The better sister: a novel

Chloe Taylor, a successful magazine editor famed for kicking off the viral #ThemToo movement, returns from a party honoring her recent Press for the People Award to find the dead body of her husband, Adam. The house has been ransacked, leaving the impression that Adam surprised a burglar, but police zero in on Chloe's stepson, Ethan, who had a strained relationship with his father. Bad turns to worse when the detectives contact Ethan's biological mother: Chloe's sister, Nicky. They haven't spoken in 15 years, not since Chloe supported Adam in having Nicky committed to a psychiatric hospital, and then married Adam after his divorce. The meeting between the sisters is awkward, to say the least, but soon Chloe is shocked at Nicky's transformation from dangerously dysfunctional alcoholic to an indispensable ally in Ethan's defense. As Chloe begins questioning Adam's version of her sister's downward spiral, she discovers another motive: Adam, a corporate lawyer, was informing the FBI on his clients' misdeeds. Boasting Burke's trademark blend of everywoman investigations mixed with courtroom drama, this twisty thriller is destined to become a vacation-reading favorite.--Christine Tran Copyright 2010 Booklist

Fourteen years before the present day of this mesmerizing domestic thriller from bestseller Burke (The Wife), Chloe Taylor helped her brother-in-law, Adam Macintosh, defeat her rebellious older sister, Nicky, in their custody battle over the couple's two-year-old son, Ethan. Four years later, Chloe married Adam and became Ethan's stepmother. Now, Nicky lives alone in Ohio, selling jewelry on Etsy, while 41-year-old Chloe lives with 47-year-old Adam and 16-year-old Ethan in New York City, working as editor-in-chief of Eve magazine. When someone kills Adam in the family's East Hampton vacation home, Chloe's biggest fear is that the court will grant Nicky guardianship of Ethan. Then the police arrest Ethan for the murder, compelling the estranged siblings to work together to solve Adam's murder and exonerate their son. As Chloe investigates Adam's final months, she contemplates her career, performs a marital post-mortem, and reflects on the personal cost of professional success. Meanwhile, Nicky has her own agenda. Burke paints a poignant portrait of sisterhood and sacrifice with this twist-riddled, character-driven whodunit. Author tour. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip Spitzer Literary. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Chloe Taylor is married to her estranged sister Nicky's handsome ex-husband Adam Macintosh, and raising her sister's son, Ethan, as her own. She's also the editor-in-chief at a women's magazine and has recently gained significant recognition-both good and bad-for a series highlighting everyday women and the #MeToo movement. By all appearances, she's super successful, with a loving spouse, a two-book deal, and a well-paying job. Then Adam is murdered, and a staged crime scene and an inconsistent account of Ethan's whereabouts leads to his arrest. Not sure whom she can trust, Chloe reluctantly lets Nicky back into her life. Together, they deal with the consequences of having their secrets exposed during a high-profile trial while also confronting the truth about the man they both once loved. VERDICT Burke (The Wife; The Ex) writes a straightforward and uncomplicated character-driven mystery that also delves into the topics of sisterhood and abuse. Vague references to current events might eventually date the story, but mystery lovers will find much to enjoy in this fast-moving whodunit.-Vicki Briner, Broomfield, CO © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When a corporate lawyer who divorced his first wife and married her more successful sister is found dead in his home in the Hamptons, his teenage son goes on trial for murder.The fans who put Burke's (The Wife, 2018, etc.) last domestic thriller on the bestseller list are going to be happy with this one, a gimmick-free murder mystery with a two-stage surprise ending and uncommonly few credibility-straining plot elements. No double narrator! No unreliable narrator! No handsome psychopaths from central casting! And though there's usually at least one character in this type of book who isn't quite three-dimensional, most of the players here feel like they could have worked in a domestic novel without a murder, which is a kind of test for believability and page-worthiness. The star of the show is Chloe Taylor, a woman's magazine editor-in-chief who has become