Claire Douglas has long been a first-rate creator of psychological thrillers, many of which are works of domestic suspense. Her 10th novel, THE WRONG SISTER, not only continues her track record but may be my favorite book of hers.

A mystery person is watching someone, and their intentions are not good as they plan to take away everything from the object of their spying. We then move into the year 2019 to a London suburb and the lives of two sisters, Tasha and Alice, who are so close in feelings and looks that they should have been twins. Chapters are told from the perspectives of each of them, as well as their mother and other characters, in this twisty story.

Tasha and her husband, Aaron, are planning a long-overdue vacation. In what feels like a life swap, they will be leaving behind their twin daughters to be watched in their Chew Norton house by Alice and her husband, Kyle, a childless couple. In exchange, Tasha and Aaron will be using Alice and Kyle’s Venice getaway home to enjoy some much-needed respite from life and playing parental games. This switch will bring about the unfortunate events that will drive the rest of the novel.

"THE WRONG SISTER is an addictive novel replete with suspense, secrets and family relationships, all of which are intertwined around a dark center that seems to remain just out of reach. This is a stellar read!"

Tasha and Alice’s mother, Jeanette, is recently widowed and living in France. In one of the many well-plotted clues --- or red herrings, depending on how you look at it --- we watch as Jeanette clutches a locket hanging from her neck that displays her three children.

While in Venice, Tasha and Aaron have a scary run-in with a dangerous-looking local who seems to be following them and is wielding a knife. When they get close enough to him at one point, they overhear him say in Italian, “Tu mi devi,” which translates to “You owe me.” They have no idea who he is or what that means, but it will be far from the worst thing that happens to them that night. They receive a call from Aaron’s mother, Viv, that their house was broken into, and Alice and Kyle were attacked. The girls are fine, but Alice is in the hospital with a head wound, and Kyle is dead.

Returning immediately to England, with Jeanette heading there as well, Tasha and Aaron step into a nightmare of a mystery. The police have no idea what happened, and neither does Alice. Jeanette is particularly disturbed by the timing; it’s nearly 30 years to the day that her infant daughter was stolen, never to be seen again. When Tasha receives an unmarked letter stating “It was supposed to be you,” she does not know how to react. She cannot recall having problems with anyone who might seek to do her harm, so she turns to Aaron and his auto mechanic shop to see if he may have done someone wrong.

What will remain in the back of readers’ minds is whether Tasha and Aaron were the intended targets, or some subterfuge is at play to distract from the actual victims, Alice and Kyle. The police continue to investigate, and although they are unable to locate the culprits, they identify a separate bit of DNA from the blood found at the scene that does not match Alice or Tasha but is definitely from someone related to them.

Now, Claire Douglas has readers firmly where she wants them, thrust into a plot already filled with suggestions, clues and other elements that all might play a part in the resolution to this nerve-wracking thriller. When a potential suspect and a co-worker of Aaron’s turns up dead in the pond at the back of their property, things really get interesting, and the possibilities of what might be at play grow exponentially.

THE WRONG SISTER is an addictive novel replete with suspense, secrets and family relationships, all of which are intertwined around a dark center that seems to remain just out of reach. This is a stellar read!