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    The Better Sister: A Novel
    The Better Sister: A Novel
    The Better Sister: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Better Sister: A Novel

    Written by Alafair Burke

    Narrated by Sophie Amoss, Samantha Desz and Mike Chamberlain

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A Washington Post and Sun Sentinel Best Book of the Year

    “One hell of a rip-roaring read.”— Seattle Review of Books

    “Cunning. . . . Get ready to be led down the garden path to a conclusion so morally ambiguous a professional ethicist might have to be called in.”  — Washington Post

    From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife— comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments ... but can they escape their past?

    Keep your enemies close and your sister closer.

    Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky—always restless and more than a little reckless—was 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 that 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 teenage 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 16, 2019
    ISBN9780062895264
    Author

    Alafair Burke

    Alafair Burke is a New York Times bestselling author whose most recent novels include The Wife and The Ex, which was nominated for the Edgar Award for best novel. She also co-authors the bestselling Under Suspicion series with Mary Higgins Clark. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan and East Hampton.

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    Reviews for The Better Sister

    4/5

    298 ratings28 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Easy to read & very captivating! I enjoyed the way the author laid out the story. Definitely worth the read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent I did not expect the twist and turns very good read
    • 4/5
      A satisfying mystery, crime, murder novel, with enough of a twist to be entertaining. I listened to the audiobook version.
    • 5/5
      The Better Sister is a gripping and disturbing thriller. Many current and complex topics are brought up, such as domestic violence, parenting and family dynamics. On the other hand, there is a controversial court case in the core of the novel, which gives us plenty of food for thought about the often fine line between right and wrong, honesty and corruption , as well as the subjectivity of truth and lies. I had mixed feelings about the final solution of 'legal' versus 'moral' justice. Who is equipped to decide? Many controversial topics arise in a novel in which everybody lies, either due to malice or ignorance and nobody is who they seem to be. A gripping thriller with plenty of twists and turns which are not meant to surprise the reader, but to make us think about complex and controversial topics.
    • 4/5
      The story was great but why the language?? So off putting ... but the twists were not what I expected at all. If u can handle the language. Good story.
    • 5/5
      Excellent writing and plot. Lots of twists and turns but well paced and not outlandish. Good writing seems to run in the family. I plan to look for other works of hers.
    • 5/5
      I'm happily working through Alafair Burke's books, including the series she wrote with the late Mary Clark Higgins. Whew is my reaction to the ending of this one! No, I did not see it coming!! Definitely page turning reading as the story twists and turns.
    • 2/5
      My mother loved this author’s books as well as her father’s books so when I found this one at a yard sale, I thought I would give it a try. I really tried to find something to like about any of the characters and felt rather disloyal to my mother because I simply couldn’t do it. It was a bizarre story to say the least. We have a tale of two forty-something sisters thrown together under tragic circumstances after being estranged for fifteen years. The culprit was unpredictable and what they did with the murder weapon was simply idiotic. By the end I had stopped caring one way or another who was guilty. I guess the book was just not for me. Sorry Mom.
    • 4/5
      Well this was definitely different than her other stories. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it was a little different writing style then I’ve come to expect from Ms. Burke. Again, not necessarily bad just different. Overall, I enjoyed the book it was very hard to put down.
      The ending was a shocker in a sense that I personally thought it was coming but was still not expecting it to be what happened. I do not have a sister but I heard about how competitive it can be with one or more. Since girls in general seem to compete with each other more than I think is necessary I can totally see why sisters would be that way. Given the situation though, I appreciate how the sisters were able to come together when they needed to be there for one another and their families.
    • 4/5
      Really good book! Great writing and a great story. One of my favorite this year, so far.
    • 3/5
      Development of plot and characters a bit weak
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars.

      The Better Sister by Alafair Burke is a riveting domestic mystery.

      On the surface, forty-one year old Chloe Taylor appears to have it all.  A successful career in which she is a rising star.  A happy marriage to her loving husband. A well-adjusted stepson whom she dotes upon.  But after her husband lawyer Adam McIntosh is murdered at their East Hampton vacation home, her world unravels when her sixteen year stepson Ethan is arrested for killing his father.  

      Further complicating her life is the sudden appearance of her estranged sister, Nicky, who just happens to be Adam's ex-wife and Ethan's biological mother.  Chloe is pleasantly surprised to discover Nicky is no longer an alcohol swilling, pill-popping unstable mess. Instead, Nicky is running a successful online business where she sells the jewelry she designs.  They have completely put their strained past behind them as they present a united front during Ethan's incarceration and trial.

