J.C. Bidonde

Sister Dear






I am loving the thrillers I am picking up this year. Three days in and I have picked up two books that are solid four-star reads. After suffering a tragic loss, Alexa finally decides to leave the home of her overprotective father and make her own start. With a new apartment and a job, she loves, Alexa finally feels like she is moving on with her life. When she starts dating a new client, Curt, Alexa slowly starts to find her footing, until her estranged twin sister, Beth, shows up on Alexa’s doorstep. Alexa has promised her father, and her therapist, that she would keep Beth out of her life, but soon Beth is living with Alexa, and Alexa is keeping her sister’s presence secret from everyone. True to form, Beth starts interfering in Alexa’s life in every way, and the twins’ relationship takes a dark turn when Curt ends up dead and Alexa is charged for his murder.


Soon, the dark past of both Alexa and Beth starts to surface, and Alexa realizes she must separate herself from Beth permanently, once and for all. This is a twin sega with a 2022 media twist. What I loved is the duel perspective chapters from both Beth and Alexa’s point of view. I liked how it showed the dynamic of their relationship. The twists and turns are sprinkled in at all the right places making this a fast-paced joy to read. If you read enough thrillers as I do you will expect a few of the twists but some of the others you are not going to see coming at all. This speaks volumes to this author's ability to craft a good story. Both characters are reliable and relatable. The only thing I was sad about is that it was over.

As a debut novel, I have to say this was impressive. The author writes beautifully and kept me engaged the whole way through making me want to find out how the story ends. J.C. Bidonde is officially on my radar as a thriller writer. Four solid stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

4.5 stars

I absolutely devoured this book. I am always intrigued by stories with twins, and also psychiatry - so put those two together and that's the making of a 5-star book if you ask me!

The biggest issue I had with this book was that I predicted the "big twist" during the very first chapter. (And Chapter 1 should probably have been a Prologue.) I'm not sure if it was the way things were worded, but I just knew, and assuming what I did, I thought it was really obvious what was going on right up until it was revealed at 67%. I really only kept reading to see if I was right (I was), but there were some other things that surprised me that I didn't see coming, which was great.

I think some parts of the plot could have been fleshed out a little more, but I was definitely intrigued by this book and could not put it down!

Random sidenote: I did NOT like the part about the cat!… (mehr)