4.5 - I LOVED this book. Sarah Pekannen can do no wrong by in my eyes. I always love a book that has anything to do with psych wards. I find them so fascinating and spooky in their own way. I really liked the twin storyline in this book. It made for such an intriguing read. Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for it to come out into the world! Highly recommend!

I am always a little weary when a main character is a total loner. How do I root for someone that has no friends?! This eccentric family kept me turning the page though and I loved the grown up style of revenge.

Sarah Pekkanen knows how to write psychological thrillers. And this is certainly a fine one. The characters of the two protagonists, Georgia and Mandy, are well developed and each has a different voice giving them different perspectives as the story unfolds. The story is told from their alternating POVs. The book starts slowly but by the end you can’t put the book down because you need to know what really happened. And then, there is the ending with its twist. I received this ARC for a free and fair review. I thank the publishers for this opportunity.

I enjoy Sarah Pekkanen’s books and this one was no exception.

Georgia was adopted into a wealthy family as an infant, but her childhood was full of harsh moments and feeling like an outcast. In their thirties, Georgia is convicted of murdering her sister, Annabelle. She’s placed into a psychiatric ward to confirm her competence to stand trial for her sister’s murder.

No one can help her. No one wants to. Except her estranged biological twin that she didn’t know existed until a month prior. The sisters try to work together to tear the case apart and figure out the truth behind Annabelle’s murder.

The short chapters in this are a blessing, but the shifting POV’s are slightly distracting. The story is dual-POV of the twins, but one sister’s POV is in first person and the other is in second. You get used to it, but I’m not sure the reason for the switch up, unless it’s to keep the reader knowing which twin they are reading about.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Family secrets and power dynamics and political BS (go figure!!!)
The favorite daughter murdered.
TWINS?!
Layers of twists.
Sibling rivalry? Jealousy?
The age old question: who is lying and what's the truth?

I really enjoyed the little twists and unveilings peppered throughout the story. It kept things interesting and made it hard to put the book down.

There were so many moments in this book when I felt anxiety in every inch of my body. The whole 'locked room' and ticking-clock vibe was driving me nuts and I could not not not not stop reading this. Is Georgia a psychopath? Is anything Mandy knows about her own life true?

If my seat had an edge then I would've been falling off of it while reading this.

***for some book inspired drawings, please check out my blog! :)***

2.5 stars, rounded to 3.

Georgia Cartwright who was adopted as a newborn (uh-oh) seemed to have it all (bet she doesn’t) - wealthy family, great job, beautiful…so why is she locked in a psych ward, accused of murdering her sister, Annabelle (there it is)?

And not only was Georgia adopted, she was a twin, separated at birth (yep!) Now her only hope is her twin sister, Amanda, whom she has never met. Can Georgia and Amanda trust each other and can Amanda save Georgia?

This was a pretty ho-hum standard thriller and to be honest I’m not sure why I chose to read it. It’s set in Charlotte and it’s pretty clear that Pekkanen maybe read the first two paragraphs of the Wikipedia entry for the city as she doesn’t appear to know much about it.

Plus, I am perfectly willing to admit that perhaps I am not the good person that my two sweet dogs think that I am. But. Please tell me why Amanda, who is just living her life, is willing to risk it for a rich woman she doesn’t know whom she also suspects she can’t trust? Oh, and, naturally both women are beautiful and can get men to do stuff for them, well, just because. So, it was not bad, but, honestly, I would have rather been reading something better. And then I’ll see all kinds of four and five star ratings and I’ll be very aware that my tastes do not necessary match others. Georgia better hope that one of those women are her long lost twin next time.

The Locked Ward was such a bingeable and quick read! Written with short chapters and told from the perspectives of two estranged twin sisters, Georgia and Amanda, I was drawn into the story and trying to figure out what was happening and who could be trusted. The chapters that were set in the locked ward were pretty creepy and atmospheric which helped keep my attention as I was reading. I think I maybe wanted a bit more out of the ending, such as more of a shock factor which I love in a thriller, but I still really enjoyed the ride this book took me on.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and rated it 4 stars! If you are looking for a quick and bingeable thriller, written in dual POV with a ton of family drama and secrets, check out The Locked Ward (out August 5!).

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

🔪 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘥 🔪

Reading 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘥 felt like being pulled into a maze where nothing is quite what it seems. From the first few pages, I was completely ᴀʙꜱᴏʀʙᴇᴅ. The plot is fast-moving, and the vibes are curious and unsettled. This is my first book by 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩 𝘗𝘦𝘬𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯, and she did a brilliant job of creating a tense atmosphere that I often felt just as disoriented and anxious as the characters themselves.

Thank you, @NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the ARC.
Expected publication August 5, 2025

I was so excited to receive an arc of The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen! I dived right in and wasn’t disappointed. The story follows Mandy, an adopted woman whose adoptive parents have passed away and left a bar for her to run. She soon finds out that not only does she have a secret twin sister, but that sister, Georgia, has been accused of killing her adopted sister Annabelle. Georgia has been placed in a locked ward in a psychiatric unit and has requested to see Mandy. The story unfolds from there and weaves a tale of secrets and lies that Mandy must investigate to learn if Georgia is guilty or not. I loved this story! The alternating chapters switch between Mandy’s and Georgia’s points of view and keep the pages turning. The constant twists and turns kept me interested and intrigued throughout the book. Would highly recommend!

