The Lost Sister

A Superbly Suspenseful Novel

This follow-up to Megan Kelley Hall's Sisters of Misery did not disappoint. The Lost Sister picks up more than a year after Cordelia LeClaire's disappearance. Cordelia has run away to Maine to confront the biological father she never knew. Meanwhile, Maddie Crane is attending boarding school, a welcome escape from the town of Hawthorne. When the key players in the story start recieving ominous death tarot cards in the mail, all the clues lead back to Hawthorne, the last place Maddie and Cordelia ever wanted to return.

This novel had the kind of shivery suspense that keeps the reader up late, desperate to find out what happens! The plotting is perfect and the tension is there lurking in the pages. Maddie is still the determined heroine readers came to love in the first book. As she tries to solve the mystery surrounding the tarot cards and Cordelia's disappearance, the list of suspects grows and the supernatural is awakened. All the suspense builds up to create an explosive climax. In short, Megan Kelley Hall has done it again by creating a truly well-written book that leaves her readers begging for more.

Chilling conclusion

At the conclusion of Sisters of Misery we learn that Cordelia is still alive, and she plans to come back to find Maddie. In this sequel, The Lost Sister, we find out what led to Cordelia's disappearance, and where she's been hiding for the past year.

All the major players in this drama have received a tarot card, which seems to convey an eerie warning. Death is in the air, and the evil won't stop until certain people are finally removed from Hawthorne, once and for all. Is this story taking place in our modern century, or have they returned to the witch trials of Massachusetts? Magic and mystery surrounds them, blending both eras until almost indistinguishable from each other.

But why is all this death necessary? For what end? Maddie will find out when she faces her enemy in the final showdown.

Once again, author Megan Kelley Hall has created a haunting novel of madness in a small, affluent New England town. In this sequel, she ties together the loose ends left open when Cordelia vanished. Although it's not quite as well written as Sisters of Misery, readers will still enjoy this conclusion to a chilling story.

Reviewer: Alice Berger, Bergers Book Reviews

Mystical Mystery

This review starts by stating it was incredibly difficult to write a detailed summary of the over arching story because there are so many good plots, twists and turns that shouldn't be revealed. There are just that many secrets that spoiling even the smallest part would take the fun out of experiencing it; and experience it you should.

Knowing that to be the case, it can be said that the author did an excellent job of formulating an interesting and thought provoking mystery. Her ability to construct a story that utilized elements of mysticism and witchcraft accompanied with local history made for an intriguing read. It was certainly difficult for this reader to put the book down for fear of not getting to know the answers soon enough.

Hall has also written dynamic characters that are somewhat larger than life. Showcasing a typical class based system of haves and have-nots the animosity between groups is palpable. As one would expect there is constant positioning, one-upsmanship, back stabbing and general down and dirty cat-fighting. Fighting, that at the heart of it all, spurns resolution to the larger mystery.

If you are looking for a good whodunit with a dash of the supernatural that includes compelling characters that you'll want to revisit in the future then The Lost Sister is definitely for you.

The second Sisters of Mercy young adult fantasy will appeal to older readers as well

The Lost Sister
Megan Kelley Hall
Kensington, Aug 2009, $9.95
ISBN: 9780758226808

It has been one year since the Hawthorne, Massachusetts based SISTERS OF MISERY tried to kill Cordelia LeClaire on nearby Misery Island, but somehow she survived. While she seeks her estranged father Malcolm Crane, whom she blames for the tragedies that have devastated all the females in her family, Maddie feels guilt and remorse for not helping her new friend out of fear of retaliation by the Sisters.

She is away at school struggling with her weakness especially her failure to help Cordelia. Haunted by neurotic trepidations she returns to Hawthorne when she learns her mother is dying from cancer. When a Sister dies at a party hosted by the Endicott family to announce their plans for a new hotel on the site of the Ravenswood Asylum, the police arrest Finn and Reed, who are still suspects in the cold case of the disappearance Cordelia as murder suspects. Cordelia returns so one charge against Finn and Reed is dropped. Meanwhile The Endicott Hotel construction is stopped due a blaze destroying what has been built. The townsfolk are divided in opinion between a human or an otherworldly arsonist. Maddie and Cordelia team up to investigate who burned down the partially constructed hotel and killed the Sister, but neither trusts the other for good reasons; they better move past their suspicions of one another as something is stalking them.

The second Sisters of Misery young adult fantasy will appeal to older readers as well due to the character driven tale containing a deep Gothic feel and haunting foreboding atmosphere that hooks fans of all ages. The lead amateur sleuths are terrific as they invesitgate while doubting the sincerity of one another at a time they better get over it or else. With strong ties to the late seventeenth century Salem Witch Trials, THE LOST SISTER is a super thriller as evil comes in all packages.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Amber Gibson for TeensReadToo.com

THE LOST SISTER is Megan Kelley Hall's equally enthralling follow-up to SISTERS OF MISERY. Hall loses no momentum, picking up the Gothic thriller a year after the terrible events that happened to Cordelia on Misery Island.

One year removed from her near-death experience courtesy of Hawthorne's Sisters of Misery, Cordelia is in Maine, hunting down Malcolm Crane, her estranged father whom she holds responsible for all of the tragedies that have befallen the women in her family.

Maddie is away at boarding school, trying to put Hawthorne and the guilt she harbors regarding Cordelia's disappearance in the past. When she receives news that her mother has cancer, she knows that she must return to Hawthorne and care for her sick mother. A warning in the form of a spooky tarot card does nothing to quell Maddie's fears about returning to her hometown and facing her demons.

Shortly after her return, Maddie's world is once again turned upside down and the events that she has tried so hard to forget come rushing back.

When one of the Sisters of Misery is killed at a party thrown by the Endicotts' to gain public support for their hotel, Hawthorne begins turning on its own. Finn and Reed, both suspects in Cordelia's disappearance, are once again arrested, this time for suspected murder. Only Cordelia's sudden return to Hawthorne and testimony that neither man had anything to do with her disappearance frees them.

The Endicotts' plans to erect a new hotel, The Endicott, where the Ravenswood asylum stands, is unexpectedly halted due to a freak fire burning down all of the new buildings. Some suspect the spirits of the witches that were condemned so long ago, while others point to arson.

The curse upon Hawthorne is very real. A fire. A murder. A kidnapping. If Maddie and Cordelia are to survive this deadly turn of events, they will have to use their mysterious abilities and they will have to trust each other as sisters. Someone, or something, is after them, and Maddie and Cordelia have only each other.

Hall will have your heart racing and you will not be able to put this book down. With historical allusions to the New England witch trials and a touch of the paranormal, THE LOST SISTER is a thriller in a league of its own.

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