Book Review: The Half Sister by Sandie Jones
By Ray Palen
July 6, 2020
Throughout the annals of fiction there have been oodles of situations involving mistaken identity. We’ve seen it in fairy tales, Shakespeare’s plays, and many Disney films. In recent fiction, it has been a go-to for many mystery stories and authors like Robert Goddard from the U.K. has used the gimmick multiple times.
This brings us next to another British author, Sandie Jones. Sandie hit the big-time with her debut novel, The Other Woman, when it was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club (which probably means we will see a film or cable series produced by Reese in the near future). The Half Sister does not hide what it is about. We simply have an apparently normal, small family that is rocked when a young woman shows up at their door claiming to share the same father with her two new half-sisters.
Read our review of The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
First we meet younger sister Kate, who with her husband Matt, has been trying for years to become pregnant. They are at their fertility doctor’s office trying for one final time to get pregnant through a form of insemination. Kate simply feels incomplete as a woman if she cannot bear at least one child. Her older sister, Lauren, has a family with children, and is a worrier and bleeding heart who is ready to believe almost anything. Their mother, Rose, still has her daughters over regularly and enjoys cooking for them and their families. Their father, Harry, passed away a few years earlier and he is sorely missed by all. Their world is rocked when one day, as everyone is convened at Rose’s home, the doorbell rings. The visitor announces herself as Jess—Harry’s daughter.
Jess goes on to state that she was doing a genealogy mapping when she found that she had a father she was not aware of and that he was indeed Harry. Sandie Jones shares narration of the story with sisters Kate and Lauren and you get two completely different points of view. Kate is extremely suspicious and skeptical of Jess and sees her visit as an intrusion in all their lives and a besmirching of her father’s good name. Lauren, on the other hand, welcomes Jess with open arms and enjoys spending time with her new ‘sister’.
The dark horse in the novel is the matriarch, Rose. It is obvious she knows more than she is letting on. Just how much she knows is where the heart of this mystery lies. Are we dealing with a dark family secret that has been hidden for decades or is Jess a complete fraud with ulterior motives for dropping in on this innocent family? Jones does a great job of keeping the reader teetering between these two possibilities, watching your allegiance switch from character to character. She has another hit on her hands as this sophomore effort is a solid psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.
More: Our review of The First Mistake by Sandie Jones
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Reading books is my hobby. I have set my daily time to read books. I have read some British author books i.e. Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, etc. The book review of The half-sister is enjoyable. When the content of the book is enjoyable, I want to finish it quickly. Books give us new vocabulary & knowledge and this assists us in improving English. I have set an example in writing essays & article in my school and that was only because I am used to reading books. After reading, I also desire to write something. If he has a habit of reading books, he becomes very fluent in English because he possesses many vocabularies in his brain and he becomes the soul of the party. He tells everyone what he has read, and people benefit from it by getting knowledge. I advise all people that accustomed to reading books this will gives more benefit and comfort to them.
what a great author, Sandie really knows how to keep you reading , hoping to get to read this book also.
I am starting to love your work! I have been finding a new author that I could fall in love with.
I love it! This has been a great one. Thanks a lot!
“The Half Sister” was the first book I have read by Sandi Jones. When I began to reading, I felt I was in a maze of words between a family. I did not know a location, a description of who was who. until the presence of Jessica. The more I read into the characters and discovered the plot, I gained the understanding of the families secrets. Later, I must admit a suspenseful moment aroused me but I slumped in disappointment..
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Công ty TNHH xây dựng và thương mại quốc tế Á Đông xin được gửi đến Quý khách hàng lời chúc sức khỏe, lời chào trân trọng và hợp tác.
Công ty TNHH xây dựng và thương mại quốc tế Á Đông được thiết lập theo giấy đăng ký kinh doanh số 0201288853 do Sở kế hoạch thành phố Hải Phòng cấp lần đầu vào ngày 15/01/2013 và được đăng ký thay đổi lần thứ 1 vào ngày 14/03/2017.