My Sister's Keeper

by Bill Benners

Evergreen Tree Reader's Choice Award - Best Thriller Your Choice Grand Award - Best Thriller Wattpad's Hall of Fame Diamond Crown Award After his sister is brutally attacked and crippled investigating the rape of a thirteen-year-old, Richard Baimbridge rushes back to his hometown of Wilmington, NC, to assist in her recovery only to come face to face with his tormented past and a dark family secret. Serving as his sister's legs, he fights to stay above the flood of childhood trauma as he is drawn into the dark underside of this quiet coastal community where he becomes the primary suspect in the murders of Wilmington's young girls in this riveting suspense thriller that explores the special bond between a brother and sister. More than 500,000 copies sold.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Book Club

277 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2006

Reviews

[Yesha- Books Teacup and Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Wattpad story.

“My Sister's Keeper” is a thrilling crime fiction, about brother and sister who get involved in solving a mystery. I enjoyed reading it. The story includes family problem of Richrad that also has mystery in it.

Characters- They were mysterious. I liked bond between Richard and Martha, a perfect siblings. Antagonist was smart psycho who was always 2 step ahead of this sibling. Martha was a real hero of the story and I loved her. Police detective, well I haven’t heard of such dumb one in any novel, really! He was the biggest disappointing person in this book.

Things I liked- Easy to read and understand plot, fast-paced, every chapter was a cliffhanger that made me read it till the end. Lot of twist and turns. Emotions and feelings of characters was heartfelt. Richrad and Martha truly drawn me in their world. I was smiling, crying, angry and anxious along with them. There was a story behind all characters which helped to know them more clearly.

Drawback- I felt it was too stretched at some point. Even expected at some points. It gave me a feeling that I just want to rich to the climax. So many things went wrong at once in Richard’s life that were impossible in real life. Main characters did some stupidest things, but hey, doesn’t that happen in every mystery! So, I won’t say it a drawback exactly.
This story is all about family and life.

Alert! There are few very disturbing plots and twists so harden your heart before reading it.

Overall, I like it. You just want to enjoy a story without judging anything then you'll enjoy it just like watching a TV show/drama.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm still reading this book but my first thought is that it is extremely unsettling and just plain bizarre that he calls his sister "babe". Ew.

I don't want to go into full trash talk mode about this book since I realize someone spent a lot of time and energy writing what they thought was a good book. I'll simply say that with gems like:

"Somehow we made it from the shower to the bed where we caressed one another and tasted each other's nectars until we could wait no longer and merged our rhythms in the throes of lovemaking"

and

"With Sydney, I felt I'd come full circle. As if she'd taken hold of my spine and given me some sort of adjustment"

I just couldn't take this book very seriously. I found myself laughing at parts that were meant to be serious and found it extremely unbelievable that one random family would have such awful luck. All in all, I just didn't like it.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine this fictitious scenario: The author is a student in a college writing course and has been assigned to write a full length novel. He works at it, managing to keep it moderately coherent, editing and revising as he goes. Then one day the teacher announces that the project is due in 2 days. In a panic, the author thinks, "OMG! How did I misunderstand the deadline, I'll never finish in time." He stays awake for 48 straight hours, feverishly scribbling any illogical plot twists or bizarre dialogue that he can summon.

Yes, I'm being silly, but that's my take on how this book came to be such a mess. The first and second halves might have been written by two different people. I bought the book because it was set in Wilmington, where I have family ties, and for the first 100 pages or so, it seemed to be okay, perhaps a 5 out of 10 stars. Around the middle, it simply fell apart. The dialogue got worse and worse, and the plotting made no sense. Another reviewer noted the lovemaking scene where "they tasted each other nectars..." Yikes, talk about cringing at embarrassingly bad writing! The last 50 or so pages are exceptionally bad, when Benners tries to wrap everything up.

I left this book actually feeling bad about how an effort that began with moderate promise collapsed so completely.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would honestly suggest you go read someone else's review.

I barely made it fifteen pages into this book before giving up on it. I guess that will teach me to buy a book for 99 cents.

Here's the problem: The writing is horrible.

1) It's very bland, straight forward, and possesses little to no sentence variation. At least we know he could teach my third graders to write simple and compound sentence.

2) It tells instead of creating. Benners is very matter-of-fact when he lays out the way the world is and the way events have unfolded. He does nothing to draw you into the world, or to help you share in the fear and uncertainty that should surround a rape/brutalization.

3) Fifteen pages in and I already know the entire premise of the main plot line? How disappointing. Quite the mystery novel.

