The Silent Sister

What if you’ve been living your whole life believing one thing and come to find out it had all been a lie? Riley chose a career path as a middle school counselor. Why? Because when she was not yet two years old, her seventeen year old sister, Lisa, had committed suicide. She’d personally seen the devastating effects to the rest of the family and longed to change just one young person from choosing that same path.

After the prologue, this story begins with the death of Riley’s father. With her father gone, her brother who is four years older is the only remaining person in her family. Danny loves Riley … in his own way. Danny suffers from PTSD. Whether he’d like to help Riley or not, he can’t bring himself to go back into that show more house. Other than PTSD, he has some childhood issues. Riley questions him, “… it’s not like you were abused or anything.” He answers, “There are all sorts of abuse.”

As Riley is cleaning out her father’s things, she begins to find discrepancies. She eventually learns that Lisa had not died. What really happened? Where is she?

I loved the personality of Riley, our main protagonist. People can’t help but feel her pain at facing not only the death of her father, but being the only one who can clear out her father’s house of all his collectibles. Her brother, Danny has become extremely reclusive. He cannot pull himself together to help her. Yet, now that Danny’s the only family she has left, she yearns to be near him. I asked myself, what’s not to love about this book? It’s intense and it’s exceptionally well-written. It’s got believable, albeit flawed, characters that are fully developed. It’s got a wonderful plot and a story line that flows incredibly well. But, the thing I enjoyed the most – it drew me in emotionally in a way I haven’t been pulled into a book in a long time. Rating: 5 out of 5. show less

I can always tell when I am going to love a book by how quickly I become engrossed in the story. I was hooked on this one from the very beginning. I'll try to avoid giving out too much information. Riley is the main character, and she is devastated at the loss of her father. As the reader, you can feel her sense of loss. As she begins talking to her father's acquaintances, she realizes that the fairy tale family she thought she had has some dark secrets. She delves into the investigation of what really happened to her sister and we see several sides of her personality. She is determined and shows inner strength when it's needed but is also vulnerable and naive, allowing the false information that others give her to sway her decisions show more and opinions. I was happy to see that she was eventually able to find enough willpower to stand up and do the right thing.

Danny, her brother, was a character I felt a strong pull towards. I think he was my favorite. His struggle with PTSS after being in Iraq was heartbreaking and I wanted to reach into the book and make him believe in the world again. Riley consistently tries to break through his walls and bring him closer to her and he keeps pulling away.

Then we have Jade, whose actions caused her to choose between standing trial for murder, or doing something unthinkable that would cause heartbreak for everyone and change lives forever. The story makes you think about the limits family members are willing to go to for one another in a desperate situation.

There are no real spoilers here but I will say that the plot was well written. I had so many theories about what really happened to Lisa and I didn't get it right until just before the big reveal. When I did figure it out, I was so excited at the new path the story was taking. I loved how part of the book was told by Riley and another part by Jade until they eventually came together. And with each chapter, more secrets were revealed. I was biting my nails with anticipation as the final events began coming together and the ending was a perfect blend of happy and bittersweet. show less

Wow, this book was an amazing combination of family drama and mystery that kept the twists and turns coming with every chapter. 25-year-old Riley returns home after her father's death to settle his estate and starts finding pieces of his life that just don't fit in. She always knew that she had a much older sister who killed herself when she was a baby, but as neighbors let pieces of information slip, and Riley uncovers clues within the house, she discovers that may not be what happened at all, and in fact, her sister may still be alive.'

I loved the secondary characters in this, particualrly all the neighbors and Riley's brother Danny. The twists that their father had helped Lisa fake her suicide and kept her secret all this time was show more juicy enough, but the author kept the twists coming, especially with the reveal that the murder Lisa had been running from doing jail time for had been completely justified after her violin teacher had molested her and in fact, the rape had impregnanted her with Riley. A very twisted situation, but an impossible to put down story and I completely loved. Will be checking out more of this author's books.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. It was a belief that helped shape her own childhood and that of her brother. It shaped her view of her family and their dynamics. It influenced her entire life. Now, more than twenty years later, her father has passed away and she's in New Bern, North Carolina, cleaning out his house when she finds evidence that what she has always believed is not the truth. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why, exactly, was she on the run all those years ago? What secrets are being kept now, and what will happen if those secrets are revealed?
Riley grew up in a house full of grief caused by her older sister’s show more suicide, and while Riley doesn’t remember Lisa, since she was only two years old at the time of her sister’s death, she does remember witnessing the consequences of the loss every day in her mother’s depression; her father’s withdrawal; and her brother’s anger issues. When her father dies...and with her mother gone years earlier, Riley is left to clean out her childhood home and prepare her father’s estate to be sold. As she is sorting through her father’s papers, secrets start flying out of the woodwork, and everything she’s ever thought she knew about her family is all about to change.

This isn't the best Diane Chamberlain book that I have ever read but it is still a decent mystery with inventive twists, just nothing that I would consider to be earthshattering. Diehard mystery fans will probably find it a bit too predictable. However, it's a good one for when you need something a little mindless but still nicely entertaining. show less

4.5 stars.

