A thriller that kept me reading all night. The jacket description leads you to believe that the "sister" who is missing had choices. As you read, the choices will make you wonder if she really did. It's hard to believe this is a debut book. Julia Barrett has done an excellent job of giving depth to her characters so you feel like you know them. You think you know what is going to happen, but she gives you clues that are not what they seem. It's hard to tell you how good this book is without giving away the best parts. You are just really going to have to read the book for yourself.

Was very easy to read. It was well written and flowed well. Nice characters and a good storyline. Interesting place it’s based. All round good read

Jess receives a phone call from her brother in law saying her sister and tiny baby niece have gone missing. She dashes over to try to help find out where she is or if anything has happened to her.
Everyone has secrets and often things are not what they seem. An intriguing read.

When her sister, Stephanie, disappears along with her three week old daughter, Jess and Steph's husband Adam, struggle to understand why she has done this & where she might have gone. When a news item from Leeds tells of the suicide of a young woman who stepped in front of a train; a woman who may have been holding a baby. The pair of them are in shock. Steph's car had been traced to Leeds.

Jess is worried about the way Adam has reacted to her sister's disappearance. She doesn't want to go back to Leeds which was the scene of her abused childhood However she suspects that even though their mother is dead Steph might have gone back 'home'. Steph was after all her mother's favourite.

I read this book quite quickly because I wanted to find out what had happened . I also wanted to know what had happened to Jess in the past. At the same time I did find it a bit disjointed at times & struggled to keep belief. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. It was a bit of a difficult one to score;I want to give it 3.5 but can't quite round it up to a 4

A debut novel by Julia Barrett is riveting and suspenseful. A new mother disappears with her child.
The police have zero leads and her husband has no idea why she left.. A wonderful suspense novel I read in one sitting,

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

For reasons no one can understand, Stephanie Henderson, a new mother, disappears with her baby girl. Her husband Adam is beside himself, but the police have no leads. Stephanie's sister Jess is determined to find out what happened to Stephanie and the baby and will do whatever it takes to find them. For reasons Jess cannot understand, Adam begins acting rather strangely. Could he have something to do with Stephanie's disappearance?

When Jess hears of a tragic accident that claimed the life of a young woman, she is terrified it could be Stephanie. What she learns is not enough, however, and Jess keeps searching for answers.

As I sped through the pages of this thriller, I found that nothing was ever as it seemed, and I was truly invested in the well-being of Stephanie and the baby. Furthermore, Jess was thoroughly impressive, because she never once gave up in her quest.

This was a pretty good read that I could not put down. I read it in one sitting, but dare to say that there were a few twists that really caught me off-guard, especially when it came to dealing with certain aspects affecting one of the characters. As the story was delivered in more than one point of view, it definitely was intriguing. It was difficult to know who to trust while reading this story. There were issues relating to traumatic events that took a large part of the story. Many readers will enjoy this debut novel by Julia Barrett.

Many thanks to RedDoor Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Really good debut novel. Read it in one sitting. It is gripping from the start. There is a lot of action and great characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

MY SISTER IS MISSING

BY JULIA BARRETT



REDDOOR PUBLISHING

MYSTERY & THRILLERS

PUB DATE 14 MAR 2019





I am reviewing a copy of My Sister Is Missing through RedDoor Publishing and Netgalley:



Jess’s Sister loves being a new Mom to her baby daughter Natalie. But she’s tired and anxious, that’s normal or is it?





One night Stephanie disappears with Natalie. Jess does her best to convince herself that there’s a reasonable explanation but when CCTV images of a woman jumping in front of a train with a small child Jess finds herself wondering if it could be Stephanie. If it wasn’t Stephanie where could her sister be and if it was why would her sister do this? And what does husband Adam have to hide?



If you are looking for a good suspenseful read, My Sister is Missing definitely fits that bill.



Four out of five stars!





Happy Reading

This book dealt with too many topics at one time and became very boring in the middle. I had to force myself to finish it.

My Sister is Missing # NetGalley
Julia Barrett

This is a debut novel by this author and I enjoyed it very much. It is a tale that centers around family dynamics and mental health. The plot is told from multiple perspectives and divided into three parts. The characters are well formed and fleshed out. There are 2 sisters Stephanie and Jess who compose the majority of the story of family dynamics, secrets, deception, violence and mental health. Steph, the oldest sister is suffering from postpartum psychosis after having her daughter, Natalie. She is having hallucinations that are very real to her and ends up running away with her daughter. The story centers around the sisters discovering family secrets and truths and learning to face up to their fears and facing the consequences. It is a tough read at times as you feel so strongly about the sisters mental health and you are pulling for them to get the help they need. I was not certain as to how the book would end and was waiting for the twist at the end to appear. This book will not let you down in tying most of the storyline plots up at the end. It is definitely a book I would recommend to everyone and give it a solid 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy read of this book for an honest review.

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

Wow! I have to say, this is one of the strangest stories I’ve read in a while.

There was the main story and then an underlying thread that made my mind whirl with possibilities.

I was able to figure out some of it but I was still guessing and grasping at straws when I got to the end. Definitely a good read.