[Cadie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is shocking to me that this book has received 5 star reviews. I'd give it 1.5, only because since it was a mystery I have a thing about needing to know how things turn out. At any rate, the writing was incredibly annoying, switching from first to third person and with lots of unnecessary italics that just made it cheesy. The main character did the stupidest things, it was literally like in terrible horror movies where the girl knows there is a murderer on the loose but still decides its a good idea to go outside in a nightgown alone to ask, "is anyone there?". Do yourself a favor and choose a different book to read - there are too many good ones to waste your time on this one.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very average mystery / crime story with a lot of unnecessary filler. I skipped whopping chunks of text and had no trouble keeping up. It has one redeeming feature in wheelchair-bound Martha, who is the best of a very ordinary list of characters.

Going home to take care of his paralysed sister, Richard becomes entangled in a supposed murder when his neighbour goes missing, leaving a good quantity of her blood behind. Now, when by your own admission women don't fancy you (something the author makes sure the reader is told several times) and a beautiful much younger woman appears on your doorstep, strips naked and tries to get you into bed, why oh why would you be dumb enough to think she honestly fancies you? It seems Richard is this dumb, so when he's accused of the woman's murder, I was less than sympathetic. Naturally Richard starts investigating on his own and uncovers all sorts of nasty business. And if that's not enough, there's a big, fat secret about to be revealed within his own family.

As far as plots go, this one is barely believable. And then, for reasons I can't begin to fathom, Benners hits us with one final twist at the story's conclusion, which frankly is way over the top and absolutely unnecsessary. My Sister's Keeper is pure fluff, good for filling time when you have nothing better to do.

[M Skala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely a 10 star book!! This is THE best book I've read and I read about 2-3 books a week!! It was fast paced...I loved that the chapters are no more than 2-3 pages long. Every chapter had a twist that made this book IMPOSSIBLE to put down! The writing was superb...not a lot of chatty descriptions...it's a very TO THE POINT style of writing..his grip on the emotions of the characters is right on target and pulls you right in...whether it be fear, anxiety or compassion....one of the key characters is a paraplegic young woman...being one myself I can tell you the character as he wrote her was totally true to form...to read this book was like being a fly on the wall and watching the entire story unfold...a wonderful experience and the story was gripping and real...
Do yourself a favor and don't miss this one...Bill Benners is the new James Patterson!!

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice change from what I've been reading lately. When Richard Baimbridge is charged with the murder of a girl next door he seeks to take it into his own hands to solve the mystery of what has happened, believing he is innocent although he has no recollection of a period of time during the night the crime took place. The story becomes intertwined with a previous crime that had taken place against his sister leaving her in a wheelchair and seeking to discover the real perpetrator of the crime she had become victim too. Eventually there are a few romance lines that evolve but it's not until the very end that several deep dark secrets unravel. It was hard to put down.

[Justine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really quite bad.
The plot jumps all over the place, with new characters introduced with no context and some very bizarre and implausible plot twists - in the space of a week the lead character is severely beaten up, shot in the face with a shotgun, in a high speed motorbike accident, trapped in a burning car requiring resusitation and then significantly beaten again - i haven't finished the book yet but i can only imagine at least another 2 death defying occurances in the remaining 50 pages. Also the spelling of a key characters name changes and wasn't picked up by the proof readers.
Really really bad

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off okay, but quickly became almost unreadable in some spots. There were a lot of side stories and several situations that were quickly resolved. The whole family thing with his Dad was odd and really had nothing to do with the rest of the book. I gave it two stars because it kept me reading for about 1/3 rd but I have to be honest, I'm not sure why I finished it. I would not recommend it.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could NOT get through the first 30 pages of this book! It is SOOOOO badly written. I would give it negative stars if I could. It reads like a bad high school essay. Yikes!

[Michele.medlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is possibly the worst book i've ever read & yet, i finished it. huh. ok well, good luck everyone with this one

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was horrible. I just wanted to see what happened and definitely not worth it. Mistook it for the another book. Note to self: always check authors.

Ugh.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read but the writing style is a bit childish

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story My Sister’s Keeper by Bill Benners, shows the true friendship of a brother and sister. However the book isn’t all happy. Multiple young teens are video taped being raped by a group of older men. They sell the tapes for money, and then they throw the girls in the river in the backyard of the house. This goes on for many years before someone takes time to try to stop this gang. However when Martha tries to investigate, she is brutally attacked and is put in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. When her brother comes home to help her out with her new life style he will do anything for her to try to find those boys. He also finds out the dark family secret.

