Audiobook Review: The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
The Locked Ward
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Narrator: January LaVoy
To Be Published: August 5, 2025
Audiobook: 9 hours 4 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: July 11-17, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Was it bitter, all-consuming jealousy? Pathological sibling rivalry? Pure insanity? Whatever the cause – and everyone has a theory- it was the Crime of the Decade when glamorous Georgia Cartwright, who was adopted as a newborn, killed the younger, biological daughter of her wealthy, Southern family.
Georgia is locked in a psychiatric institution where the most violent offenders are held while she awaits trial. The only words she whispers when her estranged twin sister Amanda visits are, “You’ve got to get me out of here. I didn’t do it.” Amanda doesn’t trust Georgia, but she can’t abandon her in a place so eerie and menacing it seems to exist in another dimension.
Is Georgia the victim of a powerful family so depraved that murder is the least of their crimes? Or is Amanda being led down a path of madness and into the web of a master manipulator?
Jessica’s Review:
The book description of The Locked Ward intrigued me, I just love the cover(!), and January LaVoy is the narrator (!!) so when I was granted an alc (advanced listening copy) from the publisher, I was ready to listen to it; And I enjoyed it!
In addition to what I already mentioned, we have dual povs (the sisters Amanda/Mandy and also Georgia), and this is a fast-paced book. I have read some Pekkanen before, when she collaborated with Greer Hendrix, but this was my first with her as the sole author.
We have murder, intrigue, a wealthy family, a psychiatric institution, and twins all in this novel! I never lost interest in the stor, I just had to make sure I paid attention to which pov each chapter was.
We go along on the journey with Mandy who is just trying to figure things out. And we have Georgia in the institution. Does she actually need to be there or not? Did she kill her sister or not? We get to experience ‘life on the inside’ of the institution through Georgia. And even though there is staff all around, things are not always safe. It is an eery setting and not one a sane person would want to be in.
The second half becomes more about family dynamics and a bit like a soap opera. But I enjoyed this novel. It shows the bond that sisters can have, let alone the twin bond which can be intriguing.
Again, I mention January LaVoy is the narrator and I adore her! She did a great job with her narration, as always. The only thing I feel could have improved the narration was to have two different narrators, one for Georgia and one for Mandy. To better differentiate the chapters other than the name of the sister at the beginning of each chapter.
Many thanks to the publisher Macmillan Audio for granting me an advanced copy to listen to and review.
Audiobook Review: The Golden Couple
The Golden Couple
Authors:
Greer Hendricks
Sarah Pekkanen
Narrators:
Karissa Vacker
Marin Ireland
Published: March 8, 2022
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 16-24, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 2.5 stars
Book Description:
Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.
Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.
When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.
Jessica’s Review:
I have read a couple of this duo’s collaborations, and one I rated 5 stars: The Wife Between Us and the other 3 stars: An Anonymous Girl. Since the book description of The Golden Couple didn’t really intrigue me, I was going to pass on it…. Then I saw who the narrators were and I decided to listen to it as I have liked both of them previously.
For a novel that is supposed to be a thriller, it wasn’t. There was a little mystery on the Bishop’s side (the past and present) and also Avery’s side with her having lost her license and operating in this certain way now that she is no longer a therapist. The ‘big twist’ I figured out, which is always a disappointment for me. It was just very obvious for me.
We have both Avery and Marissa as narrators. I actually enjoyed Avery’s pov more as what was going on with her interested me more than ‘the golden couple’ of Marissa and Matthew.
Though this one was a disappointment for me, if another of their novels interests me, I might just decide to read it.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
An Anonymous Girl
An Anonymous Girl
Authors: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
To Be Published: January 8, 2019
384 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: December 10-24, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.
When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.
Jessica’s Review
I absolutely loved Hendricks’ and Pekkanen’s first collaboration together so much that I was anticipating their second. Unlike The Wife Between Us, An Anonymous Girl did not deliver. The premise is intriguing and makes you think, but otherwise the novel is not believable at all. I can’t say much in detail without giving spoilers. And the protagonist’s name is Jessica!
There are two points of view that alternate throughout the novel: Dr. Shields and Jessica’s. Dr. Shields’ POV came off disconnected while Jessica’s POV was intriguing and I found myself rooting for her. Dr. Shields is a therapist and maybe that is why the POV was the way it was, but for me it was to the detriment of the novel.
In the beginning where Jessica starts answering the questions for the study as Subject 52, I found myself thinking about what my answers would be and what I would do. Could this be because I am also Jessica? Well, my personality is not similar to the Jessica of this story. I would not do some of the things ‘Book Jessica’ did.
As the book progresses it becomes a bit of a cat and mouse game between doctor and Subject 52, and it’s not believable at all. I found myself rooting for Jessica and did not know how this story was going to end.
Though not for me, I will read future collaborations between Hendricks and Pekkanen. Definitely give their first The Wife Between Us a read!
Many thanks to St Martin’s Press for sending me an arc copy to read and review!
Pre-order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK (Available now!)
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