Georgia is locked in a physch ward for killing her sister Annabelle. Did she do it? She gets the help of her long lost sister Amanda, to help her get out and prove her innocence. Will Amanda be able to navigate this new rich elite world that she's never been part of before to get answers and free her sister from the physch ward?

This book was riveting!! I loved reading it, definitely a great thrillers!! The moment it come out you should pick it up!!

ARC REVIEW

Thank you netgally for letting me receive this arc, this book literally starts off with a bang when Georgia finds she is in the psych ward, This is a good quick thriller that you literally wont be able to put down until you can figure out what happens.


My only negative : i think it was laughable georgia and mandy had twin intuiation after only meeting 1-2 times lol

I usually love Sarah’s books but this was a huge miss for me. From the beginning I found it to be a bit far fetched and I just couldn’t connect with the characters

The Locked Ward
Sarah Pekkanen
Pub: 8/5
3.5☆

Was it...
Bitter, all-consuming jealousy?
Pathological sibling rivalry?
Pure insanity?

Whatever the cause—and everyone has a theory—it's the Crime of the Decade when glamorous 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.”

Amanda doesn't trust Georgia, but she can't abandon her in a place so eerie and menacing that it seems to exist in another dimension. Is Georgia the victim of a powerful family that's so depraved murder is the least of their crimes? Or is Amanda being led down a path of madness into the web of a master manipulator?

My Thoughts:
This was a fun, fast paced thriller told in dual POV. I enjoyed the action packed story, the short chapters, and the level of suspense. I struggled with Georgia’s second person POV and felt the ending was slightly underwhelming so it ended up being a like vs love for me. I’ve really enjoyed other books by Pekkanen so I look forward to what is next.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A quick read with identified POV, short chapters and an original storyline. This was not my favourite by Sarah Pekkanen but it enjoyed it. It improved significantly in the last third of the story, after everything had been setup. At that point I couldn’t put it down until I knew how ever played out. (3.5/5)
Thank You to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sarah Pekkanen for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkahen tells the story of Georgia Cartwright a wealthy socialite who wakes up in a locked ward after allegedly murdering her sister. There are alternating chapters with Mandy, Georgia’s long lost twin, who gets involved with solving the murder.

I really enjoyed the dual POV aspect of this novel and seeing what lengths those will reach to in order to help family.

My one main issue was the writing style of the different chapters, with Georgia’s being in second person and Mandy’s in first person, made it a little confusing to get into, but all in all a quick read!

If you enjoy a story with a good twist, you will enjoy this book. Long-lost twins, a murder, and being locked in a mental asylum are but a few of the storylines that are covered in this one. I liked finding out the surprise ending as I never guessed it. A fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

You have a twin you did not know existed? She’s in a psychiatric hospital for killing her sister and wants your help? Yes please!

This is a fast paced thriller with continuous suspense. There’s plenty of rich people behaving badly and some nicely done twists. Immensely enjoyable.

Suspenseful and tightly written, this thriller builds tension expertly within a chilling setting. Pekkanen’s depiction of the psychiatric ward was vivid and unnerving. A couple of twists felt familiar, but the execution was solid. Great pacing and payoff.

I want to start off by saying…. I really wanted to like this book. I thought the description was good which was why I signed up for the ARC. And maybe I just don’t vibe with this author? Idk. It just did not do it for me. I bc hold t connect with the characters. The twists weren’t that appealing. I wasn’t hooked into it. It took me FOREVER to read and I’m a fast reader. I think maybe it was a me thing and not the books fault.

I did like the twin aspect of the book. The secret twin is always a really good hook for me because I just want to know how we got here and why! So that part was appealing. If you like mystery books, I’d say this is 100% that. I just don’t think it was for me. Not my fav.

2.75 ⭐️

A psychological thriller with all the elements of suspense: who is telling the truth, and who did it?

The author knows how to tell a story; it is well-written suspense fiction that will keep you guessing. Even though it wasn't my favorite, I was still intrigued enough to keep reading until the end. The story centers on two twin sisters who were separated at birth and reunited after a murder is committed, with one sister being blamed. The other sister tries to uncover the truth about what happened, questioning whether her sister is the real killer or just being manipulated into a web of doubt created by the same people responsible for their separation. The story involves lots of family drama, dysfunction, and the consequences of evil behavior.

Ughhh... Ok, so I enjoyed this dynamic duo's latest read, but unfortunately did not love it as much as I had anticipated. And I really really really wanted to love it. :-(

This book was fast-paced with short chapters and dual POVs, which made it really easy to read. It definitely had an eerie and creepy feel throughout. And I figured out the big twist early on, but that did not affect my feelings towards this story.

However, I did have a few issues that did: it dragged at times making me lose focus, the two MCs should have probably been in their 20's instead of their 30's, and the mom was too much of a cliched privileged rich white woman to take too seriously.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin's Press for advanced ARC and ALC copies in exchange for my honest opinion.

