Thicker Than Water by Megan Collins was quite a surprise!

I liked how Collins carefully fleshed out the characters in this book, especially the two females who were sister-in-laws. The differences in their personalities were quickly apparent--one a bit two outspoken and quick to say what was was on her mind--the other one, a bit of a quiet mouse keeping her thoughts close to her chest.The book goes back and forth between their POVs.

While the main male character--brother to one, husband to the other, remains in a coma for most of the story, he has an important role because he has been accused of murder, and the majority of the story is about him.

The book was well written with a surprise ending that caught me off guard.

I loved the sister/husband/wife/best friend dynamic that existed in this book - it was very original and thought provoking. The character/relationship development was fantastic. There were a few plot holes that left some unanswered questions at the end, and the end was a bit unrealistic. Overall it was an enteraining read with great character development

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Julia and Sienna Larkin have been as close as can be for over fifteen years – not just best friends and business partners, but also sisters-in-law. Their lives are upended when Jason (Julia’s husband and Sienna’s brother) is critically injured in a car accident. While he’s in a coma, he is shockingly accused of brutally murdering his boss, Gavin Reed. With the police seemingly ignoring other leads and Jason unable to speak for himself, the women start investigating on their own, determined to find out who killed Gavin and clear Jason’s name.

This is my first Megan Collins book, and I was hooked from the very beginning. If a thriller and a family drama (two of my favorite genres) had a baby, this compelling and emotional domestic suspense novel would be the result. The characters and their relationships to each other are complex and nuanced. Julia is quiet and level-headed, while Sienna is loud, impulsive, and quick to anger. Their friendship takes center stage – deeply close but also fraught with secrets. The more the women dig into Gavin’s murder, the more strained things become between them. I really loved the arc of their relationship and how they are forced to examine themselves and the fragility of their bond while in the thick of terrible circumstances.

If you’re looking for multilayered, character-driven suspense, add this book to your TBR right now! If you’re looking for an edge-of-your-seat, thrill-a-minute twisty thriller, this might not quite fit the bill, but there were enough twists and surprises to satisfy this thriller lover. Perfect for fans of Sally Hepworth and Robyn Harding! Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thicker Than Water is the latest novel by bestselling author Megan Collins and centres around Julia and Sienna Larkin who are sisters in law and best friends. They are business partners as well who shared everything together. When a car accident puts Jason, Julia’s husband, in the hospital in a coma, secrets are revealed. Furthermore Jason becomes a suspect in the horrific murder of his boss. Their friendship is put to the test because Sienna is unwavering in her belief in her brother's innocence while Julia isn’t as sure. Together they must work together to find out the truth and along the way learn more about each other and the secrets they are hiding.

What I liked about this book:
-the fragility of relationships which raises the question of how well do you know someone
-the chapters with alternate POVs
-kept me engaged by leaving me little extra tidbits at the end of each chapter


What I didn’t like about this book:
-became a little repetitive at times and I felt that there was too much explaining instead of the reader being able to read between the lines
-for a relatively short novel it seemed to drag on especially in the middle but improved somewhat by the end
-sudden ending would have liked to see more into how the family has been impacted by the crime

My rating 3 out of 5

Trigger warning: sexual harassment and assault

My final takeaway: Although I enjoy books by Megan Collins, this one was just meh for me. I would still suggest it for readers who enjoy slow burn family domestic mysteries who enjoy twists and turns in their books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for this eARC.

Does being family, out weigh all the odds being stacked against you? 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🩸💧

Huge thank you to @netgalley / @atriabooks for this ARC copy!

➡️Swipe for synopsis 👉

MY REVIEW::
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is a slow burn 🔥 of suspense around every corner. It keeps you intrigued with little extra bits of information at the end of every chapter, that make you want to keep reading. ( i should know.... i stayed up WAY past my bedtime to keep reading this one! 😉)

Julia and Sienna are hell bent to finding the truth, but every time they think they've found groundbreaking evidence, boom 💥 they find a new secret 🤫 that only hurts Jason.

As the secrets keep piling up, and they then start to turn the family against each other. What if he did do it..... what if you thought you knew someone , just to find out you were so so wrong.