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain is a thought-provoking mystery that is very engrossing. Although some of the storyline is a bit predictable, the intriguing plot raises some very interesting moral questions but it is the family aspect of the novel that makes it such an interesting read.

What if everything you thought you knew about your family turns out to be a lie? That is pretty much what happens while Riley MacPherson is settling her father's affairs after he unexpectedly passes away. The information she uncovers runs the gamut from mundane (her father had a girlfriend) to puzzling (a mysterious monthly payment and a surprising bequest) to life altering (the sister she thought was dead is actually alive). Riley's quest show more for the truth reveals some dark and deeply hidden secrets that challenge just about everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

The MacPherson family underwent dramatic changes after the loss of their oldest child. Riley's mom suffered from varying degrees of depression and her dad immersed himself in his hobbies. Her brother Danny suffered the most as her parents went to great lengths to keep their secrets hidden. He has been unable to escape the dysfunction of his youth and his problems are compounded by PTSD from his military service. With the exception of her troubled relationship with Danny, Riley is the only one who emerged from the tragedy relatively unscathed.

Riley is a likable, but sometimes frustrating character. Her heart is in the right place when she tries to help Danny, but she is a little immature and inexperienced. She sometimes makes rash and impetuous decisions without giving much thought to the consequences of her actions. Riley occasionally lets people steamroll over her but she does eventually stand up for herself.

The Silent Sister is well-written but some of the plot is easy to figure out. This does not lessen enjoyment of the overall story and there are some unexpected twists and turns that keeps the novel interesting and moving along at a pretty fast pace. Some important clues are revealed fairly early but Riley remains oblivious to their significance for much of the novel. Diane Chamberlain brings the novel to an unanticipated, but satisfying conclusion. show less

When Riley McPherson’s father dies, she discovers many odd secrets about her family. She does not know which ones to believe. She once had a sister, Lisa, whose behavior seriously altered the outcome of her own life and the lives of everyone in her family. Lisa had been a child prodigy. Her instrument was the violin, and the violin was named Violet. Violet becomes a minor character in the tale as does a pendant made of white Jade.
As Riley attempts to settle her father’s affairs, she also discovers that her father had a very close woman friend, Jeannie, a woman who had once been her own mother’s dearest friend, a woman who was also well acquainted with her sister. She is disturbed to discover that Jeannie, and others, seem to have show more been closer to her father than she herself was.
Offhanded comments, made by some of the characters, make Riley realize that there are many mysterious elements in her life that she has to investigate. Up until this time, Riley’s life was mostly about her own needs. She behaved impetuously, without thinking things through. As many of the intimate details of her life are revealed, she is profoundly affected and she continues to make rash decisions as she explores her background.
Her brother Danny was hurt in the Iraq war and he suffers from PTSD. He is not very helpful in Riley’s search for answers to the mysteries in her life or in her effort to resolve her father’s estate. He lives in a world of his own, in a trailer, pretty much removed from most of society. He is totally into himself and his own needs, but he is computer savvy and can help her in her search for information, if only she can persuade him.
The book is largely about Riley and her search for facts about her sister. There were more than a dozen years between them so she knew very little about her. It took me about 50 pages to be drawn into the narrative, and although I was eventually engaged, I never found the story very credible. I was a bit put off when the story decided to include a lesbian relationship from out of nowhere. I don’t mind reading books about alternate lifestyles, but I resent being hijacked into reading one, since there was no mention of that in any of the reviews I read. I would like to have the choice of whether or not I want to read about that type of relationship. To the author’s credit, it was handled very well, very tastefully. It never went over the top with explicit description and was never cheapened, for effect, as it is in some novels.
The novel is a bit overly melodramatic at times, and the cast of characters seemed totally dysfunctional, self-serving and immature. If there weren’t so many of them, the story might not have seemed so improbable. They were all just so needy, it disgusted me. I wanted to shout at them to grow up and accept responsibility for their own behavior without condemning and blaming everyone else for what befell them. Their behavior was just too headstrong and thoughtless, at times, and the dialogue was often trite, almost infantile, talking down to the reader, in a way.
I enjoyed this book mostly for its mindlessness. It took me away from the everyday cares that often bog us down. The book is a no-brainer, perhaps a relaxing beach read, meant solely to entertain because the outcome of this mystery is very predictable. On the positive side, there were many twists and turns to hold the attention of the reader, and as a vacation read, it would be very entertaining. show less

Riley MacPherson has gone to her childhood home. Her father has passed away and the house needs to be cleared. Riley uncovers a box of old newspaper cuttings which leads to shocking family secrets.

Sometimes I just want to read and be immersed in a story. I know that if I grab a book by Diane Chamberlain that is what I'll get.

The story it told by Riley as she starts to uncover things about her sister Lisa who committed suicide. In true family saga fashion the story unfolds and secrets emerge. I was instantly hooked with the story and really wanted to know what was happening and why.

I did guess early on what had happened but it didn't spoil my enjoyment from reading the book. Yes these type of books can be a little predictable but it show more doesn't matter too much. The story wasn't too taxing and just flowed along nicely.

A lovely easy story which I curled up with. Sometimes a change is needed from dead bodies and police officers. show less