Sister by Rosamund Lupton

When Beatrice hears that her little sister Tess is missing, she returns home to London on the first available flight. But Bee is unprepared for the terrifying truths she must face about her younger sibling when Tess's broken body is discovered in the snow.
The police, Bee's friends, her fiance and even her mother accept the fact that Tess committed suicide. But nobody knows a sister like a sister, and Bee is convinced that something more sinister is responsible for for Tess's untimely death. She embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the truth.


Two months after Tess's death Bee begins a letter to her...

"Why am I writing this to you?" Bee asks the sister who is no longer there. "I need to talk you" she says. "It's a one-way conversation, but one that I could have only with you...I'll tell you one step at a time, as I found out myself, with no reflecting hindsight."

The letter follows Bee's investigations but also becomes a painful soul-searching as she struggles to come to terms with her loss by looking back over the life she and her sister shared. The love and friendship, the quarrels and misunderstandings are confronted with a great deal of guilt and self-recrimination but she emerges with a deeper understanding, not only of herself but also her mother whose actions in Bee's childhood had left Bee with emotional wounds. 
I think Rosamund Lupton's greatest strength is her ability to write of relationships under stress with amazing insight and the added intimacy of the letter format makes for emotional reading . 


I also enjoyed the secondary themes that were woven into the story. The trials for a cure for cystic fibrosis in babies and the plight of Tess's immigrant friend, pregnant and in an abusive relationship touch gently on other social issues.

The suspense is built through Bee's lone investigations , the danger she is exposing herself to and wondering what is going to happen to her and an unexpected little twist in the final pages made for a great ending.

Excellent pyschological suspense and I enjoyed it very much.


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