Whoa. I love a good thriller and this one was off the charts. So many twists and turns. So many interesting characters. I never knew which way was up at any given time, and I was at the edge of my seat from start to finish. I love when I never see that ending coming! Definitely a must if you like psychological thrillers, and crazy mysteries with unexpected endings!

Captivating, intricate, and twisty!

The Wrong Sister is a character-driven, domestic thrill ride that delves into the deep, dark secrets people can keep even from those closest to them, and raises the question: how well do you really know anyone?

The prose is crisp and intense. The characters are devious, cunning, and scarred. And the plot, told from multiple perspectives, unfolds rapidly into an exhilarating tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, ambition, tragedy, lies, deception, and murder.

Overall, The Wrong Sister is another tight, gripping, suspenseful tale by Douglas that does a wonderful job of delving into all the complex, dysfunctional dynamics that can exist between family members and reminds us just how toxic some of those relationships can be.

This is a tense and atmospheric psychological thriller that explores family secrets, betrayal, and hidden pasts. The story centers around the relationships between two sisters whose lives are turned upside down when unsettling revelations come to light. Douglas masterfully builds suspense, gradually revealing dark truths that keep the reader guessing until the shocking conclusion. The characters are complex and well-developed, and the plotting is tight, with plenty of twists to keep readers on their toes.

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is a wild and entertainingly twisty domestic thriller!
This story has so many intricately woven details that I was easily sucked in from the beginning to the end!
Most families have secrets, but this family has more than the average!
Tasha and her husband Aaron, take a vacation to Venice, and leave their 4 year old twins with her sister, Alice and husband Kyle. The story really takes off after Alice and Kyle are attacked in the home.

This book is a fast paced read, full of drama, suspense and surprises!
My jaw was on the floor for the ending!

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this exciting book! This is my first book from this author and I now have all the rest of her books on my tbr list!!

*This book comes out August 5th. Check it out for a great thrill!!*

Claire Douglas delivers a gripping psychological thriller rooted in family drama and buried secrets. The story centers on sisters Tasha and Alice, whose lives diverge sharply- Tarsha, a settled mother of twins in suburban Bristol, and Alice, an affluent globetrotter married to entrepreneur Kyle. When they embark on a week-long "life-swap," disaster strikes: Alice is hospitalized and Kyle is murdered. A chilling note arrives at Tasha's home: "It was supposed to be you."

From there, Douglas weaves a tense narrative filled with red herrings and conspiracies tied to a long-lost sister, Holly. The stakes feel intensely personal, and the author's pacing= short chapters, shifting perspectives, and dual timelines- creates an enveloping, nervous energy.

Multiple POVs, Emotional Complexity and Deepen Suspense! 3 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. This book will be released 8/5/25.

This book was very slow at times and at other times I was wondering what certain things had to do with the story.
The twist is what made it worth it and actually shocked me.

I liked this book. It was very engaging and caught my attention within a few chapters. I was thinking of various scenarios of what could have been but I did not see that twist coming. I liked it and also loved the chimera concept that the author briefly introduced in the book. That was something interesting to read about.

There was a lot going on and there were multiple subplots within this plot and yet I was still glued to the book and didn’t feel confused at all so I can definitely say I enjoyed this author’s writing. This is my first book by her and I would look forward to her future projects too.

If you like mystery thrillers, or enjoy books with the ‘whodunnit’ vibe, then you should definitely give this a try.

Thank you so much @harperperennial @netgalley and the author for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 🤗

This is a bit of a slow burn mystery but it has the twists and turns to keep your attention. I loved the idea of the swap. There was some romance and drama that kept the story going.

Tasha has never felt that she could live up to her sisters - one sister, Alice, is a brilliant scientist living a jet-setting life with her wealthy husband, and her other sister, Holly, was kidnapped as an infant, leaving the family to always wonder what happened.

But when Alice offers the use of her luxury vacation home to Tasha and her husband, they jump at the rare chance to get away together while Alice and her husband come to stay with their kids. They're horrified to be called home after a home invasion leaves Alice injured and her husband, Kyle, dead. But who was the intended victim? And why?

