Paula Gleeson’s debut novel is a twisty crossover thriller that will have readers guessing right up until the end, and in the author’s own words, “follows a sister searching for her missing twin after discovering a link between her disappearance, their mother’s past abduction, and their own shared bloodline.” A year after her sister disappeared, a young woman discovers an old newspaper article that shows their mother had once vanished too, on the same date when she was nineteen years old. And so she follows an invisible thread that connects her to her missing twin before someone severs it.
Ashley Tate, author of Twenty-Seven Minutes, has said that in this “clever whodunit”, “no one can be trusted and everyone could be guilty”. If a dangerous family drama and twisted secrets are what you’re looking for, Original Twin is a must-read for the summer. And if the backdrop of a sibling bond, especially sisters, leaves you wanting more, we have Paula Gleeson (Original Twin, June 2024) sharing her own motivation behind this story as well as that of eight other authors with upcoming releases Read below to find out what makes nine authors of this year write thrillers featuring sisters or twins. To view more such posts by debut authors, make sure to check out this collaboration, Debut Dialogues!
A Search for Sisters’ Stories
Paula Gleeson (Original Twin) shares her personal motivation for writing a thriller set around sisters, and that of eight other authors.
Ever noticed how thrillers love featuring sisters or twins? Missing sisters. The dead sister. The serial killer sister. Then sprinkle the word girl into the title and you probably have a hit on your hands. Yet, what if having sisters was a deliberate choice by the author and their reasons were personal? Thrillers, or thriller adjacent stories, aren’t often thought of coming from a personal place—these stories are about the plot and the twists. Right? Wrong.
My debut thriller Original Twin is, on the surface, about how keeping secrets can destroy lives. But at its heart, it’s about family—mainly siblings. Yep, sisters to be exact. It began with a whisper, late one night. A persistent girl. Saying she had a story to tell me and to pay attention because she wasn’t the most reliable of narrators. Oh, and she had a twin sister!
Their names were May and June, one born just before midnight on May 31st and the other just after on June the 1st. They wouldn’t leave me alone for months. Both insisting I tell only their POV and not the twin’s—they both got their wish. It was a blast. I’d missed those squabbles only siblings can have.
My own sister and I certainly had our fair share of spats. Nasty when you’re in the moment and then, just like a passing cloud, gone and forgotten in an instant. Back to being best friends again. That was until I lost her. At the age of eighteen, when she took her own life. I, at twenty-three, scrambled to make sense of a world without her in it—and still do if I’m honest.
My sister would have insisted I read her this book at night, under the covers. Giggling in delight at the hair-raising moments, never guessing the twists and not giving a hoot, tearing up at the moments that reflect our relationship on the page. I tend to write stories I know she would love. I can’t help it. She will always be my first audience and I like to think that she’s there with my characters, whispering to them to tell me all their secrets.Thanks, sis. I appreciate that.
In the 2024 debut group, we noticed quite a few of us had also included sisters or twins as our subjects in our thriller books. I asked those authors if they had personal reasons for also making that choice and here are their responses, plus a bit about their books coming out this year. Be sure to keep an eye out for them!
Silent Sister by Megan Davidhizar, August 2024 – two sisters disappear on a class trip, and when only one returns—without her memory—she has to piece together what happened because both their lives might depend on it. It was always sisters for Megan, from the very beginning. When she first had the idea, she knew it was going to be about sisters. She says the closest relationships hurt us the worst and deep wounds make for intense stories. Even sisters who aren’t that close know more about each other than most friends because of the long history they share.
Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown, August 2024 – a suspense set amid the Princeton eating clubs about a young woman who, in trying to fit in, made a terrible mistake. One which may have led to her own sister’s death ten years later. Lauren explains that she and her sister have gone through many ups and downs in their own relationship, growing together and apart, but over the years, and with the world so divided, it has become even more important to her to work on their relationship, to forgive and love one another, having only one sister to share this life with.
Looking for Smoke by KA Cobell, June 2024 – when Loren’s sister goes missing, she feels hollowed out, like the best part of herself has vanished too. She’d do anything to find the person responsible, even if it means meeting the same fate. This book really cut deep when I read it, but in the best possible way. The emotional toll of mourning a missing sister really resonated with me as I inhaled this mystery set on the Blackfeet Reservation.
When Mimi Went Missing by Suja Sukumar, November 2024 – the splintered relationship between two Indian American cousins is at the center of this dark, twisty YA mystery—perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, Karen McManus, and Angeline Boulley. This book is about the bond of cousins who may as well be sisters. Suja has a strong relationship with her own sister and felt that writing about the relationship between sisters was a lot more emotional and heart wrenching.
When She was Me by Marlee Bush, May 2024 – codependent twin sisters are hiding from a traumatic past on an isolated Tennessee campsite when a teenage girl goes missing. Both sisters are reminded of a crime they’ve spent their whole life running from. After Marlee’s identical twin nieces were born, she became so obsessed with the idea of twins and how their relationship might be different from other sibling relationships. This inspired the characters for her book. Featuring twins, just like my debut, I was immediately drawn to this delightfully creepy and atmospheric novel.
Girls Who Burn by MK Pagano, July 2024 – when Addie’s sister is found dead at the bottom of a ravine, the police rule it an accident, but Addie doesn’t buy it. She accuses the rich boy down the street of killing her and is sure she’s right—until he becomes the next victim. MK Pagano serves up a fabulous mystery interwoven with the grief of losing a sister—something that obviously resonated with me. Pagano wanted to explore themes of grief in her thriller, tapping into her own experience losing a cousin at a young age and it was important for her to make the victim a 3D character and not just the impetus for the events of the story.
Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate, January 2024 – a thriller about the transformative nature of grief and what happens when the secrets in a small town become impossible to keep buried. For Ashley Tate, the personal connection to her debut was a creative outlet for her to process the grief of losing her mother in 2018 to pancreatic cancer. Her grief felt so overwhelming and scary that she chose to write about siblings because she wanted to focus on families and how hard things can be to let go.
The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim, June 2024 – okay, this is a horror but I’m sneaking it in any way! It’s about a Korean American girl who kills white men to eat their eyeballs. Monika Kim grew up in a household of brothers and always wanted a sister. As she grew older, she found sisterhood in some of her closest friends instead, and wanted to write about how special that bond is. I devoured this book (pun intended) and absolutely loved the bond between the two sister characters who are both going through their own traumas.
Paula Gleeson writes mysteries and thrillers for all ages, usually with multiple twists and complicated females at the helm. She is an award-winning filmmaker and nominated non-fiction writer. She lives just outside of Melbourne, Australia and is often found in her pj’s, drinking tea (wine), and watching horror movies snuggled between her doggo and a big cheese pizza. Her debut thriller, Original Twin, releases 28 May 2024! You can find her at paulagleeson.com