This unusual psychological mystery features twin sisters Molly and Katie Raven, who are opposites in every way - or are they really?

The story moves back and forth in time to reveal one twin's murder and the events leading up to it. The plot twists and turns its way to a most surprising - and totally unexpected - conclusion!

3.5 What a fun thriller! I had an inkling of what happened but never followed through with figuring out the storyline, and I loved how it ended up!

When her twin sister gets murdered, Molly is adamant about finding the who and the why! But Molly lives a bit of a fearful life in London, and her sister lives in NYC. There are many obstacles, in her mind, to even get to NYC.

My second book by Will Dean and I'll definitely read the next. Both of his books have been surprising and have taken a different spin than I normally expect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advance e-copy.

Huge thank you to Atria Books for the book to read and review.
This one started out so great but then by the second half it all just fell apart. Seemed too over the top and just a little much. Felt like things were added just to have that one more *gasp* moment.

4.5/5

I first discovered Will Dean after reading (and loving) The Last Thing to Burn at which time he became an instant autobuy author for me. First Born was a fantastic third book for him and I'm really surprised by the lower average this has on Goodreads. It was definitely very different from The Last Thing to Burn, but I love a good twin story, and First Born was fire in that respect. The story is told almost entirely from Molly’s viewpoint, and I swear that her anxiety gave ME anxiety. I’ve never known anyone quite so scared of everything as she was, and it was rather fascinating reading from a POV like that. Despite Molly being as scared as she was, she still tried to figure out exactly what was going on with Katie and her life in New York basically making her the epitome of the female sleuth.

I also really enjoyed the audiobook, which is narrated by Susie Riddell, and I would thoroughly recommend it to all fans of audio. She really helped me get into the story even more, and I couldn’t find a single thing wrong with her narration at all. I LOVED so many things about the end of First Born, even though I’m not entirely sure I loved one of the major twists of the story. That being said, I was super engaged throughout this entire book, and even though some readers thought it dragged, I didn’t have issues with that at all. I love the way Dean can write a character, and I think he does an impeccable job of creating both plots and people that can really consume the reader. If you choose to pick this up, I would recommend suspending disbelief and just letting it take you on the crazy ride it most certainly is.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Holy twins - this was one dark and crazy ride!

I found this one over the top. I enjoyed the differences between the sisters and was intrigued by their relationship. I was all in during the first half of the book as Molly searches for the truth behind Kate's death. Unfortunately, the twists and reveals in the second half were a bit too over the top for me. This was definitely a wild ride, one of those books where plausibility must be checked at the door. It was entertaining and the last half definitely had me shaking my head and unable to stop listening because I had to see where it was all going.

What the heck did I just read?? But in the best possible way.

When Atria reached out to send me a copy of First Born I had no idea what to expect. I had never read anything by Will Dean before, but I knew I am always looking for a good thriller to read.

This book blew away my expectations honestly. I'm the type of person who will read thriller after thriller no matter how formulaic they might feel, and honestly I find myself figuring out the plot twist more often than not. First Born however had plot twists that felt like they punched me right in the face. I did not see them coming and this book was a wild ride from start to finish.

With great writing, so many twists and turns, and truly intriguing characterization First Born was such a fun read and I'll be sure to check out anything from Will Dean in the future!

Definitely waited WAY too long to pick this review copy up and I am definitely kicking myself for it. This is the first book by this author and I will definitely pick up more if he writes similarly to this one. This was a super fun and twisty story about twins, a theme that I tend to either really love or hate in my sci-fi/thriller books, and this one worked well! I've seen a huge range of reviews for this one so if you've been contemplating picking it up, definitely see for yourself.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for my review copy!

I've read way too many "twin" thrillers lately, so the trope is feeling a little stale. This book was enjoyable overall, but when I went to write this review, nothing really made it stand out from the others I've read. It was better than I'll Be You, at least, I'll give you that.

I never really liked Molly, which always makes it hard to connect with a story. Her jump from recluse to amateur detective felt abrupt.

When the story departs from the typical twin plotline, things start to get particularly unrealistic. Overall the book was interesting, but a little too out there for me to really love it.

The plot twist in this made absolutely no sense. At all. I hate when I waste my time reading an entire book with an ending that makes me want to throw it out the window.

I had been following Will Dean on Twitter for a while before I was granted this ARC for this book and I was excited! Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for a chance to read this. Will Dean does write mystery and suspense really well. I don't often read this genre or mysteries set in the current time period but I made an exception for this book after seeing the hype on Twitter. I was not led astray. I am hoping our library will purchase a copy of this book as I know we do not have any other Will Dean books in the system and this one would do well with borrowing!

