Gina Mills is desperate to be a newsreader, but her boss - the director of the struggling Channel Eight, won't help.
Walking home one night, Gina stumbles upon a dead body, and after calling the police, she makes the split-second decision to report the murder live.
When questioned by the police, Gina can't remember specific details about her discovery, but these memory gaps are explained away as shock.
...to uncover your family's deadly secret?
But when Gina finds a second body, it's clear she's being targeted. But why?
And how is this connected to the death of Gina's younger sister so many years ago?
I'd like to thank Alainna at Orion Publishing for inviting me to be part of this blog tour and for my copy of The Other Sister which I received to review via NetGalley.
Elle Croft's latest book The Other Sister is a story that will get under your skin and will have you questioning and doubting everything you read. It's a complex story revolving around a dark family history, toxic relationships, the influences of social media and the power of suggestion which all play a part to make this such a intriguing, compelling read.
Gina has been estranged from her family for many years but a return to London sees her reconnecting with her brother Ryan, and her boyfriend Julian's connections sees her landing a job for a struggling TV Channel. It's not her desired job as a reporter but at least it's a foot in the door and a chance encounter presents her with the perfect opportunity to be in the spotlight...
The story is told from the viewpoints of multiple characters, Gina and Ryan in the present day, but we also get to see recollection of events in 1996 from Sharon, Gina and Ryan's mother. At first I wasn't really sure of the relevance of Sharon's viewpoint but then over time more and more memories are revealed which gives us a clearer insight into the family dynamics and shows how events from the past have caused relationships to shatter. Is time a healer for them and can their relationships be rebuilt?
The final character we hear from is Detective Adam Adebayo who we are introduced to after Gina's discovery of the first body. His chapters give us an alternate viewpoint into everything that is unfolding, the murder investigation as well as the police reaction to Gina's subsequent actions. It's down to him and his colleagues to get to the truth, to discover who is responsible for the killings, whether Gina is truly an innocent passerby as she's claiming or is someone playing them all?
It's fair to say that Gina was a complex, flawed character who didn't seem to have any moral compass as to what was right or wrong. She had her reasoning and explanation for everything she did and made it all seem completely plausible even if it's not something that any normal person would do. I would hope that if I ever was unfortunate to discover a dead body, I would report it to the police immediately and I wouldn't go live on social media to report the story afterwards!
The Other Sister is a dark and twisted story that certainly makes for some uncomfortable reading at times. But at the same time I found myself just wanting to read one more chapter to see how it would play out as I was impatient to find out if my suspicions as to who was involved were correct.
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