a hero of the #MeToo movement and a target of misogynist haters on social media. The lumpy area beneath the surface of her smooth, pretty life is the fact that she married her boozy, unstable, maternally incompetent sister's ex-husband and has been raising her nephew, Ethan, as her own son. When his father turns up dead, Ethan tells so many lies about his doings on the evening in question that despite the fact that he's obviously not a murderer, he ends up the No. 1 suspect. As soon as he's arrested, his real mom, Nicky, swoops into town and the sisters form an uneasy and shifting alliance. You'll think you have this thing all figured out, but a series of reveals at the eleventh hour upend those theories. Most of the important people in this novel are womenthe head cop, the defense attorney, the judgeand their competent performances create a solid underpinning for the plot.You'll kill this one fast and be glad you did. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Chloe Taylor, a successful magazine editor famed for kicking off the viral #ThemToo movement, returns from a party honoring her recent Press for the People Award to find the dead body of her husband, Adam. The house has been ransacked, leaving the impression that Adam surprised a burglar, but police zero in on Chloe's stepson, Ethan, who had a strained relationship with his father. Bad turns to worse when the detectives contact Ethan's biological mother: Chloe's sister, Nicky. They haven't spoken in 15 years, not since Chloe supported Adam in having Nicky committed to a psychiatric hospital, and then married Adam after his divorce. The meeting between the sisters is awkward, to say the least, but soon Chloe is shocked at Nicky's transformation from dangerously dysfunctional alcoholic to an indispensable ally in Ethan's defense. As Chloe begins questioning Adam's version of her sister's downward spiral, she discovers another motive: Adam, a corporate lawyer, was informing the FBI on his clients' misdeeds. Boasting Burke's trademark blend of everywoman investigations mixed with courtroom drama, this twisty thriller is destined to become a vacation-reading favorite. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Chloe Taylor is married to her estranged sister Nicky's handsome ex-husband Adam Macintosh, and raising her sister's son, Ethan, as her own. She's also the editor-in-chief at a women's magazine and has recently gained significant recognition—both good and bad—for a series highlighting everyday women and the #MeToo movement. By all appearances, she's super successful, with a loving spouse, a two-book deal, and a well-paying job. Then Adam is murdered, and a staged crime scene and an inconsistent account of Ethan's whereabouts leads to his arrest. Not sure whom she can trust, Chloe reluctantly lets Nicky back into her life. Together, they deal with the consequences of having their secrets exposed during a high-profile trial while also confronting the truth about the man they both once loved. VERDICT Burke (The Wife; The Ex) writes a straightforward and uncomplicated character-driven mystery that also delves into the topics of sisterhood and abuse. Vague references to current events might eventually date the story, but mystery lovers will find much to enjoy in this fast-moving whodunit.—Vicki Briner, Broomfield, CO

Fourteen years before the present day of this mesmerizing domestic thriller from bestseller Burke (The Wife), Chloe Taylor helped her brother-in-law, Adam Macintosh, defeat her rebellious older sister, Nicky, in their custody battle over the couple's two-year-old son, Ethan. Four years later, Chloe married Adam and became Ethan's stepmother. Now, Nicky lives alone in Ohio, selling jewelry on Etsy, while 41-year-old Chloe lives with 47-year-old Adam and 16-year-old Ethan in New York City, working as editor-in-chief of Eve magazine. When someone kills Adam in the family's East Hampton vacation home, Chloe's biggest fear is that the court will grant Nicky guardianship of Ethan. Then the police arrest Ethan for the murder, compelling the estranged siblings to work together to solve Adam's murder and exonerate their son. As Chloe investigates Adam's final months, she contemplates her career, performs a marital post-mortem, and reflects on the personal cost of professional success. Meanwhile, Nicky has her own agenda. Burke paints a poignant portrait of sisterhood and sacrifice with this twist-riddled, character-driven whodunit. Author tour. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip Spitzer Literary. (Apr.)