The Wrong Sister

February 15, 2018
Tess Kincaid has been arrested, but she is hardly the type to commit murder. Her job as a library assistant keeps her busy during the day; in the evenings she cares for her father, a homebound alcoholic prone to both depression and rage. Then Tess spots a woman who looks just like her, and she engineers an encounter with her mysterious doppelganger. As Tess gets to know Mimi Winslow, she is astonished by the coincidences that seem to point towards the women being long-separated twins, with Tess raised by their father and Mimi raised by their mother, who walked out on Tess and her father when Tess was a child. As the two delve into their family history, they uncover dark secrets that force Tess to remember her traumatic childhood. The tale is told within the framework of an interrogation, and while the main twist is fairly predictable, the smaller twists (including an unexpected ending) will keep readers guessing. Unreliable female narrators are still a trend, and Woods' (The Fixer, 2014) entry into the crowded genre is fast paced, entertaining, and delightfully sinister.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)