When Your Only Hope is That Blood Really IS Thicker Than Water... (Review of The Locked Ward)

That sisterly—or sibling—bond is something I, an only child, will never know. 

But wow, have I wondered about it, over the years.

 

What would it be like, to grow up with other people my own age?

 

To share secrets and rivalries. To bicker... but probably also (at least sometimes), to have each other’s backs. 

 

But take that a few steps further, and imagine how it would feel to have a sibling—a twin, no less—of whom you’d never been  aware... until you’d already lived more than three decades?

 

And then, after learning that truth... you only reached out—to that previously-unknown person you’d once shared a womb with—after you’d been accused of murder?

 

Bestselling thriller author Sarah Pekkanen takes a stab at how such a scenario might play out with her latest, The Locked Ward.

 

 

For some reason, most of us don’t expect the uber-rich to have Big Problems. (As though obscene sums of money should be the cure for everything...)

Yet beautiful socialite Georgia—the (adopted) first daughter of a wealthy Southern family—finds herself facing an epically-huge problem, after she’s arrested for murdering her sister, Annabelle... the younger-by-mere-months natural daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright.

 

No one understands why Georgia would do such a thing... but given that Annabelle was the “perfect” daughter, while Georgia was the one sent away to boarding school because she was “such a problem”, there are certainly plenty of opinions.

 

Sibling rivalry, taken to the nth level? An evil, violent streak she was born with (courtesy of her birth parents, whoever they were)? A moment of pure insanity, perhaps caused by drugs, rage, or some issue buried deep within her psyche?

 

Whatever the reason, Georgia has zero help—no family, no friends—she can call on.

 

So, when she lands in the “locked ward” of the hospital—the top floor, where those with serious psychiatric issues are treated (or held, in her case, pending an official determination as to whether she’s mentally fit to stand trial)—she reaches out to the only possible person she can think of to beg for assistance... the twin sister she’s only very recently learned about.

 

But the woman she reaches out to—Amanda—has been privy to no such discovery... and is gobsmacked when she receives a message asking her presence at a secure psychiatric ward in the city, some 1.5 hours away... from someone who claims to be her long-lost twin.

 

Yet after she’s had a moment (or three) to digest this shocking news, Mandy realizes she’s not nearly as surprised as she would’ve thought. 

 

She’d always known she was adopted—and had adored her “real” parents (the ones who raised her)—yet somehow, she’d also felt there was a little something missing.

 

And now she knew. Provided this stranger’s claim was true—which, of course, was the big question that would require answering—it might just be that she’d been missing a literal piece of herself, all this time. 

Her twin.

 

After meeting her, she still doesn’t trust Georgia, not really. But that doesn’t stop Mandy from clinging to... hope? Blind faith? A certainty that somewhere in the story she’s being told, there’s a very real and important truth... and one way or the other, she’s determined to get to the bottom of it.

 

If it acquits her new-found twin? Cool. 

 

But even if the opposite is the case, well... at least she’ll know.

 

 

The Locked Ward feels both very of-the-moment, with its reliance on modern technology, science, and the media... as well as also feeling somehow timeless, with its twisty tale of complicated family dynamics, and the lies so many people are willing to tell—and keep—for reasons.

 

Pekkanen does an excellent job depicting Georgia and Mandy—their similarities and differences, and how easy it would be for them to believe (or not) the truth of their relationship. They’re well-drawn characters, and honestly, feel a lot like people you've probably known.

 

The story alternates from one sister’s POV to that of the other, giving the reader more insight into each woman’s personality, thoughts, and motivations very effectively. 

 

But let's talk about the elephant in the room...

Is this yet another Rich-People-Behaving-Badly story? Okay, yes, yes it is.

 

[I know, I know... I’m growing weary of them, too.]

 

But it’s also more than that, with an interesting—and visceral take—on fear. Evil. And on just plain old family stuff (which an awful lot of us, regardless of our bank accounts, or the relative happiness of our relationships, can appreciate).

 

I didn’t see exactly where this one was going... but it all made sense, in the end.

 

And really, isn’t that the very best kind of suspense/thriller—when you can’t figure out the whodunit (or the whydunit) until the final pages... but then totally get it, once you’ve seen it?

 

Pekkanen has another winner on her hands with The Locked Ward... making it a must-read recommendation from me.

~GlamKitty 

[Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]