"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 50 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵."

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: Molly finds out that her sister Katie has been killed. She must leave her life in London and head to NYC where her sister lived to find out what happened.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: Wow – I was absolutely blown away by this book. There was twist after twist after twist that I did not see coming at all. It definitely started out a bit slow but the second half of the book was completely unputdownable. I loved how there were so many people who could have been at fault for Katie’s death – it made the guessing game that much more difficult. I also absolutely loved that this book was about twins – it added a whole new layer to the story that I loved. This is one of those books that had my jaw drop at the final twist. I honestly don’t think it is getting the praise it deserves on goodreads. I definitely recommend.

𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: I loved it!

*Special thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Will Dean for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3 for neutral, was unable to access my netgalley account for months, until today. Because of this, I was unable to see which books I needed to read. I apologize for the inconvenience and hopefully will not have any more issues in future.

This book had some really delicious twists! Just when I thought I had them all figured out, I was thrown for a massive loop! Highly recommend!

This is a very difficult book to review - it felt like two separate books. I actually really enjoyed the first half of the book, which was a slow burn but nice character study of Molly investigating her twin sister's death. The character of Molly was so unbelievably "bat-shit crazy" and afraid of everything that I actually found her very entertaining as she worked to both explore NYC and investigate her sister's death. Then, the twist happened halfway through that really threw me for a loop and made me go "what?!? I suddenly rethought everything I just read - from there the storyline went off the rails. I was along for the crazy ride but then.... the book twisted AGAIN at the very end - and at that point, I felt a bit manipulated and was left wondering... "WTF did I just read?"

Molly is a very quiet and shy person who lives her life based on routine and structure. She's the exact opposite of her outgoing identical twin sister, Katie. Molly has always relied on Katie, but her sister recently moved to New York City from London. Then Molly receives the worst news: Katie has died, a possible murder. She has to overcome her fears and travel to New York City to try to figure out exactly what happened to her sister.

FIRST BORN is a twisty thriller that offers a ton of surprises, but I confess that I just didn't love it all that much. I kept reading to find out what happened, so the book captured my attention, but I did not find the characters very engaging or likeable. There was not much character development here, and the writing style was rather weird. It's a wild plot, for sure; so if you can suspend disbelief and just go for it, you'll enjoy this one.

If you like twists this book is for you. There is a major twist about halfway in and just about the time you get your bearings it twists again.

I went into First Born without any expectations. I was not familiar with the work of Will Dean, but the premise sounded interesting to me. I was not disappointed! I flew through this book. It was a perfect summer read, fast paced and propulsive. The book had many twists and kept me engaged throughout. I liked the idea of an English girl in NYC. I found the twin element interesting and the twists surprising, but not shocking. I would be willing to read more of what Dean is writing. If you are looking for a quick read that has you saying "Just one more chapter" this is the perfect book!

First Born, ironically enough, is the first novel I've read by Will Dean. So I didn't know what to expect going into this read. Though naturally, I hoped for a thrilling tale that left me spooked. Isn't that what everyone hopes for when diving into a new thriller?

Molly and Katie are twins, but they couldn't be more different. One is outgoing, free-spirited, and adventurous. The other is terrified of the world, hesitant to try new things, and unwilling to let go of what she loves.

It's a recipe for disaster, as one twin leaves to explore the world. Molly should have been jealous of Katie leaving – yet the news of her twin's death seemed to reinforce all the fears Molly has struggled with her whole life.

“I am half a person. The darkest half.”

Huh. I've read a lot of thrillers over the years (and I do mean a lot!), but I don't think I've ever read anything quite like First Born. If I'm being honest, I can't quite decide how I feel about that.

On the one hand, that final twist at the end was a doozy! On the other hand, the only way for that twist to be perfectly obfuscated was for the narrator to lie to us. I don't appreciate being outright lied to, only to imply that it's just a creative spin on what happened.

If we overlook that bit, First Born is a captivating read. It had me on the edge of my seat, forcing me to try and figure out what happened to the twin – and why. There were so many questions that needed to be answered!

Ultimately, I would have to say that this is one of those thrillers that falls under the "great premise, subpar ending" category for me. Maybe I'm just getting too fussy?

This was a twisted story. We begin with Molly’s twin sister Katie’s death. Molly flies to NYC to join her parents in putting Katie to rest but also trying to find out what happened the night Katie died. Molly was a quirky character. I wasn’t sure that I liked her. The ending brought this book together for me.

I enjoyed this book! Started slow but really picked up the pace. I enjoy thrillers where I can’t predict what’s happening and this was unpredictable! I’m glad I stuck with it and finished to the end!