THE WRONG SISTER is a fast paced thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. There were several twists throughout, which I really enjoyed. I've been reading Claire Douglas' books for a long time now and she's definitely one of my go to authors.

Many thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) closer to pub date.

This story involves a lot of different characters. The main one is trying to reconnect with her husband after having twins and her sister who is successful. The nightmare that unfolds for Tasha is mind blowing. There is so much to unpack but the author does a fantastic job bringing all the pieces together to complete the puzzle. Great book!

Thank you to netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read an early release.

Twin sisters swap lives.....What could possibly go wrong? Enter the thrills, chills, mystery and suspense. A new to me author, I was entertained eventhough it was a little predictable.

he Wrong Sister is a gripping psychological thriller that explores the complicated bonds between siblings—and how the secrets they keep can have deadly consequences. The story immediately drew me in with its mix of family drama and nail-biting suspense.

Tasha and Alice couldn’t be more different in their lives, yet their trust runs deep. When Alice steps in to care for Tasha’s family, the unthinkable happens—an attack that leaves one sister fighting for her life and the other trying to uncover the terrifying truth behind it all. The arrival of a chilling note only heightens the tension, sending shockwaves through the story.

I loved how the author balanced emotional depth with relentless suspense. The twists kept me guessing, and the family dynamics made the stakes feel intensely personal. If you enjoy domestic thrillers that keep you turning pages late into the night, The Wrong Sister is a must-read.

oh I really liked this one!! kept me guessing , and the characters were believable.
thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Finally getting around to this ARC review! The Wrong Sister is a mystery thriller that definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. The first quarter or so of the book was a bit slow, but once the family dynamics came into play I was so heavily invested in this that I didn’t want to put it down.

This is a twisty story about a family who has experienced much tragedy. This includes the kidnapping of one of three sisters as an infant, the loss of a parent, and more. Claire Douglas details grief expertly, and shows how it can manifest differently even within a small family unit. I found that this made the characters both realistic and relatable.

Without spoiling any details, I did not see the ending of this story coming at all. The plot is driven by a murder mystery that is much more convoluted than it seems at first glance. If you’re looking for a mystery that doubles as a thriller then this might just be the book for you!

#netgalley #arcreader #arcreview #thewrongsister

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas is a gripping, emotionally resonant thriller that balances family drama with suspense that never slackens. Arriving on shelves August 5, the novel is a tense read filled with twists and turns as Tasha, the stay-at-home mother of twins in Chew Norton, a fictional town set near Somerset, England, and her mechanic husband Aaron embark on a” trade-life-with her successful scientist sister Alice” for a week in Venice.
Alice, a look-alike with her sister, and her husband Kyle, a successful entrepreneur, are in for a busy week in Tasha’s home as they are caring for two 3-year-olds. Tasha and Aaron enjoy a chance to reconnect after raising twins, but their holiday is colored black by a stranger who follows them on the streets of Venice, threatening them harm.
Meanwhile, the illusion of safety in quiet Chew Norton shatters when Tasha receives a devastating phone call: Alice and Kyle have been attacked during an apparent burglary leaving Kyle dead and putting Alice in intensive care. This terrible news is followed by a chilling note to Tasha shoved through her mail slot: “It was supposed to be you.”
What follows is a masterpiece of misdirection presenting a psychological puzzle that keeps readers guessing until the final pages. The story unfolds through alternating perspectives—Tasha, Alice, and their mother Jeanette weave a layered narrative of past and present that slowly reveals the family’s buried traumas and long-held secrets. A haunting subplot emerges involving a long-missing sister.
The Wrong Sister is Claire Douglas’ 10th novel. She is a British author and former journalist. Her fiction writing career began when she won a competition in Marie Claire magazine with the submission of the first three chapters of her first novel which led to a publishing contract with HarperCollins. She lives in Bath, Somerset, England, with her family.
My review will be posted on Goodreads starting July 4, 2025.
I would like to thank HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

This is my first book by Claire Douglas and I loved it. This one grabbed my attention from the beginning which has not happened in a while. It was fast paced but had a lot of different twists and turns that were slowly introduced which made it that much better. Some points were a little predictable but then other twists you never saw coming. Highly recommend for a fun fast paced thriller that will keep you up way too late reading! Thank you for the ARC!

The Wrong Sister is yet another twisty thriller by Claire Douglas.
This one’s packed with secrets, suspicious characters, and just the right amount of “Wait, WHAT?!” moments. The pacing’s snappy, and while some twists are a bit wild, it’s all part of the ride. Great if you’re into domestic thrillers that mess with your head in the best way.

Tasha was excited to be switching places with her sister for a Venice vacation while her sister was going to be taking care of Tasha’s twin girls.

Who got the better deal?

I don’t think either of them did. Switching places caused the unthinkable to happen.

Tasha and her husband were enjoying Venice until they got a phone call saying that her sister had been attacked and her sister's husband was murdered in their home.

Were the twins OK? Did they hear anything? Will they be traumatized?

