There were a few problems I had with the plot. Some things just did not make sense. I think the idea was good, and I liked the twist, but I didn’t enjoy much until the last 20%. The whole “twin connection” thing being repeated so much felt frustrating. Some side characters or plot lines were unnecessary (such as Josh in the ward). Overall, wouldn’t recommend. There were also errors that hopefully get fixed before it publishes.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Did Georgia finally snap and murder her entitled and adored little sister? The evidence is quickly piling up against her, but Georgia knows how to survive intense sibling rivalry and has an ace up her sleeve that her adoptive mother doesn't know about. While being held in a psychiatric ward pending her evaluation for competency to stand trial, Georgia plays the mute traumatized daughter but knows that the only one who might be willing to help her is her long-lost twin sister. Split up at birth, Georgia and Amanda have lived very different lives, each one believing that they were a single at birth. It is only when Georgia is accused of murder that the P.I. she hires discovers the truth. Will Amanda (Mandy) be willing to lose everything to help a twin she's never known? Exactly how politically connected is Georgia's family and to what lengths will they go to protect their family secrets?
Told in alternating chapters between Georgia and Mandy, the author gives readers insight into how these two women developed into the people they are today. As the days to her competency hearing draw closer, Georgia's story becomes more intense. "Trust no one" is the advice she gives to Mandy, but fails to follow her own advice placing her surely on death row. Readers will struggle along with Mandy as she tries to figure out the relationship between the two families and why they were split at birth, realizing that although Georgia comes from a family of wealth and power, Mandy is not a helpless character who has her own resources.
Be sure to set aside some time to read this in one sitting....you won't want to put it down! Here's hoping that the twins story will continue as they have some unfinished business to attend to.....

I loved this authors last title, House of Glass, and was looking forward to this one!

Georgia is in a “locked ward” for the murder of her sister Annabelle. She requests a visit from her twin sister, Mandy, only Mandy didn’t know she had a twin.

Plenty of plot twists and suspense.. but also a lot of unnecessary characters who don’t further the plot in anyway. Alternating POVs make the plot hard to follow at times.

A decent read, but I didn’t find it as captivating as some of her other work.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC. While I normally love this author, this one didn’t resonate for me at all. It was an incredibly quick read that I basically read in one sitting but it was written as if it was one train of thought and I basically did not care what happened.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are likeable and the story is engaging and has a few twists !!!
Thank you to the author , Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I just binged this one. I love how those author writes, it doesn't matter the theme it's always tense, captivating, page-turning, and with great twists. This one was a bit mean but also a great read for siblings who understand what it is to have a twin.
I loved that we had the different POVs of both twins. I was always fearing but also doubting my certainties.
I need to collect and read the previous books I haven't read.

Thank you so much publisher and netgalley for the early access.

This was a great read! Dual perspectives, short chapters, edge of your seat story. The ending was really abrupt, but I did not see the twist coming, so it was all that more enjoyable!

Amanda has no idea she has a twin—until her twin is arrested for the murder of her adopted sister. When Georgia reaches out to her from the psychological hospital where she has been incarcerated since the murder, Amanda cannot resist meeting the twin she didn’t know she had—but whose existence explains so much about herself.

Georgia has been pretending to be in a catatonic state since the murder, trying to buy time to figure out what really happened to Annabelle. She is convinced that Amanda—the sister she had tracked down through a private investigator—is the only person who could help. But would Amanda agree?

To get to the bottom of this tragic crime, Amanda has to immerse herself in Georgia’s upper class world—while maintaining the bar she inherited from her parents. She cannot believe her beloved parents never revealed that she was a twin. Why did they keep it a secret? Unfortunately she cannot ask them.

This is a both an absorbing mystery and a fascinating story about the bond of twins, and sisters in general. The story is told alternatively by Georgia and Amanda. The only thing that keeps this from being 5 stars for me is the use of the 2nd person in Georgia’s chapters.

I have read a couple of books by this author and liked them, so I was excited to get a chance to read this one early. Unfortunately this one didn't really feel the same to me and I ended up finishing it begrudgingly. The concept of this book was good but the execution didn't really work for me. I can say that this one does have a creepy and mysterious vibe to it which I think is what kept me going and I think this will be a hit with many readers. I didn't really care for the 2nd person narrative as other have said so this could also be a factor to my lack of love for this one.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Mandy and Georgia, twins separated after their birth, are reunited when Georgia is accused of murdering Annabelle, the biological sister of her adoptive parents. Georgia pulls Mandy into her life to help investigate who really murdered Annabelle. Was it the senator Annabelle is supposedly having an affair with? Was it his wife, family, or employees? Or was it Georgia herself all along? People are vicious in their high-society circle when matters of appearance and reputation are on the line, after all. During the investigation by Mandy, Georgia tries to survive her involuntary admission to a psychiatric unit where other patients are dangerous and where friends are even more so.

There were twists and turns in this book that I didn’t see coming and I was really pleased with the discoveries in the last several chapters as everything was revealed and the murderer was unmasked. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars solely because of the epilogue. The epilogue does round out an earlier part of the story. However, I feel like it tried too hard to bring even more shock factor to the story and ruined the shocks we had just experienced from the primary plot in the process. Had the epilogue been omitted, this book would have been 5 stars for me. Regardless, this is an excellent read that I will definitely recommend to friends!