I'm on the fence about this one. Steph and Jess make for an interesting story about the bond between sisters and their past is heartbreaking and disturbing, although the twists associated with that past aren't hard to figure out ahead of time. The story did hold my interest, but there are some lags in the middle, and the second half of the story gets unnecessarily repetitive. There are a number of things going on at once as the story bounces from character to character, and while those things do tie in eventually, the storyline seems disjointed at times. Finally, as far as what's claimed in the blurb, I can't say that I found anything about this one particularly thrilling, psychologically or otherwise. It is dramatic and the dynamic between Jess and Steph, such as it is in this story, made for an interesting enough read, but it is a little too easy to set aside for something else. In the end, there were things I liked and things that I didn't, and it all came together into just an okay read for me.

I have read some mixed reviews about this book so I wasn't sure what to expect. It did take me a lot longer to read than normal but that was due to some unforeseen circumstances in my personal life and nothing to do with the book.

MY SISTER IS MISSING is the debut novel of Julia Barrett and it is intense, emotional, intriguing and even a little twisted. There was so much going on but still it kept you riveted to every page to see what happened next.

The story begins with Jess waking one morning with a killer hangover (why are all the women in books I am reading at the moment always downing bottles of wine?) and a phone call from her brother in law, Adam. Her older - and often wiser - sister Steph has gone missing with her newborn daughter of 3 weeks, Natalie. It is so out of character for Steph that it throws Jess into action as she rushes to Adam and Steph's place in affluent Epping.

Ever since childhood, Steph had always been there for Jess; had always been her protector and someone she could always turn to. So what had happened to her sister to make her suddenly run with her newborn baby? Sure, she was a new mum adjusting to motherhood, but both Jess and Adam thought she was doing just fine. They both thought how peaceful she looked when feeding Natalie. Surely, she had been fine...hadn't she? But if she had, then why run? She's not taken her mobile or any clothes for Natalie. She has just left without a trace.

Jess finds herself supporting Adam as well as herself as they take their suspicions to the police. They go through the motions of reporting Steph missing and, given that she has their newborn daughter who is just 3 weeks old, her disappearance is given high priority. The police ask them questions as to where Steph might go? Any family? Friends? Anywhere special? Neither have a clue.

It isn't long before Jess begins to finds Adam's behaviour somewhat erratic. He goes from bawling mess to calm and collected. She becomes suspicious that he is hiding something when she overhears him in hushed tones on the phone and abruptly left the house. When Jess pressed "redial" she found he's called the speaking clock to clear the last number he had called. Why? What is he hiding?

When Adam returns home he claims to have been "just driving around" looking for Steph but when Jess finds a suspicious receipt and then the next day sees him driving out of the hospital car park, she decides to follow him. Days later Jess follows Adam to find him visiting a stranger in hospital, whom the staff believe to be his brother. She also discovers that the receipt she'd found resembles the parking tickets for the hospital car park. Why has he been visiting the hospital every day when he says he is out looking for Steph? What is Adam hiding? And how is it connected to Steph's disappearance?

Jess and Steph grew up in Sheffield. Would Steph go back there? Surely not, Jess thinks. There is nothing for them there. But when the police discover through the ANPR (automated number plate recognition) system that Steph's car was registered on the road leading to Sheffield, and CCTV has seen her in a Sheffield car park, Jess begins to wonder. Then news comes through that a woman matching Steph's description holding what appears to be a baby jump in front of a train at a Sheffield train station. Adam is beside himself, believing that Steph has fallen to such depths once again, taking their daughter with them. But Jess refuses to believe her sister has taken her life.

Then Jess finds Steph's diary and what she reads shocks her to the core. In it, Steph writes that she had been having an affair and "he" wants a paternity test to prove Natalie is or isn't his. She writes he also wants to tell Adam about their affair but it would destroy him and their marriage. What can she do? Her mum, ever the voice of reason, helps her decide what to do.

The only problem is...Jess and Steph's mum died a year ago. Surely Steph doesn't think she is still alive? What has happened to Steph that she had missed seeing?

It is in that moment, Jess thinks she knows where Steph has gone. It's the only thing that makes sense. So Jess takes to the road in search of her missing sister and niece.

MY SISTER IS MISSING is completely enthralling that keeps you second guessing. I did find there to be an excess of monologuing from Jess' POV (which I'm never a fan of) and would prefer a little more dialogue. But I guess that is the nature of the story as well - the fact they each character is dealing with their own demons and their own secrets that no one else knows.

We know from the start that Jess had an unhappy childhood and an incredibly difficult relationship with her mother. Throughout the story we get snippets of Jess' experiences as a child at the hands of her mother and it's not until she decides to finally unburden herself to her boyfriend, that we get the bigger picture.

Jess' mother always blamed her for their father leaving them. But Jess knew she must be right because she had seen something so confusing to her 5 year old mind that she decided to tell her father in the hope that he could help her make some sense of it. Instead he told her he would always love her...and he left. Their mother's response was to blame her and subsequently abuse her frequently.