I don't want to give it all away, but it's such a great twist at the end 🫨 and it's so satisfying when you get to the last quarter of the book.

I hope you check out this book!!!!

ℙ𝕌𝔹 𝔻𝔸𝕐 :: July 11th, 2023

@megancollinswriter
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#thrillerbooks #suspensethriller #thrillerreader #thrillerlover #thrillerobsessed #bookrecs #bookreview #bookstagram #bookaholic #booklover #bookstagrammer #booklove #bookcommunity #bookobsessed #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #booksofig #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookishfeatures #tbr #tbrpile #bookbuzz #mysteryandthrills #BookstaBFF23 #thrillerbooklovers #megancollins #thickerthanwater

Thicker than water read more like a domestic drama with a touch of mystery thrown in. It was told in dual POV Julia and Sienna, which I really do enjoy. They're both best friends and sisters in law. When Julia's husband and Siennas brother is arrested which side will they take? This story is very character driven. It's almost like each one is in their own therapy session as the story plays out. I did enjoy their character growth. I didn't enjoy the ending very much. I'll definitely check out another by this author.

First of all, I would like to thank Atria Books, NetGalley, and Megan Collins for providing me with a copy of Thicker Than Water in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started reading Thicker Than Water, I couldn’t help but feel like this book was giving off major Dead To Me vibes due to there being two main female characters, Julia and Sienna, who are connected to each other and share a special bond, while also having a murder mystery plot with comedic banter at times between the two characters. This book was definitely one of your classic domestic thrillers/who dunnit murder mystery stories, while also dealing with heavy topics and subject matters, and navigating fragile and complicated relationships between all of our main characters. What I loved most about this book and the storyline was the whole idea of what a sister would do to defend her brother’s innocence in a crime and dig up evidence to exonerate him, while her sister in law, and somebody who she shares such an intense bond with, is convincing herself that her husband might just be guilty of the crime as the evidence & deceptions stacks up against him. I felt that’s what really drove this story together and made me want to keep reading to see what would happen next.

Unfortunately, the only cons that I had with this book, and what eventually lead me to giving it a 3 star rating was that I wasn’t too happy with how the book ended and was slightly disappointed with the reveal at the end. Plus I didn’t like how suddenly the book ended where we could have at least gotten an epilouge of sorts to wrap up the story and given us an ending of where our main characters lives were after this crime changed them. However, I did really enjoy reading this book with all of the crazy plot twists/turns & cliffhangers at the end of mostly every chapter, and I would definitely pick up another book by this author in the future.

Link to my Goodreads review is copied in this review and down below:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5409244641

Thicker than Water is a fantastic, fast, action packed thriller! I could not put this down. Based around two sister-in-laws and their husband/brother, and someone has killed his boss 😳
This book keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end, with a little humor and feel good story lines thrown in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this early release in exchange for my honest review. I truly enjoyed it.

Pub date: 11 July 2023

This is primarily a story about friendship, family, and our ability to forgive, heal, and trust again. There were some interesting plot lines with the murder investigation, and a few good twists. Sometimes it felt like reading transcripts from someone’s therapy sessions, and there were a few side lines that seemed slightly irrelevant, but overall a pretty good read.

💕You might like this book if:
🔹 you like stories that focus on friendship bonds and how they evolve under strained circumstances
🔹 you like sorting through information on a case and trying to deciding what is relevant

This read more like a character drive domestic drama then a mystery or thriller. Told in alternating POV, sister-in-laws are trying to find out what really happened one night and learn they might not know each other or their brother/husband as well as they thought. I have read several of Megan Collins other books, and they keep my attention and are entertaining reads but don't usually end up being books I recommend rearranging your TBR for and Thicker Than Water was no exception in either case.
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Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Julia, Sienna, and Jason are all connected in so many ways. When one of them becomes a suspect in a horrific crime, they learn that there are so many secrets between them. This was very suspenseful, with an ending that surprised me.

Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC!