The setup was fine, but the execution was often clunky and dry. Entire conversations and scenes were often summed up instead of being written out. Tasha is so bitter and morose, she doesn't like anyone - her sister, her mother, her husband, her husband's coworker, anyone. (Except her kids, she likes them fine.) The twist at the end was fine, but I'd already figured it out because there were so many obvious red herrings before that that there was only one conclusion left, kind of like finally getting the right Wordle guess.

This book was literally a wild ride and everyone was SUS. You can’t trust anyone in this book, the way this book is interwoven and how it was a messy, but neat web of deception. Chefs kiss to Claire Douglas this was my first book by her and it definitely won’t be my last. Just when I thought I had the twist figured out Claire said “Child please sit and place on your seatbelt. This ending was wild and brilliant. This book is a wonderful example of how we’ll do you know the ones you surround yourself with family and friends?

This is a rerelease of an earlier
Book which I didn’t know going into it. I didn’t quite love this. It felt a little too low stakes for the amount of drama.

Such a good read!! It kept me wanting to read more. Definitely recommend this book too all readers !!! Five stars!!!

Some interesting twists and turns in this suspense novel that tells stories of multiple tragic events to befall a family. Lots of red herrings and interwoven characters that will surprise you.

I had a really hard time getting into this story. The writing felt really clunky, and I didn't find myself too captivated by the mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was just not for me.

If you like thrillers you might like this.

It was just slow moving. I didn’t care about any of the characters. It took over half the book to get finally start getting interesting. It was more so interesting because we were finally learning what was going on.

This was very predictable. I figured out most of the twists very early on. There are certain tells in thriller novels, in my opinion, where you can guess who did it. I won’t say for this one what it was because it’ll spoil the ending, but it was so obvious to me because of that.

There was some foreshadowing in the novel which I picked up on to figure it out as well, which I was glad because I do like that in thriller novels.

There wasn’t good enough reason for all these characters keeping the secrets they did from each other.

The plot line with Holly was kind of pointless to me. I know it tied into the story but nothing really happened with it by the end. If it was taken out completely it really wouldn’t have changed much. The story could have been reworked slightly and it would be like nothing was missing.

I HATED the ending. Hated it.

It was not satisfying at all. It made me so angry. Maybe if I cared more about the bonds between the characters I’d be happy with it, but I was not at all. It wasn’t believable enough to make the ending justifiable.

I thought about giving this 2 stars, but the ending ruined it for me.

Someone else may enjoy this more than I did, but it was not very good.

🔹 My take: 4/5

🔸 Tasha and Alice look alike but their lives are very different. While one is happily settled in her hometown life with her hubby and two kids, the other is a well known scientist trotting world with her husband. They love each other to bits. And hence when Tasha & Aaron contemplate to take a small break, Alice is happy to swap homes with them and take care of her nieces for a while. To Tasha’s dismay, they have a break in at their home in which Alice lands in ICU and her husband dies. While investigation is still on; Tasha receives a note saying ‘It was supposed to be you’ and she is at her wit’s end deciphering how a fun filled holiday week turned out to be her worst nightmare.

💖 Wows - Claire Douglas is one of my favourite and this is my 4th read of hers. I loved multiple things: the scenic descriptions - like the lake behind Tasha’s home, the luxurious mansion of Alice, alleys and nooks in Venice etc. There were multiple twists in the book and backstory about the family too was interesting. Multiple characters also led to a lot of guess work as to what would have really happened. There was a new piece of information I learnt about (can’t reveal as it would be a spoiler) but the ones who have read it will know what I am talking of.

💔 Ows - While there were lots of twists, for a seasoned thriller reader they were a bit predictable. I was able to land on right conclusions fairly early on. The pacing went a bit slack towards the end so I liked the beginning and middle more than the climax.

💫 If you are starting thrillers, this would be a great pick. If you are a die hard Claire Douglas fan, you might have a raised eyebrow because we have loved The couple at no. 9 and this felt short a tad bit. But whatever, if it’s Claire Douglas we are reading it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to @harperperennial @clairedouglasauthor and @netgalley for sharing the DRC in exchange for honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A clever thriller about two sisters and the secrets and lives in the small town where one lives.