This was a story about sanity and why licensing violations should always be investigated.
This book got some much about clinical settings wrong, but if you can ignore that and suspend all disbelief - this book is a really fun read. I'm usually so/so about twin books, but the author did an excellent job of differentiating the characters so it didn't feel like a cheap plot device. Overall, a good time!


3.5rounded to 4! Thank you so much @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the eArc!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Sarah Pekkanen for this advanced reader’s copy of The Locked Ward

I enjoyed reading this book and I found it to be interesting but it didn’t exactly wow or shock me in any way. It was still a good book, but most of it was pretty predictable so overall I’d just have to say it was good! Also I did enjoy the back and forth POVs, it was cool to get the different perspectives from the twins. This is obviously a personal preference and I would still recommend others to give it a try!

I believe this is the first book by Pekkanen that I have read and I think I need to check out her earlier works!

Mandy and Georgia are twins who were separated at birth and raised by two different adoptive families. Mandy's working class childhood was idyllic and she was loved and knew it. Georgia was placed in wealth with a mother who was mean and nasty. They never knew each other existed until Georgia is accused of murdering her other sister, Annabelle. Georgia reaches out to Mandy, asking her to help save her. What ensues is an unravelling of their history and the secrets their adoptive families hid.

It was a fast paced read and overall the character and story development was good. I would recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of The Locked Ward! I enjoyed reading this twisty, family drama thriller.

The dual POV story of twins who were separated at a young age grips readers from the beginning when they find that one of the sisters, Georgia, is accused of murdering her adoptive families biological daughter. When Amanda AKA Mandy (Georgia's twin) is contacted by Georgia's lawyer to visit her in the ward, she is in shock of not only learning to have a twin, but also being related to a murderer. Georgia insists she is innocent. Will Mandy help her biological sister and get her out of the ward?

This story had some really interesting twists and turns. I did not anticipate the plot twist, which is a win in any psychological thriller. There are a few plot points that I was left with questions about surrounding the Dawson family after the end of the book. Overall, I would say this is a solid read!

Started off really well— I loved the short alternating POV chapters which really helped keep the tension and pacing tight. The beginning starts off with a bang, really reeling you in and making you intrigued yet suspicious of Georgia.

However, once you get to the halfway point, I feel like this became wholly predictable and a bit too gimmicky with overt villains and a well trodden path of political scandal and fixers. By the time I got to the end, I was disappointed to be correct on pretty much all accounts and that for some characters, they weren’t truly as awful as expected. I also felt there were way too many loose ends left that went nowhere which made me wonder what the point of them even was.

Ultimately it was a quick read but not quite the satisfying level of psychological thriller I expected from the author.

I can't recommend it enough! I really enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down, I finished it in a couple of days!

This was a solid thriller! I think there were definitely some times where you had to kind of pretend things like this could happen in the real world, but otherwise it was good. I think that the end reveal was a little underwhelming, and just a little too convenient which bothers me sometimes. I did however enjoy the parts that took place in the psych ward, and I found it to be a really fast paced read, I finished it in one day. Overall the true message is the power of sisters<3

ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏᴄᴋᴇᴅ ᴡᴀʀᴅ 🔐
ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ
Georgia Cartwright, who was adopted as a newborn, is accused of killing the biological daughter of her wealthy, Southern family.
Georgia is locked in a psychiatric institution where the most violent offenders are held while she awaits trial. The only words she whispers when her estranged twin sister Amanda visits are, “I didn’t do it. You’ve got to get me out of here.”

ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ
After reading House Of Glass last summer and LOVING it, I knew I needed to get my hands on her newest book, The Locked Ward. This one hooked me in immediately and kept me guessing until the very end. Sarah Pekkanen knows how to write a thriller! I especially enjoyed the short chapters, and the back and forth dual viewpoints of each sister. Not only were the main characters written well, the “supporting characters” also packed a big punch in the storyline. Keep your eyes peeled for them. Trust NO ONE.

Did Georgia really kill her sister Annabelle? Or was she set up? Grab this one as soon as it releases, because you’re definitely going to want to find out!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Pub date: 8/5/25

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for access to this eGalley! I am a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen's thrillers along with the ones she has co-authored with Greer Hendricks. I thought it was so interesting to learn about the twin's story and I didn't know who was actually telling the truth.

The Locked Ward is a classic, deliciously twisted, and lightly trashy (in the best ways) thriller for fans of Freida McFadden, about a woman locked in a psychiatric ward awaiting trial and the twin sister who seeks to help her - all the while wondering if she's being manipulated. This book was everything I wanted it to be - twisty, page-turn-y, over the top, and so much fun.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sarah Pekkanen, and St. Martin's Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I say this a lot unfortunately. I feel like there could have been so much more to the story. That the characters could have been more developed. How? No idea.

Decent story, could have been more

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC