Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by holdenwunders_
The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 ⭐️
Sarah Pekkanen’s latest thriller, The Locked Ward, takes us on a deep dive of two twins in wildly different scenarios. One is quite literally locked away, unable to communicate for a myriad of reasons while the other tries to metaphorically unlock all the secrets she was never privy to.
The setup alone gives a tenuous push and pull throughout that has you on the rollercoaster from the first page to the very last page. Pekkanen sets herself up in a way where she doesn’t have to even do a lot of work but just lays it all out and the pacing was conveniently consistent.
One of my favourite parts about the entire switch was the way she wrote the perspectives of the sisters. Of course there is always a header so you know which sisters perspective it’s in but Mandy is always written with “I” while Georgia is always written with “you.” It creates a unique difference between them while also highlighting the disassociative state Georgia is forcing herself into. Psychologically, this was quite clever and it had me realizing that while Pekkanen’s plots aren’t the most out of the box, her writing has true technique and grit behind it.
I ate this story up in about two days of reading before bed and it was exactly what it wanted to be in the end, thrilling.
Sarah Pekkanen’s latest thriller, The Locked Ward, takes us on a deep dive of two twins in wildly different scenarios. One is quite literally locked away, unable to communicate for a myriad of reasons while the other tries to metaphorically unlock all the secrets she was never privy to.
The setup alone gives a tenuous push and pull throughout that has you on the rollercoaster from the first page to the very last page. Pekkanen sets herself up in a way where she doesn’t have to even do a lot of work but just lays it all out and the pacing was conveniently consistent.
One of my favourite parts about the entire switch was the way she wrote the perspectives of the sisters. Of course there is always a header so you know which sisters perspective it’s in but Mandy is always written with “I” while Georgia is always written with “you.” It creates a unique difference between them while also highlighting the disassociative state Georgia is forcing herself into. Psychologically, this was quite clever and it had me realizing that while Pekkanen’s plots aren’t the most out of the box, her writing has true technique and grit behind it.
I ate this story up in about two days of reading before bed and it was exactly what it wanted to be in the end, thrilling.