What a fantastic book. I love all the twists! Definitely didn’t see it coming. Was a book that was hard to put down!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah Pekkanen is one of those authors who I pick up every time I see she’s published a new book. She excels at fast-paced thrillers, and The Locked Ward is another entry in that category.

The chapters are very short and flip POVs between twins Mandy and Georgia. While there were times the story dragged, the quick chapters led me to finish this in just a few sittings.

Overall, this was a fun read but likely to not be memorable in the long run. I did notice the decision to have Mandy’s chapters be first-person, while Georgia’s were second-person, highlighting her dissociative state. I quite appreciated this touch and thought it lended itself well to the plot.

Not up to Sarah Pekkanen's usual standard, I'm afraid.

1. The whole "twin bond" thing applies to IDENTICAL twins, not fraternal! Look, sorry to burst any fraternal twins' bubbles, but being a fraternal twin isn't a big deal! You share the same amount of DNA you'd share with a sibling NOT born at the same time. Identical twins share all of their DNA, since that they're formed from a single fertilized egg that splits.

2. I wasn't crazy about the characters in this. They were kind of blah and undeveloped. I liked Amanda's (adoptive) parents the most, and they weren't even alive in this book!

3. I HATE it when authors use the second person point of view. What was the point in making Georgia's sections in second person? It added nothing to the book. In fact, it was distracting because I hated it so much!

4. Please, please, PLEASE can we stop using "clocked" as a synonym for "notice"? I think this book only did it once or twice, which is a vast improvement from many books I've read lately.

Thank you NetGalley for the free review copy.

Georgia, adopted adult daughter of a wealthy and influential family is taken into custody for murdering her sister. She is placed on a mental health hold and reaches out to a bar owner, Amanda, from a nearby town claiming they are twins.

Amanda agrees to meet with Georgia who claims her innocence. Amanda gets wrapped up trying to get to the bottom of what happened and her family history.

This was an entertaining book. I like the psych ward setting in thrillers. The characters were interesting and I kept trying to work out how it would end. I was able to figure out a couple things but still had some surprises - it was a good balance in my opinion.

Another good psychological thriller by Sarah Pekkanen. Georgia is in a locked ward with other mental patients after she is accused of killing her sister Annabelle. Slowly hints are dropped about what led up to the murder and how she’s going to claim her innocence. Amanda, Georgia’s long lost twin, comes to her aid but many obstacles are thrown her way. Great suspense and a surprise ending. If you like to see how wealthy people behave badly this is the book for you.

This was good book from the start as the quick chapters went back and forth between the sisters. The second half of the book was losing me and parts seemed unrealistic. I thought the storyline was unique but not sure I liked the way it played out. Thank you to St.Martin's Publishing Group & NetGalley for the advanced copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

Huge thanks to the publisher for the ARC copy of The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen. I absolutely loved this book—just like I’ve loved all of her others.

Pekkanen has a gift for drawing readers in from the very first page, and The Locked Ward was no exception. The setting, the tension, the intricate characters—I was completely hooked. She masterfully blends emotional depth with a fast-paced, suspenseful plot that kept me flipping pages late into the night.

This one had everything I look for in a psychological thriller: smart twists, atmospheric writing, and a story that lingers long after the final chapter. If you’re already a Pekkanen fan, this will not disappoint. And if you’re new to her work, this is a phenomenal place to start.

Highly recommend. Five glowing stars!

I really wanted to love this book like I have others by this other. The first 80% seemed redundant and very similar to another book I’ve read. The last 20% was really good and did end on a bang. Overall it was a good read, just not as good as others I’ve read

Georgia is locked in a psychiatric ward, accused of bludgeoning her sister to death. She’s in a semi-catatonic state but knows enough to request a visit from her twin sister, Mandy, having recently learned of her existence.

Mandy however knew nothing of her twin sister. She was adopted and her parents have died. Mandy grew up in modest circumstances while Georgia grew up wealthy.

Mandy visits and decides on her own to do a bit of sleuthing, and slowly uncovers some long-buried secrets.

The short chapters moved this story along at a decent clip but for me, it was missing that oomph to elevate it beyond a decent 3 star read. There were times my attention waned, and, as a nurse, the descriptions of the psych ward didn’t ring true. As a Nana to identical twin granddaughters the sudden twin “bond” among grown women who had never met rang hollow as well.

I’ve enjoyed two of the author’s previous books and even though this one was not a complete winner, I will definitely try her next.

I was excited to read this based on the book summary. The story seemed like it was perfect for fans of McFadden, with family drama, suspense, and creepiness rolled into one. Unfortunately I found it began slow, and didn’t move along or hold my attention until half way through. The story is told from two viewpoints, Georgia and Mandy, one in first person and the other in second person. It was easy to follow along, and I love multiple POV stories, but found the shift from first and second distracting (for lack of a better term). Things aren’t always what they seem and I was able to guess the plot twist., though there were some unexpected twists sprinkled through out. A quick weekend read for those looking for a psychological thriller.