Okay I’m late to the party on this pick, by many years. But I love Jessica Knoll and I hadn’t read any mysteries last month, so I figured now was as good a time as any to catch up on what I’ve been missing.
The Favorite Sister has a hell of an opening. I was immediately enamored with both the premise and the writing style on the first page, which is impressive.
Kelly and Brett are in many ways typical sisters, falling into age-old dynamics: the golden child and the mess. Growing up, Kelly was the high-achieving apple of their mother’s eye, and Brett was the defiant partier. As adults, they find their roles reversed. Brett is the CEO of a successful company and the star of a reality TV show. Kelly is a single mother to a twelve-year-old and a college dropout. Their relationship is steeped in resentments, fights, and bitter jealousy, which only gets worse when Kelly lands herself a role on the show.
Brett hates the idea of Kelly encroaching on her show, but Brett has a secret that only Kelly knows, leaving her no choice but to go along with it. The other women have deep-seated tensions and insecurities of their own, with dramas that are as acrimonious as they are ridiculous.
On the final weekend of filming, tensions explode, secrets are revealed, and not everyone will make it out alive.
The Favorite Sister is mired in astute societal observations similar to those found in Luckiest Woman Alive but with an entirely different tone, subject matter, and character scape. It has a clear and poignant message about the dark side of modern feminist culture and reality television but gets it across without sacrificing plot, which is a feat.
Like the Real Housewives upon which this is based, I was somehow rooting for everyone and no one all at once, until I was rooting for absolutely no one. All of the characters are both entertaining and truly terrible human beings. It’s messy and I love it.
In particular, Lauren, a supporting character that is part of the cast of the fictional show, is very, very clearly based on Sonja Morgan of The Real Housewives of New York. It’s uncanny and hilarious.
The plot has layers upon layers of deceit and intrigue. Honestly, reading this feels like watching a really good season of a Bravo show, with a darker, behind-the-scenes bent. It’s inspired by iconic Housewives moments, and for a reader like me, this is simply divine. It is very obvious that the author watches The Real Housewives of New York, or at least did as research for this book.
There are many twists in the second half of this book, each crazier than the last. Just when you think you know what’s happening and where this is going, there’s another wild turn, but it all fits together beautifully.
The Favorite Sister leaves readers with an uncomfortable, icky feeling, but that is exactly the point. It makes you think, and the conclusions it draws are not happy ones, but they are realistic, although dramatized. The plot is engaging, and while you are rooting for absolutely none of these characters, except Layla, Kelly’s twelve-year-old daughter, they are still quite entertaining to read. If you are not a Bravo watcher, this may not be the book for you. But for those of us enmeshed in this culture, it’s a fantastic read.
Writing: 4
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