Just read The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen—super intense! It dives into the world of psychiatric care with a twisty mystery at its core. I couldn’t stop turning pages. Dark, smart, and emotional in all the right ways. Definitely recommend if you're into psychological thrillers!

The Locked Ward is an addictive, fast-paced thriller that is perfect for summer reading! I tore through this one in just a few days, and I loved the short chapters that alternated between the two sisters' points of view. The book begins with Georgia's perspective from a locked psychiatric ward after she is accused of murdering her adopted sister, Annabelle. Georgia reaches out to her twin sister, Amanda, who was adopted by different parents, and insists that she is innocent. Amanda uncovers a web of deceit in Georgia's family in her quest to discover if her sister is innocent or truly insane. Be sure to add this one to your summer reading list: The Locked Ward releases on August 4th! Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and author Sarah Pekkanen for the librarian preview copy.

Thank you for the opportunity to review early - I enjoyed The Locked Ward quite a bit. Pekkanen's style sings through here - it was completely gripping and I enjoyed the whole thing.

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkahen tells the story of Georgia Cartwright a wealthy socialite who wakes up in a locked ward after allegedly murdering her sister. There are alternating chapters with Mandy who gets involved with solving the murder.

I liked the different POV and the short chapters. It kept me reading. The author reveals the characters slowly making you want to learn more about them and also changing your perspective of them.

A good thriller read. Although there were some twists it was a bit predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Georgia is in a locked ward after being accused of killing her sister but insists that she is innocent. Mandy is running the family business when she gets a call from Georgia's lawyer. Turns out Georgia and Mandy are twins separated by birth and Mandy has to help Georgia find answers to what really happened that resulted in her being locked up. I've never read any books by this author before but the story was really good and I will definitely seek out her other books. Pacing was perfect and the twists were good and all supported an excellent premise.

Imagine finding out you have a whole family you didn't know about, that lives a glamorous life, is beautiful and charismatic, but you only know because your sister is in a psych ward., accused of murder and needs your help. Would you help her? Would you help her if it puts your own life in danger? This book is the epitome of family drama and while I found the story original and parts were interesting, there was WAYYY too much drama for me. This book could've been done better with less characters and less drama. By the end, I didn't care to read it anymore and I only did because I wanted to know if Georgia actually married her sister or not.

What I did like is the theme of family betrayal. It's sad that people who are supposed to love you and be the closest to you can hurt you so much and not feel an ounce of remorse. Unfortunately, that part was relatable to me and was the only part that I could connect to. I found reading about the psych ward interesting and the contrast between the lives of the two sisters, interesting. I enjoyed the short chapters and going back and forth between the two sisters perspectives, but overall, this book wasn't for me.

This book was about rich people's family problems and it just made it hard to care about that aspect at all.

Oh wow a twisty, turny thriller that I flew through. I really enjoyed this story. What a quick read.

The eARC: 3.5⭐️
The Audio ALC 2.5⭐️

I have had this book on my NetGalley Shelf for months but purposely waited for the ALC to come so I could do an immersion read having loved The Glass House. Sadly, I am really disappointed and wish I had just read it without the narration as I think I would have liked it much better.

First, the book is fine. There is some creative stylistic writing choices in this 1st person Duel POV book. You have long lost twins Mandy and Georgia. Mandy’s chapters are written in class in 1st person. Georgia on the, who is on a psych hold at a hospital, on the other hand is written in 1st person but uses “You”. Unlike a book that’s written in 2nd person, Georgia is still referring to herself and not the audience. It’s a clever stylistic use to showcase the characters disconnect within herself while she is in the psych unit while drawing the reader into the story like a true 2nd POV would do. However, I don’t think it was universally effective as it just didn’t have the impact I think the author was hoping for.

Now, it is completely possible that the audio narration is responsible for that disconnect. On the positive while narrator January LaVoy spoke at a slow pace it fit with the style of the book. The problem came with the different character voices she did as they were not consistent and at time so subtle that it made it more confusing than engaging. Particularly when she did make voices. It was though she didn’t even try.

Because of said stylistic choices that Ms Pekkanen used it requires the narrator to use her vocal skills to differentiate between when “you” is mentioned in Georgia’s chapters . In the written prose it’s clear because she skillfully uses italics when Georgia is referring to another person (usually Mandy) but you don’t get that differentiation in the narration and it makes a disconnect between what you’re hearing and what you’re looking at on the page. I even chose to just consume the audiobook for certain chapters and then it caused me to have to rewind for clarity.

All that being said for some people, especially if they had no preconceived notions about Sarah Pekkanen’s writing, may really enjoy this. There are some minors twists but they are significantly foreshadowed so they really don’t come as a surprise.

In the end, I wish I had just read it with my eyeballs and recommend if it’s an option to read it that way. It is a swift read with fairly short chapters. Ms Pekkanen is sometimes an overly descriptive writer. It’s something I personally appreciate and like as it allows me to dive into the story and have a complete picture of the setting.

It comes out August 5th 2025 and is available for preorder.


I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC and eARC from Macmillan Audio and St Martins Press through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again