The Good Sister: 4 Stars

Fair warning, The Good Sister by Wendy Corsi Staub is a chilling psychological thriller that could be unsettling for some readers. There is teen bullying, murder, and child abuse. I'd highly recommend being prepared for all of this before reading. Having said that, below is a brief summary of the novel followed by my overall thoughts and recommendation.

Summary

Like most parents, Jen Archer wants her two daughters to have the best high-school experience they can have especially her oldest daughter, Carley. That's why she made the decision to send an unwilling Carley to Sacred Sisters, an all-girls catholic school and Jen's alma mater. Jen had the best high school experience there and knows if Carley gives it a chance, she will too.

Within the first few months, Carley quickly becomes the target for online and in-school bullying. The girls make fun of her, send nasty messages, and set her up to get in trouble in school giving Carley the exact opposite school experience of her mother. After a falling out with her best friend from her previous school Carley makes friends with a girl named Angel on a bullying platform. Angel quickly becomes Carley's confidant and best friend.

While Jen worries about what to do with Carley, the daughter of Jen's best friend and Carley's ex-best friend commits suicide. Shortly after, a girl who attends Carley's school at Sacred Sisters also commits suicide. Extremely shaken by this news, Jen's anxiety for Carley's well-being is heightened causing her to find out more about the closely timed suicides.

As Jen learns more she comes to the realization that foul play may have been involved in the suicides and worse, Carley may be next. Jen is transported to her high school years. It was homecoming. There was a prank. A horrible accident. The death of a young, hopeful girl. Could this incident that happened years and years ago be the reason behind Carley's bullying? The suicides? Did Jen, the person who most wants the best for her daughter, cause her demise? Find out in the chilling, suspenseful, and unsettling pages of The Good Sister by Wendy Corsi Staub.

My thoughts

This book was very dark. However, I thought Staub did an incredible job of pulling each storyline together at the end. There were many twists and turns throughout the novel and of all my guesses, not one of them turned out to be correct in the end.

I think this book is a great lesson to anyone who is thinking of befriending a stranger who they met online regardless of how old you are.

Warning. Spoiler alert.

I couldn't help feeling slightly bad for Angel. While I obviously can't condone any of her actions. They were horrible, unsettling, and evil. However, based on the circumstances she grew up in and what happened to her sister, it's easy to see how there is a lot of psychological and mental damage that would be extremely hard to overcome, especially alone.

Pretend this is happening to you. You are a boy. Everyone in your family thinks you are a boy. When you are in your 20s you find out you are not a boy, you are a girl. You never learned the difference between boys and girls because your mother home-schooled you and didn't teach you that part of biology. Your mom had been giving you hormone pills and pretending you were a girl so your father wouldn't rape you like he did your sister.

Yeah, you can imagine only imagine the effects that would have on not only your body but your mind. So, putting it in that perspective, it's not difficult to see how Angel ended up the way she did.

As I said above, if you're prepared for all the unsettling issues this book displays, I'd recommend giving it a read.

Thank you,

Leah Lawrence