twin powers activate
Mandy Ravenel was just waking up, checking her phone, seeing the story about a socialite who was accused of bludgeoning her younger sister to death, when the phone call came. It’s an attorney, asking Mandy if she’d be willing to visit her twin in the psych ward where they are holding her. Mandy’s mind is scrambled. She had worked late at her bar Sweetbay’s the night before and was barely awake. But she was sure of one thing. She was an only child.
But you were adopted, the attorney points out. And your sister, your twin sister, is Georgia Cartwright, the socialite Mandy had just been reading about.
Mandy lives in a small town not too far from Charlotte, North Carolina, where Georgia is. She can’t explain it, but she can feel a connection to the woman in the locked ward. So Mandy agrees to a visit.
The Georgia that she meets there is not the same woman who had been in the news reports. Those photos showed a beautiful, confident woman who ran her own successful party planning business. The woman Mandy meets in the hospital is a shell, emptied and barely conscious. But in a moment when they were alone and not being watched, Georgia told Mandy that she was innocent. And if Mandy didn’t get her out of there, then they would kill Georgia too.
Mandy isn’t sure what to believe, but she can feel that connection to Georgia. So she decides to spend a couple of days in Charlotte, trying to figure out who her sister is and what happened. She spends time at Georgia’s apartment, putting it back together from the police search. She tries to figure out what had happened to Annabelle, Georgia’s sister. She tries to figure out how twin sisters could have been separated and lied to their whole lives.
Meanwhile, in the ward, Georgia is just trying to survive. She’s shut down and pretending to be disassociating. She’s losing sleep and not eating. She doesn’t know who to trust, but there are some there that she is certain she can’t trust. She is hoping that Mandy listened to her, that she believes her, that she can help her. She feels like time is running out. Because it is.
And as Mandy starts to find answers and gets closer to the truth, the reason the sisters were split up, the closer she gets to a killer who is desperate to do anything it takes to keep their truth secret. Even if that means killing them all.
The Locked Ward is a thrill ride of a mystery, with wealthy Southern families and buried secrets that people will kill to keep. This story about the relationship between sisters and how that can save you or destroy you gave me the emotional ride I was looking for. Author Sarah Pekkanen is known for her twisty thrillers, and this one definitely delivers on twists.
I listened to the audio book, narrated so beautifully by January LaVoy. I thought it made the story more enjoyable to listen to the actor bring all the drama. I thought it was a fantastic way to experience this novel. LaVoy brought both sisters to life, and I was here for all the drama. This book was a little bit bananas, but lots of fun.
Egalleys for The Locked Room were provided by St. Martin’s Press, and an early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
