Sister by Rosamund Lupton, 2010, * * *

Sister is billed as a complex psychological thriller and is told as a series of "letters" from Beatrice to her dead sister, Tess. At the beginning of the book, you are aware that Tess is dead and that Beatrice was the one to discover her killer.  It is also evident that the police bungled the case and can't be trusted. Lupton takes on serious issues in the book including physical abuse, financial vulnerability, gene therapy and single mothers and has a great deal to say about how women are treated in society.  However, I appear to be in the minority in my review of this novel.  At first I found the premise interesting as Beatrice, a young English woman living in NYC, is contacted that her beloved sister in London has gone missing.  Beatrice immediately flies to London and begins an arduous investigation of her younger sister's death, which was presumed to be a suicide.  The novel, through a series of memos to Tess, establishes a chronology of her search mixed with memories of their childhood and relationship.  During the analysis into the death of her sister, you are introduced to a long-suffering mother, a brother who died of cystic fibrosis, Beatrice's fiance, and Tess's relationships with a wide group of people.  There is also a question as to whether the events existed or are a product of Beatrice's imagination.  If the events did not exist, there is no reason for the subplot in the novel.  All of this results in a weak crime plot in contrast to the depiction of the relationships sisters and mothers. I did not think the ending was shocking, although it was intended to be,  and I am not sure that the story was about the search for Tess's killer or rather the redemption of relationships and Beatrice's progressive failing mental and physical health.  By the ending, I simply did not care.