Once two sisters : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When her sister goes missing, Zoe assumes it's just another one of her estranged sibling's stunts-but the danger is all too real.

Zoe Hallett and her sister, Ava, are the precocious offspring of two pioneering scientists, but the sisters have been estranged for years. When Zoe reads a news story about Ava's mysterious disappearance, she assumes it's just another of her sister's twisted fictions, designed to blame Zoe and destroy the peaceful life she's created with her husband and beautiful stepdaughter in Houston. But Zoe's email is hacked to send threatening messages to Ava-and a more sinister picture begins to emerge.

Zoe returns to her home state of Virginia to prove her innocence to the authorities, to her parents, and to Glenn, her ex-boyfriend and current brother-in-law. For the first time, Zoe begins to believe Ava is in grave danger, and when Glenn catches her searching for clues in Ava's home, she looks guiltier than ever-but maybe Glenn is not all he seems.

The clues Zoe finds point to a bizarre link between Ava's disappearance and her mother's "research". Is there a secret someone is trying to protect? And would someone be willing to kill to protect it? As her sister's life hangs in the balance, Zoe draws on hidden reserves of strength and hope to save the sister she never thought she loved.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Zoe Hallett, the narrator of Warburton's arresting debut, believes she has been humiliated by her older sister, Ava, an author who has based any number of unflattering characters on her in several bestselling thrillers. Three years earlier, Zoe cut ties with her family, maintaining that her cold, clinical psychotherapist parents wouldn't care if they never saw her again. Now living under an assumed name in Houston, Zoe is happily married and a doting stepmother to a precocious four-year-old girl. When Ava goes missing from her home in Arlington, Va., the story makes national news and Zoe figures her sister is just after publicity. In fact, Ava has been kidnapped, and she wonders whether Zoe is behind her abduction. When it appears that Zoe recently sent Ava threatening emails, Zoe travels to Arlington to look into the disappearance and prove her innocence. A breathless energy imbues the strong plot, which alternates between Zoe's tense family relationships and Ava's claustrophobic captivity. Warburton delves deep into the psychological underpinnings of her believable characters in this highly entertaining domestic thriller. Readers will eagerly anticipate her next. Agent: Melissa Jeglinski, Knight Agency. (Aug.)

Kirkus Book Review

Warburton's first novel uses a high-speed action plot to explore the deeply troubled relationship between two sisters. How close is Zoe Hallett to her older sister, author Ava Hallett, who's based every one of her bestselling thrillers on easily recognizable versions of Zoe? About 1,500 miles, ever since Zoe, wailing, "She stole my life," changed her name three years ago and moved from Arlington, Virginia, to Houston, where she married widower Andrew McPhee, moved in with him and his 4-year-old, Emma, and did her best to ignore the displays of Ava's latest triumph in every bookstore window. Now the news of Ava's mysterious disappearance has put Zoe, or Lizzie, in the spotlight again, and the public release of her years of angry emails to her estranged sister and the news that she had an affair with Ava's boyfriend, agent Glenn Melcher, shortly before he returned to Ava and married her has painted a target on her back. Drawn to return to the Beltway, Zoe can find no comfort from her parents, clinical neuroanalysts Walter Hallett and Nancy Renscoe-Hallett, whose attitudes toward her have always been pretty clinical. So she puts aside her obsession with asking, "Why does she keep writing about me?" to team up with Glenn in the hope of tracking Ava down. Besides enjoying the juicy premise and the edgy thrills, you'll feel much more relaxed about your own family reunion. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Sarah Warburton is the oldest of four sisters, raised in Virginia, and an avid reader and knitter. She has a B.A. in Latin from the College of William and Mary, an M.A. in classics from the University of Georgia and another from Brown. Sarah has worked at independent bookstores-Page One Books in Albuquerque and Books on the Square in Providence-and spent ten years as a writer, which led her to become lead editor for UpClose Magazine . Her short story "Margaret's Magnolia" appeared in Southern Arts Journal , and her Pushcart prize nominated story "Survival English" appeared in Oyster River Page . Now she lives with her family-husband, son, daughter, and hound dog-in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia.