Reviews

The Half Sister by Catherine Chanter

_eml5678's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Interesting storyline but portrayed in a strange way. Full of extended metaphor and a little bit boring but a relatively relaxed read. Raw depiction of feelings like revenge and bereavement

martha_is_reading's review

3.0

Diana and Valerie are estranged half-sisters brought back together for their mother's funeral. On that fateful day, a freak earthquake changes Diana and her half-nephew Mikey's lives forever.

I snapped this one up when I came across it as I enjoyed Chanter's previous novel, [b:The Well|22609511|The Well|Catherine Chanter|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425975389s/22609511.jpg|42099480]. However, for me, this one wasn't quite as good. As the earthquake happens very early on, that creates a big moment of drama and the rest of the book is the fallout. That meant that it was then several hundred pages of torturing the three remaining characters (including Diana's husband, Edmund) rather than a plot that starts slowly and has twists and turns.

I did feel the tension and one or two of the events took me by surprise, which is why I've rated it three stars. However, I really didn't like any of the characters, which made it a struggle to read in places because it is very much centred on these three characters and the psychological impact of the earthquake. Then, after the characters torturing themselves and each other for most of the novel, the ending just felt incredibly trite.

Spoiler

I also was incredibly frustrated by the reveal that Diana had lied about the sexual abuse from her stepfather. Or "half-lied". There's far too many thrillers/dramas that use sexual abuse as fodder for shock value. Here we start with a woman who was abused and is so unable to deal with it that she becomes up tight, lacking in affection and ultimately descends into madness that leads to the psychological abuse of a small boy. Then we find out that the abuse actually did not take place. Either way, this feeds into the narratives that sexual abuse produces adults who have no future other than madness and/or crime, OR that sexual abuse victims are lying. Yes there is a tiny minority of false accusations, but it is far smaller than the general public would believe, and the continuing use of false accusations as shock value in film, TV and books just makes it easy for the public to continue to believe that myth and ultimately hurts the millions of genuine survivors. I look forward to the day when more authors will start reflecting reality rather than myth.

A decent novel that was gripping in places but didn't quite live up to the quality of the author's earlier work.

Thank you to Canongate for supplying me with an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review