OMG was this a chore to read. The thing I liked most about this book was the author's note at the end.

This thriller took some time to get going, but once it did, it had many surprises.

Molly Raven reluctantly gets on an airplane to travel to New York from England to meet up with her parents after her twin sister, Katie, or KT as she’s known is found murdered. Molly has lots of issues. She’s afraid of everything. She is a worst-case-scenario kind of girl. She purchases anything she can to use as a weapon because she’s just waiting to be attacked. She also hoards food and hides money in case of a catastrophic event like a terrorist attack or freak storm. She’s super cautious and obsessed.

Although she’s afraid of everything and everyone she is determined to find out what happened to her twin no matter the danger. There are many suspects - a creepy YouTube neighbor, a handsome boyfriend, an older professor, and even KT’s best friend. Molly’s constant worry had me on edge.

Things are not what they seem and when the reader is told what’s going on it’s quite shocking.

This character-driven story was a little strange for me. I wasn’t on board with the motivations of anyone. But the writing and strangeness drew me in and the twist was good.

Molly Raven has always been the careful twin. She does her research, she knows the safest course of action, and she’s never unprepared. Some would say she’s too anxious, too careful. But all that changes when Molly gets the call that her twin sister Katie has been murdered. Forced to leave the safety of her London flat and travel to the unpredictable streets of New York City, Molly discovers she is only one small part in the investigation of her sister’s death. But as the story unfolds, readers will quickly realize that the quiet, reserved Molly may have more in common with her twin than anyone ever knew.

review

First Born by Will Dean was a fast-paced thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat through not one, but two massive plot twists.

First Born immediately pulled me into its fast-paced plot. Dean hooked me with the plot’s setup and the character of Molly right from the beginning. There was just something in Molly’s reserved, careful nature and in her survivor’s guilt that made her such an intriguing character. It’s hard to really get into all the reasons why Molly was such a well done character without giving away major parts of the book, but I will say that our main character had the perfect qualities for a thriller and will leave readers trying to wrap their head around her every action right up until the end.

While a thriller from start to finish, First Born touched on so much: the aftermath of losing not only a sister, but a twin that felt like your other half; parental instability and financial woes; the emotional betrayal of those closest to you; reluctant revenge; and the eventual acceptance of your own life choices. With all these elements at work, Dean gave us a story that beautifully fit all these puzzle pieces together while simultaneously distracting readers from the overall picture.

Dean did a fantastic job with the novel’s pacing. He throws in enough twists after the halfway point that readers will want to speed through the rest of the book just to see what would happen next. Combined with an often-unreliable narrator, these purposeful misdirects will make it hard for even the best sleuths to guess what’s coming at the end.

in conclusion

Without giving anything away and ruining the plot, First Born was entertaining and engaging from Molly’s introduction, through the first major plot twist, and clear through to the final big reveal. Dean packed a lot of action and even more surprises into this thriller, and I highly recommend First Born for anyone looking for a page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing the whole way through.

Wow. This was sinister and creepy and shocking. I flew through it and LOVED it. If you want twists and turns you won't see coming, pick this one up!!

Wow I mean what a wild ride this one was! A slow burn leading to amazing twists and turns. Boy does this one get crazy!

I loved Mollly character and how obsessive she is with safety. It made for an even more dramatic storyline.

👭Book Review:
Title: First Born
Author: Will Dean
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

A thriller about twins.... one of the twins being super creepy. Yes, please! I received this book originally as an arc but then ended up deciding to grab it as an add-on in my @bookofthemonth book. Then, I proceeded to let it sit on my shelf for way too long because this book was so good! It's a shocking twist ending! Just when I thought I knew, I didn't! Wow!

Twin #1: Katie Raven - Living her best life in New York City is found dead.

Twin #2: Molly Raven - lives a quiet, secure life in London. Fearing most things, she must push herself to find a way to America as safely as possible.

The relationship between these sisters is not what it seems. As the story goes on, you find out about all the many lies and deceit that these two have on each other. This is a wild read!

Thank you, @netgalley, and the @atriabooks for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

First Born is a psychological thriller about a woman investigating the death of her identical twin. This is a slow-burn, dark, sinister read that had me hooked from the beginning.