      Despite this newfound closeness, neither Chloe nor Nicky discuss their respective marriages to Adam. But murder trials have a way of ferreting out the truth and Chloe learns stunning information about Ethan. While testifying in his own defense, Ethan reveals the truth about their life behind closed doors. Is Ethan guilty of murdering his father? If Ethan did not kill Adam, will Chloe uncover the killer's identity?

      Chloe's success at a women's magazine has exceeded her wildest dreams. She works long hours and although Adam is working at a prestigious law firm, there are cracks in their marriage. The past two years have difficult since Adam left his job as a prosecutor to work in a firm where he know defends white collar clients. The higher his wife's star rises, the more Adam's resentment grows due to his unhappiness in his career.

      With the police focus on Ethan, Chloe learns some troubling information about Adam. She takes what she has learned to one of the detectives investigating his murder. However, after Ethan's arrest, Chloe concentrates on his defense and these details fall by the wayside. Does the answer to who killed Adam lie somewhere within this forgotten and puzzling discovery? Or is Ethan responsible for his murdering his father?

      The Better Sister is an engrossing mystery with a topical storyline. The characters are fully fleshed with relatable strengths and weaknesses.  The courtroom portion of the plot is interesting but is the right person on trial for murder? With shocking twists and unexpected turns, Alafair Burke provides a very shocking answer to this question. I absolutely loved and highly recommend this clever mystery.
    • 3/5
      More of a court room drama than psychological thriller, it was OK. Nothing too surprising. I kind of feel a little 'meh' about it. Mystery readers would probably enjoy it more than I did.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a pretty mediocre domestic thriller. Twists were revealed in ways that were just meh. I have zero desire to read any of her others. Neither the plot nor the characters were engaging. Sorry/not sorry.
    • 3/5
      The Better Sister by Alafair Burke is an interesting enough legal thriller. When a16-year-old boy is charged with murdering his father, his step-mom and biological mom (who also happen to be sisters) work together to get him freed despite years of alienation. It took me quite a few attempts to get into the story. My biggest problem with the book was the fact that none of the characters were particularly likeable. Still, it was well-written and I did eventually make it to the end. I've got to admit I never guessed the real murderer - I just wish I'd cared more about the outcome. Burke does make some interesting points about the often ambiguous relationships between sisters and about abuse, how it builds within relations, why too often the abuser is believed over the abused, and why so many stay in abusive relationships. As to who was the bitter sister, turns out there was little difference between them. Overall, best I can say - I didn't hate it and would recommend it to people who enjoy legal thrillers or who enjoy books like Gone Girl with a decent story built around unlikeable characters.Thanks to Edelweiss+ and HarperLuxe for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
    • 3/5
      Quick read. Good characters good plot. Good twist.
    • 4/5
      This was a page-turner for me, although it all got a bit much by the end. None the characters was particularly likeable (and I especially disliked what Chloe did to Jake), but the author made each sympathetic in part.
    • 3/5
      Really? Seriously?? A long involved courtroom drama centered around the trial of a 16-year-old accused of murdering his father, with his bio-mom and step-mom (sisters, by the way) doing whatever it takes to see that he is not convicted. And then I get to the end to find who the real murderer is and all I can think is "this does not compute". I guess as long as you don't stop to think too hard about that, it's a fair run-of-the-mill family drama/thriller. And the shenanigans the sisters indulge in after the trial pretty much answer the question of which is "the better sister". Answer: Neither
    • 4/5
      Another domestic mystery/thriller from Alafair Burke (The Wife) that’s full of twists and turns. A man is murdered in his East Hampton beach house causing two estranged sisters – the dead man’s wife and his ex-wife –to come together to try and stop their son from going to prison for the murder. That alone is intense! However interesting the premise may be, it fell a little short. I wanted a bigger twist at the end and more about the sisters strained relationship.Overall, The Better Sister is an okay read but it seems like the book market is being flooded with domestic thrillers (or maybe I’ve just read too many lately).Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Which is the better sister? An interesting question, but not one their husband Adam can answer, because he’s dead. In an intriguing plot complication, both women were married to the same man, just not at the same time. Nicky married him first, almost twenty years ago, but her increasingly erratic behavior finally forced Adam to seek a divorce and custody of their toddler son Ethan. Soon he moved to Manhattan where Chloe lives, and for a number of years he worked happily and successfully as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Chloe, now his wife, urged him into a much more lucrative job, a partnership at a white-shoe law firm. Adam hates it. Not only that, something’s gone wrong in their relationship, though you can’t quite put your finger on it—yet. A bit of a control freak, Chloe doesn’t reveal the cracks in her armor right away. She’s also a bit of a modern hero, using her magazine to let not just media darlings, but everyday women tell their sexual abuse and harassment stories. Misogynistic Twitter trolls make her a target—an unpredictable, persistent threat lurking in the background.When Chloe arrives home late one night, Adam has been murdered, which brings Nicky to Manhattan, hoping to reconnect with her now sixteen-year-old son and taking up residence in Chloe’s home office. These temperamentally opposite sisters circle each other like newly introduced housecats. At least Nicky has stopped the drugs and the drinking, and she’s started making jewelry to sell on Etsy. In an unexpected rebalancing of the scales of likability, you may find yourself more sympathetic to Nicky than Chloe, who works so hard at being perfect. The police detectives clearly hope to pin Adam’s death on Chloe, but when they realize Ethan has lied about where he was the night of his father’s death, they focus laserlike on him. A third strong woman enters the story in the character of Olivia Randall, Ethan’s lawyer. Chloe would like to manage the case, Nicky would like to do something rash, but Olivia stays in charge. But if Ethan didn’t kill his father, who did?Author Burke’s real-life experience as a prosecutor serves the story well, and the details of the trial and the strategies of the attorneys make for excellent courtroom drama. The pressures of the trial bring forth a few “I didn’t see that coming” surprises too. It’s is an engaging, well-told tale that benefits from Burke’s clear writing style.
    • 4/5
      Family dynamics and hidden family secrets are the basis of this novel. Chloe Taylor seems to have everything. She is happily married to Adam - a lawyer, with a great son, Ethan, and a successful career as a magazine editor. But then, you find out that all is not what it seems to be on the surface. Chloe has an odd relationship with her sister, Nicky, who is Adam’s first wife and Ethan’s mother! And then, Adam is found dead. The perfect family presented to everyone starts to unravel. Lots of twists and legal strategy at play. Enjoyable and fast read. #TheBetterSister #AlafairBurke
    • 4/5
      Chloe is a successful career woman in the publishing business in New York. Nikki is her screw-up, drug addicted younger sister still living in her hometown in the suburbs of Cleveland. Once upon a time, Nikki seemed to be getting her act together - she was a new mom, married to a promising attorney named Adam and making plans to go back to school. Now, 15 years later, Chloe is married to Adam and raising Nikki's son while Nikki remains in Clevleand. When Adam is murdered during a break in, the sisters come face to face again and secrets are revealed. A very fun read! With some suspense stories I just want to find out what happened - with this one I really enjoyed the journey - although one part in particular reads false to me.
    • 5/5
      The Better Sister is the third book from Alafair Burke that is related thematically, although the characters are different in each book. The Ex deals with a lawyer called upon to defend her ex-boyfriend from a murder charge. The Wife features a woman whose high-profile professor/author husband is accused of preying sexually on young women. And in her latest, The Better Sister, a high-powered magazine editor finds her husband murdered in their East Hampton vacation home.Chloe worked her way up in publishing to become the editor-in-chief of the last successful feminist magazine standing. She married Adam, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, now a lawyer in a white shoe firm. Adam was previously married to Chloe's older sister Nicky, who was always the wild-child bad sister to Chloe's rules-following, hard-working good sister.One day Adam found Nicky floating facedown in their pool, with their toddler Ethan next to her. She had been drunk or on drugs (not unusual), and Adam divorced her and took Ethan to live in New York, where Chloe began to spend all her free time with them.Adam and Chloe married, and Chloe became Ethan's defacto mom. Nicky was out of the picture, staying back home in Cleveland to care for their parents.When Chloe finds Adam stabbed to death in their East Hampton home, she knows that the police will look hard at the spouse, they always do. She also has to contend with the fact that she is not legally Ethan's mother and has to contact Nicky, who soon shows up.Chloe and Nicky revert back to their sibling relationship- Chloe is the responsible one, Nicky is the screw-up. But when the police turn their attention to Ethan as a probable suspect, Chloe and Nicky must make amends and decide to work together to prove Ethan innocent.The Better Sister is a twisty, timely suspense story. Chloe is a women who is a prominent media person, and with that comes the trolls who send her hateful, even threatening, messages on social media. Chloe believes that perhaps one of them could be the killer.Burke throws in a lot of red herrings, and she excels in letting the reader believe they may have solved the mystery, only to be surprised at the big reveal. Being a former prosecutor, she brings a sense of reality and tension to the courtroom scenes.As the mother of two young men, I really felt such empathy for Chloe as a mother, trying to protect her son. I had a pit in my stomach during many scenes.One thing you learn from The Better Sister is that secrets can destroy people, and I can only think that if they communicated better, some of their big problems could be avoided.I read The Better Sister in one sitting, furiously turning the pages to find out who dunnit and why. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes a great suspense story.