Tasha and Alice could not be more different. Tasha lives a modest life in her hometown with her husband Aaron and their twin girls, while Alice is a wealthy jet setter who loves to travel and owns a vacation home in Venice with her husband Kyle.

When Tasha vents to her sister one day about needing a spark in her marriage, Alice suggests they swap lives for a week and offers up her Venice house for Tasha and Aaron to take a much needed getaway while she and Kyle will stay and watch the girls.

While on their vacation she gets a call stating that there was an intruder in the house and Alice is injured and Kyle was killed. When they get home and start to piece together what happened, Tasha receives a note in the mail stating “It should have been you”.

What happens next is a sharp and clever thriller that had me at the edge of my seat wanting to see what happened.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Tasha and Alice. I expected Alice to be snobby with her posh lifestyle but you could see her love for Tasha and how she never thought less of her for her modest lifestyle. She remembered her roots.

Tasha did a good job of staying level headed throughout the story which was refreshing in a thriller. Usually the main character gets flighty and nervous and while Tasha wasn't perfect, she did all the things you would expect her to do, most importantly communicate with the police and let them do their job and not keep secrets to try and figure it out on her own.

I thought the author did a brilliant job of planting seeds and clues throughout the story that I sometimes picked up on and other times I glossed right over.

Told from the viewpoints of three women, this thriller gave you just enough to propel the story forward but was well crafted to keep you guessing.


Huge thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for sharing this book’s digital advanced review copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

This is a round down from 3.25 stars!

The description is what had me so interested in this book, but after starting it that was hard to keep in mind.
It was thrilling and interesting until those parts of the story fizzled out and it grew stagnant and a slow burn type of angst that I wasn't expecting in a book like this. It may be could have worked if there was more interesting aspects to keep me clocked in but it lost me until the last maybe 20% of the book.
I almost didn't finish but I carried on to the end and I am glad that I did cause this was a completely different book than I normally read so that was what kept me going.

I immediately was swept into the story of these two sisters.

Alice and Tasha have always been close. Tasha and her husband are celebrating their anniversary at her sister Alice’s new apartment in Venice. Alice insists they celebrate and enjoy themselves while she watches Tasha’s two young daughter’s.

It’s a romantic getaway that Tasha and her husband are long overdue for and Alice is more than happy to help, but a devastating turn of events shatters the lives of both sisters and Tasha rushes back home to her sister.

This is definitely a page-turner full of deep and dark secrets that will leave you floored.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for this Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Two British sisters, still haunted by the kidnapping of an infant sister thirty years ago, are doing a house swap. Alice, the older, better-off, highly educated, and childless sister, will also baby sit Tasha’s and Aaron’s three year old twins near Bristol with her husband Kyle. Tasha and Aaron are taking over Alice’s and Kyle’s second home/palatial apartment on the Grand Canal in Venice, finally enjoying a real vacation since the birth of Elsie and Flossie.

But things go wrong fairly quickly: Tasha and Aaron are chased by a knife-wielding man near St. Mark’s Square while a simultaneous home invasion back in England claims Kyle’s life and injures Alice. The presumption that it was a burglary gone wrong dissipates when Tasha gets a message that she, not Alice or Kyle, was the intended target. Why? Tasha is basically a rural housewife married to a mechanic. And is the coincidental anniversary of her baby sister Holly’s abduction somehow related? There’s some questionable DNA suggesting that.

Author Douglas creates a very twisty domestic thriller of fatal mistaken identity that will have you guessing until the end. This suspense novel is appropriately the author’s first hardcover book, but probably not her last. The writing is emotional and intelligent as it touches on big family secrets that manage to explode and test the boundaries of maternal, sisterly, and spousal relationships. I was engaged (and surprised) until the very last page. 4.5 stars

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Sisters Tasha and Alice both have green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But what is buried at the bottom of the garden?

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!