Sister Dear

March 9, 2020
Eleanor Hardwicke, the 29-year-old narrator of this dreadful and depressing psychological thriller from McKinnon (Her Secret Son), grew up in Portland, Maine, with an emotionally abusive mother, a sister who hated her, a face and body she disliked, and a general aversion to people. Her one good relationship has been with her father, who shortly before his death reveals a secret—he isn’t her real father. Crushed that her father and only friend is gone, Eleanor looks up her biological father, Stan Gallinger. Stan rejects her and warns her not to get near his wife or daughter, Victoria, who’s her two months’ younger half-sister. Desperate to make a meaningful human connection, Eleanor worms herself into Victoria’s life without revealing her true identity and, thinking they are best friends, gets pulled into Victoria’s dark and vicious world with disastrous results. Despite Eleanor’s emotional baggage and pitiful history, few will care about her fate. No one wins in this story, especially the reader. Agent: Carolyn Forde, Transatlantic Agency.

April 1, 2020
Another emotionally wrought and turbo-driven domestic drama from McKinnon, with paternity issues again at the forefront, as they were in Her Secret Son (2019). In an almost Grimm-like tale, a family secret offers Eleanor Hardwicke an opportunity to escape the downward spiral of her meager existence. When the man she believes to be her father dies, she finds out that her biological father is a very wealthy man and that she has an enviable, beautiful half-sister. Eleanor fabricates a plan to claim her share of real father's estate. Instead of just announcing her existence to the family, she inveigles her way into their lives, and the mousy woman everyone always overlooked surprises the reader as well as herself. But there is danger in ignoring the golden rule of fairy tales?be careful what you wish for?and in time she encounters deception equal to her own, leading to a horrific conclusion. The author notes that taking Eleanor from self-conscious to brazen and distraught was quite the ride, and it is a trip her fans will enjoy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)