Tasha and Aaron also had an encounter with a man with a knife in Venice and thankfully escaped.

Were these two attacks related, but how could they be?

We follow the sisters, their mother, and the story about their baby sister being kidnapped 30 years ago along with these horrific events.

Is the kidnapping related to what’s happening now after all these years?

Claire Douglas KNOWS how to set the stage for tension, what if, surprises, and the guessing game of who did it and what is really going on.

You know you are in for a stay-up-late reading with her books. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

fun, fast paced, and gripping popcorn thriller with a very fun plot twist at the end. 4 stars. tysm for the arc. would recommend.

This book was a slow burn with some predictable twists, The major twists however, did take me by surprise. Overall it was a really good read.

This book was a really good read from start to finish. So many twists and turns and turns . I didn’t se the end coming!

Ooo this was an interesting one! I devoured this in two days just because I needed to know what happened next. There was a lot going on at one point that I felt it was a little too much, and some bits were a little predictable, but overall a really enjoyable and fast read!

I really had a hard time with this book and I have loved everything I have read by Claire Douglas previously. I really wanted to love this book but it just did not keep my attention. If this book was condensed down I think it could have been amazing. I am typically someone that gravitates towards thrillers and this just did not scratch that typical itch. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! I appreciate the opportunity to check out this book ahead of time.

Not quite 4 stars, but I’m rounding up.

Two sisters lead very different lives – Tasha lives modestly in her hometown with her blue collar husband and their twin daughters, while Alice lives luxuriously, thanks to her and her husband’s successful careers. What starts as a quick “life swap” quickly turns into tragedy, causing generations of small town gossip and family secrets to unfold.

I found the writing style a little bland at times, but I did enjoy the multiple POVs, even though switching between first and third person sometimes made it hard to follow (but that’s a me problem). The author does a great job of leading readers in different directions, so the many twists truly came as a shock, especially the last one which I was not expecting. The dual plot lines of the attack/murder and the unsolved case of the abducted baby sister worked really well together, blending mystery and family secrets seamlessly. At times it did have a few too many unimportant details that just seemed to be used as filler, but overall, it’s a twisty read that kept me turning the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

During a life switch between sisters, both are attacked on the same day, and one of them loses her husband in the event. In the house, a DNA of a sibling is found, and it doesn't match with either of them. Could this all be related to their baby sister, taken away when she was still a baby?

3.5 rounded up to 4. Maybe even 3.75.

This is a thriller with multiple points of view, but mainly Tasha's, the middle sister. It wasn't her husband she lost in the attack, but it does make her reevaluate their relationship as old insecurities surface. Yes, the keyword for this character is insecurity. She's always felt excluded from the bond her mother and her olde sister had. She watches her older sister lead a glamourous life with her rich husband, while her own is pretty much mediocre. As you can see, although there is a lot happening around Tasha, a lot of the book is about her psyche, while the discoveries take a secondary role. And thus, it's a slower thriller.

Being slow doesn't make it boring. The feeling that tables will turn any minute is constant as we wait for the results of the ongoing investigation. So while I'm not usually a fan of slow, this wasn't a book that made me want to shake the characters and scream, Do something! Instead, I wanted to see how the family dynamics would change as new facts came up. Though I'll say I wasn't fond of any of the characters. They were too weird, acted too erratically, and not only for reasons of making everyone a suspect.

As for conclusion, it could have been better. Although I wouldn't say it leaves plotholes, they try to answer everything, but some answers were too superficial. So that's where you'll leave it? No consequences? Which has the same aftertaste as an unresolved issue to me. And one of them, which is supposed to answer the big mystery in the book, was creative but nearly magical. I'm not sure the elements to figuring it out in the book were enough to make it the awesome piece of the puzzle it could have been. Again, not a good aftertaste.

I still enjoyed this read very much. It's well crafted and different from other books.



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

This is definitely my least liked book by this author so far. I've read and loved several, but this fell short. I feel like a lot was dragged out and left hanging. This didn't feel like a thriller like I've read from Claire Douglas before. I have higher hopes for the next book.
Thanks to NetGally for this ARC! I am glad I got to read it.

The ending was!!! OMG! The Wrong Sister was such a great read! I’m a big thriller lover so this book kept me intrigued from start to finish!! It’s a must read!

Successful scientist Alice and her wealthy husband Kyle offer their vacation home in Venice to Alice’s sister Tasha and her husband, Aaron. While Alice and Kyle are staying at Tasha’s house watching her sister’s children, an intruder breaks in, killing Kyle and leaving Alice badly wounded. A devastated Tasha then gets a shock when someone leaves an anonymous note at her house: it was supposed to be you. The Wrong Sister is a whiplash-inducing ride that had me furiously flipping the pages, all the while trying to keep up with the plot changes in this multi-layered thriller. There is A LOT going on here, and it takes some effort to keep the characters straight, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor as the story expertly plays out. The plot can get a little complicated, and I had to stop and get my bearings a few times, but overall it’s a great read that had me hooked. 4.5 stars! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.