Molly Raven has always lived in the shadow of her identical twin Kate. Molly is timid, obsessed with personal safety, and a little strange. Whereas Kate is confident and the life of the party. When Kate is awarded a scholarship to study at Columbia University, Molly’s life is ripped apart as her twin moves from London to NYC. When Kate is murdered, Molly leaves her comfort zone and faces her fears in NYC to find the person who took her sister’s life.

There are some unpredictable twists and turns which heightens the tension and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to know how the story pans out.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fast paced twisty thriller of sorts that was intriguing in all ways. This was my first book of this authors and I would be interested to see what his other work is.

I'm glad I finally gave this a shot. I'm typically more of a romcom lover and this was definitely outside of that wheelhouse.

With that said, I appreciate that the author gave us bits of the story without waiting for some huge finale. I think the plot was superb.

<i>First Born</i> is a slow burn and not what I was expecting. Identical twins have a connection that no-one but them can understand. Their looks may be identical, but that could be all that is the same between the two. This is the case with Katie and Molly. One is outgoing, the other is neurotic. And just because they look alike, they will never really have their own personal identity.

As a psychological thriller about the murder of an identical twin, mistaken identity is a given. There is a lot of plot setup within the first half of the book. Then things start happening. Right when you think you know, you don't know. And then there's more that you don't know.

A definite page turner - this mystery/thriller was certainly well thought out. The details were abundant. I'm still scratching my head a little bit about how, why and what happens next...

If you want to read a book with more twists and turns than a mountain road and thrillers that will keep you up at night then this is your book. Thanks for writing such a great book!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Murder mystery and psychological thriller? Yes, please! First Born will have you hooked! It was surprisingly chilling plot and the twists come flying at you. Loved the pacing and really enjoyed Will Dean's writing style.

Highly recommend!!

This book touched my librarian heart as only a Will Dean tale can. It us mysterious and full of thrills but grabs you at the core of your heart as you hold on for this wild ride.

Really enjoyed this novel. Story was very interesting and engaging. Looking forward to reading more by this author. Highly recommend!

3.5
Good flow and good points throughout the story that plot twists are revealed instead of leaving everything until the end.
It feels a little far fetched that someone who had never killed anyone and was so risk fearing, suddenly flips to cold blooded murder. But also someone who killed in defense starts revenge killing.

That final twist!! While keeping you on your toes throughout the book with little turns, that final twist just absolutely blew my mind. I found Molly very uncomfortable as a character. That’s the only word I can think of without giving spoilers to the plot. I understand wanting to make her unreliable but it was more than that. Just hard to read. Nevertheless, a decent read. 3/5 stars.

A little over the top, and didn’t love it. I feel like the identical twin thing is overdone so I didn't enjoy this one. Thank you to the author and publisher for my copy in exchange for a review.

I finished this thriller rather quickly, because it sucked me in pretty quickly and I did want to know how it ended. However, I had a hard time believing this story line. As someone with twin sisters, I have a hard time believing that something like this would happen, or that the lies that were told would be believed by family. (I don't want to go into too much details here, as I do not want to spoil it for others). If you are able to look past that part of the book, it is a good story with a couple of twists that make you ask yourself "WTF?".

This is my first book from Will Dean and I quickly went and purchased his first book upon finishing this one! At the beginning I wasn't sure if this book was for me - the anxiousness of Molly made me anxious, quite frankly, but once I kept reading I was hooked. These sisters couldn't be more different and I just *knew* something bad was going to happen! It reminded me a little bit of Social Creature from a few years ago. The twist about halfway through made me audibly gasp out loud and from there I couldn't stop reading. Lots of implausible things happened in this book, but I enjoyed this one so much and the ending had me SHOOK.

First Born by Will Dean was... nothing if not original. I really enjoyed this story and its twists and turns, until about halfway through when it went to some strange places. Overall this is a solid 3 star thriller, this is fine but not memorable. The halfway point kind of ruined it for me because the twist felt cheap and manufactured for shock value and did not add anything to the story that was developing, instead it took it in an entirely new direction.

First Born had an interesting plot of the twins but honestly I wasn’t crazy about it. It was a thrilling ride but I didn’t love the plot points and I didn’t understand some of the motivation. I would give him another try.