Julia and Sienna Larkin are sisters-in-law; Julia is married to Sienna’s brother Jason. The women own their own business and have the best of friends since Jason first introduced the years ago. Jason has been working hard for a promotion at work, so when his boss is found brutally murdered, everyone around him is shocked. A few days, Julia gets a phone call that her husband has been in an accident that has left him in a coma. What makes matters even worse is that the police think Jason had something to do with his boss’ murder. With Jason unable to speak to the crime, Julia and Sienna must work to clear his name, even if it brings up things that are uncomfortable.

First and foremost, the real star of this story is Julia and Sienna’s friendship; every one of us should be lucky enough to have such a best friend! Told from dual points of view, the chapters alternate between Julia and Sienna’s perspectives, giving readers a glance at their respective relationships with Jason, and their relationship with each other. They are forced to confront things about each other and Jason that are difficult and painful, as well as reexamine themselves. All of the main characters were SO well developed, multi-layered and relatable. I found myself suspicious of pretty much each of them at different points in the story, and when the killer was revealed my jaw dropped. Wonderfully executed domestic suspense thriller; the first I read from this author but it won’t be the last!

“Thicker Than Water” releases July 11th! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

Thank you, Atria Books, for the gifted copy of Thicker Than Water {partner}

Genre: Domestic Drama
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date: 7.11.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆.5

“Anyone can do the right thing once. It’s the bad things they do that define them.”

Thicker Than Water presents itself as more of a domestic drama than a thriller or suspense, which is always an issue for me as I usually pick up these types of books with the expectation of a thrill and then end up disappointed. The story has some disturbing elements, but none stand out enough to land them in the thriller/suspense/mystery category.

The book is told from the alternating perspectives of two sisters-in-law, Sienna and Julia. I didn’t find either character to be likable, but out of the two, I would say Julia is my favorite. Her character showed quite a bit of character growth early on, which resulted in me connecting with her character and finding something to like. Sienna was too quick to anger, meddle and overreact - not to mention that the romance between her and another character felt out of place and teetered on frustrating (back and forth, back and forth).

I wouldn’t suggest starting Thicker Than Water thinking it will be a page-turner; it is more of a slow-burn story with its moments. While I did want to know what had happened, I was particularly intrigued by the story (it left me bored on several occasions). Then when I finally did find out the truth behind what occurred, I wasn’t completely blown away.

✌🏼 Alternating POV
👯‍♀️ Sister-in-laws looking for the truth
🗣️ Character-driven
👌🏼 Character development
🙅🏽‍♀️ Not a thriller

While Thick Than Water wasn’t the best, I did enjoy reading it and looking forward to reading more from Megan Collins. If you want to add one of her backlisted titles to your reading list, I highly recommend reading Behind the Red Door.

Jason, Julia's husband and Sienna's brother, was in an accident and is now in a coma. When this happens, the police finds evidence in his car making him into the main suspect in his boss's death days before. Could it be they never knew Jason well and he is really a murderer?

Although I'm not sure why the author wanted to emphasize it so much, I liked the dynamic, the bond built between Julia and Sienna, even though it's crumbling down even before the book starts. This is a curious story and it kept me turning pages. Jason looks like a boring man and then he could suddenly be a murderer, and one that was very cruel. A nightmare when you're part of the family.

It was also interesting how Julia and Sienna end up taking different approaches coming from the same point—this isn't the Jason they know. Julia starts wondering whether she really knows her husband, while Sienna will get any lead that could incriminate her brother and find a loophole of doubt, even when it's not reasonable. It made sense for Sienna to act with such blind trust (even if they didn't already have a past that made Jason be her hero), but I didn't believe the reasons for Julia to distrust Jason so quickly, even if he hasn't always been so perfect to her as she has to his sister.

This was just the first thing I frowned upon. As we advance in the development of the story, the mystery becomes less interesting. I even imagined what had happened much before half the book but couldn't believe the police could be so stupid. This will be my only spoiler, but it was. Incredibly stupid. The conclusion was lukewarm, and the explanation wasn't convincing either.

This is a good book for some time, but it doesn't sustain. It's not a rhythm problem, so you'll probably continue to turning pages as you were in the beginning. It'll keep you interested. But it won't pay off, unfortunately. The ending isn't the terrible kind, don't worry. That's why I recommend to those wanting a nice mystery to spend your time, keeping in mind the explanation will probably be exactly the one you imagine or maybe even more simple than that. Well, it could have been much more, but I had a good time.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

What if your sister-in-law was also your BFF and business partner? Probably totally fine until your husband is accused of murdering his boss in a gruesome fashion and your sister-in-law thinks he's innocent, but you're not so sure...
Oh and your husband is in a medically induced coma so he can't set the record straight.

