The Good Sister

Sally Hepworth’s work is often situated in the domestic thriller genre, combining a keen observation of interpersonal dynamics with crime, mystery, and dark characters. Hepworth’s work also often features secrets between family members, such as the secrets Rose keeps from Fern in The Good Sister, and familiar environments and relationships made eerie. In The Good Sister, Hepworth explores the dark side of the close, sometimes co-dependent, dynamic between sisters while in The Mother-in-Law (2019), she examines the relationship between a matriarch and her daughter-in-law. Both books contain murders, shifting perspectives, and plot devices, such as misdirection (diverting the reader’s attention from an important motif/clue) and red herrings (providing misleading clues). Hepworth has often been compared to fellow Australian Liane Moriarty and American novelist Gillian Flynn, since all these authors write in the domestic thriller genre. However, Hepworth’s work is distinctive in its use of differing points of view and inclusive themes. The Good Sister is set in Australia, like most of Hepworth’s books since 2018.