The Winter Sister by Megan Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Much of Sylvie’s adolescent and adult life is defined by the shocking murder of her older sister Persephone when they were teenagers. The crime plunged Sylvie’s mother into abject alcoholism and propelled Sylvie to flee her hometown and never look back. Now 30, she returns to care for her cancer-ridden mother, and almost immediately crosses paths with Ben Emory, who was Persephone’s boyfriend, and in the family’s opinion, the prime suspect at the time of her death. This run-in stirs up old frustrations and anger within Sylvie over the lack of answers, resolution, and retribution for Persephone’s death. There were a lot of things to like about this book — the mystery was compelling enough. It’s unfortunate that Persephone was the most interesting character of all in that she was no longer around to bring some life to the rest of the cast; Sylvie, as a narrator, wasn’t very interesting, or analytical enough to on her own drive the central whodunnit plot. And her mother was downright awful — kind of a chemo-thrashed Mrs. Havisham with an added undercurrent of nastiness. Anyway, if you like mysteries, this would suffice for a vacation read.
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