September Book Review: The Silent Sister

My Reasons For Reading This Book

While looking at must read book lists on Pinterest, I came across The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain. After reading the description I knew I had to read this book. Other than the fact that the description interested me I had no other reason to read this book. 

Content of the Book

After the unexpected passing of her father, Riley MacPherson is cleaning out her childhood home when she starts to discovery that the story she was told growing up about her sister's suicide may not be the truth. Lisa, Riley's supposed dead sister is alive and has been living a secret life for the past twenty years. What would cause Lisa to have to run away and fake her own suicide?

What I Liked About the Book

I liked how easily this book read. The descriptions and sentences flowed together smoothly and did not cause any confusion. As I have mentioned in previous book reviews, I have read books where the descriptions were distracting and all over the place. When this happened I then find myself needing to reread in order to understand what the author war trying to say. I did not find this to be an issue for this book. I also liked how each chapter was centered around one specific plot point and did not stray to far from that main point. This is kind of a random note, but I really appreciated that Riley was a runner and used running as a way to escape the stress of her life. I get you girl!

What I Disliked About the Book

I found that the pace of this book to be quite odd. That's literally the best word I can think of to describe it. For the most part the progression of the book seemed to move in a quite steady pace. But the reason I describe the pace as odd is because out of no where the plot would pick up for a couple of pages and then slow right back down to a steady pace. I felt as through this book was spread out way more than it needed to be and it also focused on things that were not as important to the plot and in all became distracting. The only things that I truly disliked about the book was that I did not develop the emotional connections to the characters in the way that I usually do when I read a book for pleasure. If I'm being honest this book did not stir any emotions in me. Books that are centered around uncovering family secret make me emotional and I connect and develop empathy for the characters, Unfortunately I did not find that to be the case for this book. I can't completely blame my lack of emotion to the writing of the book, but I do feel as though there could have been more inner dialogue from Riley. With that being said, this book seemed to be more focused on the progression of the plot and spent less time focusing on the development of the characters. There was little to none reflection from the characters. I do feel as though there was minimal character development, but not as much as I would have excepted. A book that is forced on the discovering of family secrets normally involved significant character development and this book just did not excel in that area. Side note, I would have appreciated a little more background on the relationship that Riley had recently ended at the beginning of the book. In my opinion this relationship effected her in a way that she did not realize and I would have liked to see her inner dialogue of picking apart that relationship and how it effected her.

Would I Recommend This Book?

If someone were to ask me of all the books I have read and reviewed so far in 2018, I would not be recommending this book. With that being said I do think that if you are looking would a book to read at the beach or while vacation then go with this one. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a thought provoking or suspenseful book. Even though the description of this book makes it seem like there is going to be a lot of suspense there really isn't. This is one of those books where the description of the book is more suspenseful then the book itself. 

Check out the other books I have reviewed

August Book Review: Dark Places
August Book Review: Sharp Objects
July Book Review: The Widow
June Book Review: Allegedly
May Book Review: Wonder

April Book Review: Columbine
March Book Review: Gone Girl 
February Book Review: The Woman in the Window
January Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

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