice system. Not only are these women angry at the lack of justice for their sisters’ killings but they are also ready to seek revenge.

How they plan to get their revenge and get away with it makes for an entertaining and suspenseful read, especially as they all come up with inventive ideas while trying to avoid being noticed, particularly by one very dedicated detective.

Seven Sisters by Australian author Katherine Kovacic is an excellent thriller!

Sisters of women who had been abused and murdered by their partners and haven’t been punished for their crimes, meet together with a specialist psychologist to deal with their grieve and anger!

This is an absolute amazing story which I read with bated breath hoping for the best possible outcome. Of course I can’t say much more without it being a spoiler! This story has the WOW factor!

This is an absolute must read - highly recommended.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from HarperCollins Publishers Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#SevenSisters #NetGalley

A topical and thrilling story, but with uneven character development that left me feeling a little unanchored. Seven sisters, seven victims, seven abusers - it was a lot. In the end I felt like I had a good grip on Mia, Naomi, Olivia and Gab (to an extent), but the rest were blurry. Readers who prefer plot over character will love it though.

Naomi has been seeing Mia for trauma/grief counselling at her Sydney practice, The Pleiades. When Mia suggests Naomi come along to a group therapy session, Naomi is sceptical but agrees to give it a try. It turns out to be a kind of therapy unlike any she could have imagined, and she is drawn in. She quickly understands that the group members have something very specific in common. They are all sisters of women killed by perpetrators of domestic violence; men who got away with murder. Guided by Mia, the women hatch a plan to bring each other the ultimate relief of revenge.

After the drawn-out establishment of the group, the plot hurtles along at a good pace. One after another the problems are dealt with by inventive but plausible means. Tension is provided by the need to avoid being caught in the act, and also by the police investigations happening off to the side of the action. Slowly Mia's own story is revealed, giving some much-needed context to her unusual therapy.

I found this book quite different from Kovacic's Alex Clayton series (which I love) and suspect I might have got into a bit more if it was by an unknown author. My own expectations seemed to curtail my enthusiasm a little. Still, it was a good read.

When I first started Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic I was worried it was going in an obvious direction but then realised it wasn't just me drawing parallels between the women we meet here and the book / movie Strangers on a Train. Rather Kovacic - via her characters - makes the point that they're drawing their inspiration from exactly that... crossed with Greek mythology's seven sisters, The Pleiades.

It changed the perspective for me and meant the book was more about the women, the crimes committed against their sisters and the hurt brought upon their families than the unfolding plot itself.

I must admit however, though we start by meeting Naomi, one of the 'sisters' and getting to know her, that's really the extent to which we get the opportunity to really know any of them. What I love most about Kovacic's Alex Clayton series are the characters she's created and I felt that the lack of character development (or perhaps the scattered focus on several women) here meant that I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I didn't really connect with any of the women in particular, so wasn't that invested in their stories.

As I mentioned, I'm a fan of Kovacic's other works of crime fiction - her Alex Clayton art dealer series and (more recently) her young Ms Peregrine Fisher book based on the spinoff TV show Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. In those books Kovacic's background in art history and all-things-old-and-precious is obvious as she effortlessly offers up detail most of us would not notice. It's the same here in her casual mention of architecture, furniture, decor and clothing.

Kovacic places us in the heads of all of the women here, though we start with Naomi who's the last women recruited by therapist Mia to join her women's group. I'd expected Naomi to play more of a role but she fades away a little and our narrator moves to the woman (the sister) who's charged with the task (murder) at hand.

I read this over a couple of nights so ended up struggling a bit to remember who was who and the details of the crimes that brought them to Mia (how their sisters were killed). I realise however, the seven women were needed (well, six plus therapist Mia) to give the book enough would-be-murders and alibis.

We eventually learn a bit more about a confronting scene that opens the book and also Mia's agenda and there's a fairly satisfying 'turn' (as opposed to a twist!) at the end, but I think I was expecting something a little more nefarious to be added into the mix.

