The Better Sister by Alfair Burke

“Remember when that beautiful American actress married a handsome prince, and the trashy side of her family sold stories and pictures to the tabloids? I had thought of Nicky.”
Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky was always restless . . . and more than a little reckless—the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.
For a while, it seemed like both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh, and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.
Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenaged stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

This book is the definition of escalation! Things start out smooth, and then they continue to build, one piece at a time. I really appreciate the way that clues are dropped throughout the story rather than culminating in one whiplash-inducing climax. Aside from the exquisite pacing, I also found the plot to be very hooking. There are just enough characters to keep you interested, but not so many that you lose count of them. Chloe and Nicky, of course, are the highlights. We start out with very little information on both, but we get to know them better and better as the book progresses.
A lot of interesting themes are raised in the book, from family dynamics to the feminist agenda. The book also focuses a lot of energy on the relationship between sisters, which is very well developed here. The whole story is from Chloe’s point of view, so we get to follow her as she finds out more information about her sister and husband. There is also, however, information that she is hiding from us as well.
Although some parts of the book tipped into unbelievable territory, it was an enjoyable read over all. It’s been a while since I read such a gripping thriller/mystery, and I flew through this in two sittings.