“Twenty-five years ago, I killed my mother.”

From Sarah Zettel’s The Other Sister.

As a teenager, Geraldine Martin killed her mother and had a failed suicide attempt right after.  Now a College professor, Geraldine has spent very little time at home in Whitestone Harbor, Michigan where Marie, her older sister, Robbie her nephew, and father, Martin, still live.  Outwardly, Martin Monroe’s family is picture perfect after surviving terrible loss years ago, but both Marie and Geraldine see through the facade to the manipulative and heartless man who controls their lives. While Marie was always striving to please their father by being a good girl, Geraldine did not hold the same respect and was therefor tasked with caring for their alcoholic, often-drugged mother.  Now that Robbie is graduating from high school, Geraldine has come home to stay in their decrepit childhood home while the rest of the family lives in the Rose house up on the hill which used to belong to their mother’s sister, Trish, before she died and left it to Marie and Geraldine… and Martin by default.  While the Monroe side of the family is focused only on Martin’s success, except his long-dead brother Pete, Geraldine the screw-up’s return does cause a stir in their perfect world.  Leaving her boyfriend (Tyler) behind, Geraldine comes home to Marie for the first time in decades to kill their father and free themselves once and for all.

The chapters jump to different times in Marie and Geraldine’s lives, as well as that of their young mother, which is interesting in creating similarities between all the characters, but it also makes it difficult to track.  The story is interesting and thrilling at many points, but, overall, it does seem to get lost along the way.  The Other Sister has several twists and layers which will make it engaging for many readers, but this also makes it not a book for those looking for a casual read.