While their mother doted on Steph, giving her everything, she gave Jess nothing. She often told Steph that Jess was looking after an elderly neighbour instead of letting her go out. She also said Jess was ill but instead had locked her in a cupboard. Steph always got new clothes while Jess only got her hand-me-downs. Jess was never allowed out, never allowed to go anywhere, never allowed to have a life.

One day Jess told her teacher what was happening at home, and because her mother was well-known in the community, her teacher told her to stop telling lies. From that day on, Jess knew to keep her secrets to herself. Telling them only made people leave, made them hate her and blame her. In her 5 year old mind, keeping secrets was the only way to make it through life in one piece.

But whilst Steph may have been her mother's favourite, she did not lead the charmed life Jess thought she did. Steph had witnessed something as a teenager so disturbing that, together with an equally horrifying experience later at Uni, she created the delusions in her mind that twisted her reality which she began to write about in her diary.

MY SISTER IS MISSING is told primarily from Jess' POV, but also various diary entries by Steph and the odd POV from Adam. It's a twisted psychological thriller that takes precedence with each characters' individual stories, secrets and truths, while the police procedural aspect remains in the background. This is Jess and Steph's story.

Ironically, I didn't not like anyone, which for me is unusual as there is always someone I don't like. I'm not a fan of strong ball-breaking women but with Jess I felt a little different - maybe due to her past which we became privy to early on in the story. I didn't love her, but I didn't hate her either.

MY SISTER IS MISSING touches on some sensitive subjects which I think were handled well. Abuse is always a popular theme but mental health and post-natal depression isn't. I think the author did this quite well as it's not a often subject talked about. You're supposed to be overwhelmed with love and basking in the glow of motherhood, but that is not always the case. The author has handled the issues with sensitivity, giving the reader a real feeling of empathy, while still making an impact.

Overall, while I thought MY SISTER IS MISSING could have been better - as it did feel like it was it went off on a little tangent for a while - it was still gritty, compelling, intriguing and totally twisted! I thought the aspects dealing with their mother was a clever way to give the women closure. Despite its difference, I thought the ending was rather apt - which surprised me. There really was no other way to end it but with a sense of closure.

Thank you to #JuliaBarrett, #NetGalley and #RedDoorPublishing for an ARC of #MySisterIsMissing in exchange for an honest review.

My Sister is Missing is an intense, twisted, psychological thriller, but this one was a little too twisted for me. The story started well and the premise was good but I think the flow of the story for me, wasn’t that great because of the many issues being presented. This was not one of my favorites, however I’m sure there are others who will love it. My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I loved the dual timelines in this book. The author does a great job of creating tension and making the reader truly care about these characters, even though they're flawed. Wonderful twists and well done!

I found this book very disjointed in places if I am honest. And the storyline just didn't do it for me.
I'm sure others would enjoy this book, but it just wasn't my cup of tea I'm afraid

Jess Morely works for a PR media firm for a university. After a late night, she sees she has some missed calls from her brother-in-law, Adam. He tells her that her sister, Steph, has taken their baby, Natalie, and didn’t come home. She took only a few things for her and the baby but left her mobile.

When Jess gets to their home, the police are there. They question both Jess and Adam about Steph, her background, childhood, and personality.

Steph is a few years older than Jess and has always been the stable one. Now, it looks like that has changed. Steph is tired from taking care of the new baby but adores her. Jess doesn’t know why her sister decided to run away.

Jess has her own problems because the man she loves has decided to take an extended vacation to see the world. She misses him and feels like he has abandoned her.

The story “spits” out a clue here and there to finally put this puzzle together. I’m sorry to say that I found this to be quite dark and depressing. But on a positive note, we see how the things we experience as a child and the way we are treated has a huge impact on how we turn out mentally. That’s a big enough clue for me to leave here. If you can handle a bit of dark and depressing, you will like this book.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My Sister is Missing is classified as a physiological thriller that follows Jess as she tries to unravel the mystery behind her sister, Stephanie's disappearance. One day, Steph's husband, Adam comes home and Stephanie and their newborn daughter, Natalie are missing. Slowly Jess starts to piece things together and she soon learns that there's more than just meets the eye.

I will admit that I struggled with getting all of my thoughts together after finishing this novel. On one hand, I read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. But on the other hand, I'm not sure if it's because I was enjoying it or if it's just because I wanted to know what happened to Stephanie.

This book had the potential to be amazing because the premise is so damn good; but it just fell flat in delivery. I guess I just wanted more than what I got from this novel. Mostly, I wanted to be able to connect with the characters a little more. The plot was also a little all over the place at parts and at other parts, was very repetitive and it worked on my nerves throughout my reading experience.

I will say that I do like and appreciate some of the topics that were brought up in this novel. As well as the conversation that was started in the acknowledgements at the end; but as a whole, this was just not the book for me.

Overall, I didn't have a bad reading experience; but it wasn't the greatest. I enjoyed the premise of the novel - but the execution fell flat. Honestly, I'm mostly just confused as to how I really feel about this.

Excellent intense psychological thriller. I thought I knew where the book was going but then got a shock! Really makes you think about things you may not have before.
Steph goes missing with her new baby. Her sister and husband are left behind trying to figure out why she would disappear. Things are not as they seem.