Sluttery Book Club: Sister, by Rosamund Lupton

It's the first Domestic Sluttery book club! The book we're kicking off with is Sister by Rosamund Lupton. As well as chatting away in the comments on this post, we're so excited that Rosamund Lupton is joining us for a live Twitter chat this evening at 8pm. Grab a beer and make some snacks and get involved by following @DomesticsSuts and the #SlutteryBookClub hashtag. There's nothing on the telly.

So what's the gist of this book then? When Beatrice's younger sister Tess goes missing, she drops her life to head to London to find her. On the face of it, Sister is a psychological crime thriller, but it's also an exploration of sibling relationships and the determination of human nature.

Sian: I bloody loved Sister. I was completely enthralled by it. It made me late for a party because I was sat on a bench in the King's Cross underground finishing the last chapter and it made me stay up until 2am because I just couldn't put it down. Damn, it's been a long time since a book made me do that.

I'm not a crime fiction reader and I imagine someone who was might have seen the ending coming, but I was totally gripped by the plot. That said, I don't think that's why I liked the book so much. There's an emotional side to the story as well, and that's what was so interesting for me - the link between the main character Beatrice and her missing sister Tess is beautifully written and heartbreaking in parts. At points I found myself welling up on the train. Not because it's sentimental, some bits really shocked the hell out of me. This book hits a nerve.

I didn't enjoy the scientific ideas behind the book as much as the rest - that felt like a bit of a tangent that got in the way of the good stuff. The journey that Beatrice goes through was more interesting to me, but I honestly didn't see the ending coming and the parts of the story I loved definitely overshadowed the bits I wasn't so keen on. Sister may not be without its faults, but it really packs a punch.

Frances: I'm a complete and utter scaredy cat and was nervous at the thought of picking up a thriller. But Sian's enthusiasm convinced me, and right up until the end of Sister I wasn't scared, just completely swept up with where the story might be heading. I did cry at this book too, but definitely out of sadness - there's some bits that really hit you where it hurts. Thinking back, it wasn't the 'what happened?' elements I most enjoyed in the book. Instead it was the well drawn relationships: whether between couples or within families. Bea also does a good line in speculation on other people's lives which rang very true to me. They definitely weren't the two-dimensional characters I (perhaps too judgementally) associate with crime fiction.

The flip side was that I was so caught up in what was happening in these relationships, sometimes I forgot about the main story line of the book. The result of this was a major plot revelation where I had to skip back through several pages to try and work out exactly who was being referred to. I'd really like it if Rosamund Lupton's next book is about a family in crisis - it can be as simple as being over spilt milk! She writes about people intelligently and with such heart, I would love to read something of hers that isn't so reliant on having to deliver people from A to B (albeit with some impressive twists along the way).

Sara: Here's my summary of reading Sister: I love it, I like it, hmm I'm skimming this bit, OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I can't say too much about my reaction to the ending without giving away plot points, but it recast the novel and totally made the book for me. Like Sian and Frances, I enjoyed the relationships more than the scientific parts which left me cold at points. The narrator changes subtly throughout the book and I found myself unexpectedly warming to her; her emotions and reactions shift in an entirely believable way. Sister impressed me, not least in how it avoided sentimentality and the natural way the plot unfolded, but it didn't get under my skin in the way it does for others.

Sel: 'Sister' isn't the kind of book I'd automatically choose but I'm so glad I did (see, those 'Staff Recommendation' cards sometimes work!). What got me was the relationship between Beatrice and Tess and the emotions that Beatrice goes through during the story. I also loved the way she related to the other characters, especially with her mother and boyfriend. Her reactions and emotions were completely believable to the point where I did find myself crying at various points. To be honest, I think it could've done without the slightly convoluted science storyline - that's a whole other book in itself - because the real story is the relationships between the characters. Rosamund writes human emotion brilliantly and I didn't think it needed anything more than that. It's still a book I don't hesitate to recommend though and I look forward to reading more of Lupton's work.

The Sluttery verdict? A book that'll make you cry, shock you and scare you and despite us not loving the science bits and missing a few of the plot points, the relationships are so beautifully written that we got totally swept up in the characters. A Sluttery thumbs up for this début novel.

Go on, you're all itching to tell us what you think. Loved it? Hated it? Tell us! We want to know what you think. Tell in us in the comments below, and join us later for the chat! Don't forget, we're chatting about Kate Morton's The House at Riverton on July 31st if you fancy a little more Sluttery reading. And we're definitely going to pick up Afterwards - Rosamund's second novel.

WARNING: We've kept all spoilers out of this post, but we can't promise that you won't read spoilers in the comments. In fact, you definitely will. Don't say you weren't warned.