That's the premise for Thicker Than Water (which btw is a dumb title, but whatever, I digress). It's a fast paced popcorn thriller with some typical tropes, but it's a fun time. The end drove me a little batty though because it was a little too convenient and probably not plausible, but maybe that's just me.

If you want a book that's like a CSI TV episode but a little fluffy because you don't want to think too hard then this is the book!

3.5 rounded up

Thank you NetGalley, Atria books and Megan Collins for my eARC!

I read THE FAMILY PLOT by Collins and knew I had to read her next book! I love her writing style!

THICKER THAN WATER is a domestic thriller revolving around the Larkin family. Julia and Sienna are sisters-in-law who are also best friends and business partner. Jason, Sienna’s brother and Julia’s husband, is up for a promotion at work. All are surprises when Jason’s boss ends up murdered with his lips sewn shut. A few days later, Jason ends up in a horrific car accident and is in a coma. Did he know anything?

I love the family dynamic in this thriller. Julia and Sienna’s friendship was so fun to read about. I enjoyed how the story unfolded but it became more of a suspense than a thriller in my eyes. Since Jason is in a coma, he of course, cannot tell the police or his family what happened. All in all, this was an enjoyable read.

Megan Collins comes through with another twisted thriller!
If we’re lucky, we all have that one friend that is almost telepathic to your moods, the one who, with a glance, can send you roaring with laughter, and is always there for you no matter what. But what happens when your brother or husband is accused of murder?
Julia and her sister-in-law Sienna are best friends and business partners, balancing each other’s quirks and work abilities. Sienna is Jason’s sister and their bond is made even closer since the tragic death of their parents years earlier. Julia is his wife and mother of their teen son Jason. They’re all a tight knit unit until one night, when the police arrive to tell them that Jason has been in a car accident and is in the hospital.
As if that news isn’t devastating enough, he’s also the main subject in his bosses murder!!!
With the women having opposing opinions on Jason’s guilt or innocence, their friendship will be put to the rest. Is he a murderer or is he being set up?
The answers will change both women’s feelings toward Jason and no one will be the same when the truth is revealed!
Like in The Family Plot, I thought the ending was a little messed up, but I enjoyed the book and will always look forward to the next Megan Collins book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this eArc in exchange for my honest opinion

I was really excited about this thriller (coming out 07/11) because I was quite captivated by Collins’ dark thriller “The Family Plot” last year. Unfortunately, this one was a big let down. 😬

Julia and her husband Jason are baffled when his boss is found brutally murdered with his lips sewn shut. A few days later, Jason is in a car accident and placed into a medically induced coma. He is the lead suspect in the grotesque murder, unable to provide answers to Julia and the police. Sienna (Jason’s sister) believes him to be innocent while Julia has her doubts - because he hasn’t been honest with her lately. The women’s friendship is put to the test as the pair tries to uncover the truth.

I liked the alternating chapters of Sienna and Julia’s POVs, but found them both dim witted. So much of the middle of this book was repetitive for me, while the ending was wrapped up very quickly and unrealistically. What a bummer!

✨Trigger Warnings: Death, Murder, Infidelity, Sexual Assault

Megan Collin's "Thicker Than Water" was such a good book! I loved the idea of sister-in-laws turned best friends. Although their friendship is strong, will it survive a murder that threatens their family? Where does their loyalty stand?
If you love clever twists and turns, do yourself a favor and read this thriller.

Sisters-in-law Julia and Sienna have a great relationship, that is, until someone close to both of them is injured and simultaneously accused of a horrendous crime!
Was this just a setup, or does the person they view as pretty much perfect have secrets of his own?
Hopefully these friends/family members can hold onto the relationships they have before they really do lose everything!
I am so happy I got an ARC of this ebook to review through NetGalley. I enjoyed this book a lot and believe you should give it a try as well!