    • 4/5
      I used to read a lot of mysteries but don't as much these days. I really enjoyed this book. Liked the twists and turns.
    • 4/5
      If Alafair Burke wrote it - I'm going to read it! Her latest novel The Better Sister has just released.Chloe and Nicky are sisters, but they are estranged - until their husband brings them back together. Yes, their husband. Nicky was married to Adam, but the marriage disintegrated - much of it due to Nicky's substance abuse. That abuse left her unable to look after her young son Ethan. They divorced with Adam getting full custody. And...he reached out to sister Chloe for advice and help. And now? Chloe and Adam have been married for fifteen years, raising Ethan together. Until.....Adam is found murdered.....and the cops think Ethan did it.I had a hard time connecting with the 'lead' sister Chloe. I found her to be just a little too full of herself. The drive that has made her a successful, businesswoman has also made her somewhat cold and dispassionate. Her need to control everything is off putting, but feeds into the plot. Instead I found myself drawn to the 'bad' sister Nicky. And this dichotomy makes for a charged dynamic. I quite liked Detective Guidry and would be happy to see her in a future book.Burke's writing is so very easy to get caught up in. She is herself a lawyer and the legal machinations and courtroom scenes benefit greatly from her insider knowledge. I had the whodunit it figured out before the final pages, but appreciated the misdirection and possible outcomes that Burke presents.Burke inserts a nice little bit of social commentary through online social posts throughout the book.I didn't love this one as much as I did The Ex and The Wife, but this was still a four star read. The Better Sister is a domestic thriller wrapped in a mystery with a side of legal.
    • 5/5
      The Better Sister – A Sublime Suspense NovelThe Better Sister is the latest suspense thriller from Alafair Burke, which once again proves why she is a New York Times bestselling author. The plot may seem complicated to some, but like an angler she knows how to hook her prey. This really is a fantastic read, that will keep you engrossed from beginning to end.The Taylor sisters, from Cleveland, lived in an abusive household as they were growing up, one was able to escape to New York. Chloe had managed to get a job in publishing in New York, while her sister Nicky married Adam, a lawyer. Nicky became a mother, to Ethan, her only child, and when Adam divorced Nicky, it was he who was able to gain custody of Ethan.Chloe fourteen years later is married to Adam, by a twist of fate, and is due to receive a prestigious award from the industry. Adam is now in private practice and is not earning anywhere near to Chloe’s pay package, but that does not seem to bother him. Chloe has become a step mother to Ethan and loves him dearly.When Adam is murdered in their beach house, and Ethan is arrested for committing that murder, she has to welcome her estranged sister in to her home. With Ethan in a juvenile prison, Chloe and Nicky have to face up to the skeletons in their family closet. While there are surprises to both Chloe and Nicky during Ethan’s trial, they still stand by him and want him home.While both sisters recognise that justice may be served in court, the truth may not, and with Ethan’s lawyer have find a credible defence. Not an easy job when everything seems to point towards Ethan having committed the crime. Whatever is said in court they just want Ethan home and are not worried about what is said about them.A fantastic book, which the reader will love.
    • 4/5
      With plenty of twists and turns, this is a novel about family and mystery. Chloe is the extremely successful and wealthy leader of the "themtoo" movement and magazine editor. She is married to a successful attorney Adam, who used to be married to her sister, and she is step-mother to their teenage son Ethan. In spite of the perfect veneer of their lives, the murder of Adam and subsequent trial uncover many secrets, some of which Chloe has been guarding and some of which she never knew. The characters are well-drawn and the action progresses quickly as surprises are brought to light. If this plot resonates with readers, they might also like The Perfect Liar by Thomas C. Greene and All We Ever Wanted by Emily Griffin.
    • 5/5
      The Better SisterByAlifair BurkeWhat it's all about...Two sisters...haven’t seen each other in years until a crisis brings them together again. The dysfunctional part of their relationship is that one sister...Chloe...married the other sister’s...Nicky’s...ex husband and is raising her son. Why I wanted to read it...This book grabbed me from the first pages. Two sisters have a complicated dysfunctional past and one...Chloe...ends up being mom and step mom to 15 year old Ethan. In fact Chloe ends up marrying her sister Nicky ‘s ex husband. Nicky is an alcoholic, a drug user and dangerous to baby Ethan...Adam divorces her, gets sole custody of Ethan and moves to NYC where he develops a relationship with Chloe. They are wealthy, Ethan leads a privileged life and then tragedy strikes. What made me truly enjoy this book...I love this author’s writing. It’s intense, believable and I can never put her books down! Why you should read it, too...Readers who love family stories that seem slightly unbelievable and thrilling will love this book. I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss and Amazon. It was my choice to read it and review it.