Having said that, I enjoyed this read and the insight or study into the women featured here, and of course it highlights the tragedy of violence against women - unfortunately topical and one that continues to see many perpetrators unpunished. Given the ethical or moral dilemmas on offer here I think this would make a brilliant bookclub read to kick off 2023.

3.5 stars

This definitely had me hooked! The first few chapters had me second guessing as it was starting to feel like the therapy group was actually a cult, but then we get to the action & it’s all on. I thought this was a great revenge story - the sisters of women who have been killed by their domestic partners give karma a helping hand. This was an easy story to just keep reading - once I was in, I had to know how each sister was avenged and if they got away with it. I thought this was a well written story, and I enjoyed seeing how they took their revenge.

Giving this 5 stars despite the awful, unfriendly, horrible, terrible NetGalley app I had to use to read it.

“Naomi, tell me everything you can about the man I’m going to kill.”
Seven Sisters is the first stand-alone novel by award-winning Australian author, Katherine Kovacic. Since her footballer brother-in-law, Malik murdered her older sister, then got off with a suspended sentence, Naomi has been seeing therapists to try to come to terms with Jo’s death. The Pleiades, the practice Mia DeVries runs, is the first one that seems to have helped at all. When Mia suggests group therapy, Naomi reluctantly attends.

She soon discovers that the five women she meets have more in common with her than she could ever have imagined: a support group for the sisters of domestic violence murder victims is the last thing she expected. “She heard herself in their words, saw her fury and frustration reflected in every face. These women didn’t just understand her, they were her.” When they share their plan, she’s shocked, but unable to reject the idea.

Each of them needs justice for their sister: “They wanted to remove six blights from the earth, and swap targets so there would be no trail. Targets, not victims – the only victims were the sisters, along with their families and friends living each day with the knowledge of how they died and how little their deaths seemed to matter to everyone else.”

All the women suffer survivor guilt as well as the frustration of not having been able to save their sisters. But their motivation is not just revenge: removing these monsters from the planet so they can’t harm anyone else rates just as high. They prepare: they make plans, allocate targets, and offer each other expertise in achieving their aims, and knowing their targets.

And then, very much under the radar, they embark on their audacious scheme. Not quite everything goes to plan, but men die, in what seem to be unfortunate accidents. In all their careful planning, their burner phones, long intervals between kills and clandestine meetings, however, they haven’t reckoned with Detective Senior Sergeant Fiona Ulbrick. Fiona worked hard to get one of those men charged with murder, and is angry and discouraged when he is released after just a few years in prison.

She keeps a private file on him, just in case he pops up in another domestic violence situation. And then begins keeping notes on other offenders who escaped incarceration in the same situation. So when her initial offender is in the news due to his accidental death, her interest is piqued. Even moreso when another man on her list suffers a fatal accident.

But there’s nothing suspicious, no links to possibly disgruntled survivors. Eventually, she’s making a new list, of domestic violence perpetrators with fatally bad luck: DIY mishap, drowning, overdose, car crash. She spends far too much time on it, but has she finally found a connection?

It’s not often that a reader will find themselves anxiously wondering if a vigilante killer will succeed, perhaps even cheering them on, but Kovacic’s exploration of the potential actions of those seeking closure when left behind after domestic violence reaches its most tragic conclusion, may find themselves doing just that. This is a heart-thumping, nail-biting page-turner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins Australia.

Unfortunately this one was a DNF for me. The main reason for this is that the publisher has provided the ARC in a format that does not allow you to send to kindle. Therefore you have to read on your computer, NetGalley shelf (on the phone or iPad) this is not suitable for me and that made reading the book very difficult.

With regards to the book I didn’t get far enough in to give it a proper review but what I did read did not appeal to me. Other may like this book but be warned if you want to read this on you kindle you will not be able to.

Thank you for my advanced copy and apologies for not being able to continue on. I will therefore be rating 3 stars and not be uploading any review to Goodreads for fairness.