This story shows the true meaning of family and friendship. You will travel with Richard to decode this mystery, and even find out the dark family secret. I really enjoyed reading this short story because its touching to see how the brother will go above and beyond to do whatever for his sister. Overall I believe the author put a great message into the book.

My Sister’s keeper by Bill Benners is a great book that explains the true meaning of family. I would give this book four out of five stars. I really enjoyed reading this book filled with action and emotion and some romance. However i thought it ended too early. I wanted more, I wanted to know what happened after. However overall I loved reading this book and I will recommend it to many people.

[K.R. Bankston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fantastic!! I loved it from beginning to end. The author used very vivid detailing to put me IN the story and hold my attention, make my pulse race, piss me off, and ultimately make me smile in this entire journey. Mr. Benner's coastal tale of loss, love, murder, betrayal, and honor is a must read and the $1.00 kindle price tag makes it even more desirable. The story flows effortlessly and answers all the readers questions (a must for me). I will definitely choose another book of his in the near future to open and enjoy! I took at peek at some of the 1 and 2 star reviews to see why they didn't like the book, suffice it to say the word MORON kept echoing in my mind as I did. If you enjoy suspense and adventure, and allow yourself to IMAGINE this book is for you.

[Lyndsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book and thought "It was just ok."

When I first started this book I had high hopes, it opened with an interesting plot and caught my attention. Then as I got into it I found myself thinking the main character Richard was sort of dumb for the way he handled things after his encounter with Ashleigh. I felt like the story was drawn out at times. And the whole story about his real father Charlie was sort of odd to me. I guess I thought it was an unrealistic situation and kind of cheesy the way the author tried to wrap it all up at the end like a great love story between his mother Pearl and Winston/Charlie.

Overall, I probably wouldnt read this book again, and I wouldnt pay more than the few books I picked it up for on my nook.

[Conniecat · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay story and wasn't poorly written but there was something about it that I can't put my finger on that made it not that great. I purchased it for either 99-cents or $1.99 for my Nook because it was a murder mystery based in Wilmington. One of the things that bothered me about it was the author's characterization of the mother in the book. She was said to be in her late 40s but was portreyed more like a much older woman. Although the book was set sometime in the 2000s, little things like saying if a woman of the mother's age had gotten pregnant at 18 she couldn't have an abortion because it was illegal at that time and if she was unwed she would be rejected by society. That and little things like spelling errors in the book (ex. loose instead of lose) irked me.

[Kay Swinburne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I enjoyed the story and found it to be fast paced and exciting. I do agree with some of the other reviewers about the writing style of the author, he does have a very direct approach and doesn't waste a lot of time with scene-setting, but given the fact that we often criticize authors for the opposite sin of being too long-winded, I found this to be forgivable due to the nature and pace of the story. I was impressed with the ability to capture the truth of the different emotions that the characters were feeling, and although there were a few instances of cringe-worthy sentence structure, on the whole I found the tale well written and enjoyable.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. Sure, it was an interesting story, and a little bit of a page-turner, as I was dying to see what happened to the characters, but as the story progressed, it got a bit tedious. The story line got crazy, too many things happened that just don't make sense, and a lot of it was so unbelievable. I ended up skimming the last few chapters because of how ridiculous the story got, but I didn't want to give up on the book. The final mimi-cliffhanger about a character's real identity was a bit far-fetched as well.

[Sydney Blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was incredibly hard to get into. I actually must have picked it up about ten times before I finally got into the characters and the plot. A lot of content could have been left out and the book may have been better to digest.

The plot is completely predictable. While heart warming towards the end, this book just wasn't anything to write home about. Slightly disappointed in the waste of time, but it was just ok.

[Lisa Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free Kindle book.

Not a bad mystery. It wasn't a huge gripper but it did have a couple of twists that were interesting. A quick read and I might check out some of the author's other works.

The worst thing is that his books shares a title with Jodi Picoult's tearjerker, recently made into a movie. Anyone who purchases this book thinking it's the Picoult story will be very disappointed!

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful. Easily the worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read. I don't give up on things, I watch entire series of shows that I hate, I've read countless bad books, but I could not get even halfway through this. So badly written, incredibly cringeworthy, just a ridiculous plot, none of his decisions make any sense... Awful, just awful.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was slightly weird, but at the same time compulsive reading! There were quite a few inconsistencies in the story, which are always a bore, as well as the whole story being quite far fetched but right up until the last 40% I was pretty invested in the story and what was going to happen. I just got a bit bored after that.

[Kookie9200 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Simply awful. The plot sounded interesting, but the actual writing was so contrived. The author had too many ideas, and simply jammed them all together with no cohesion. There was little to no character development and I honestly feel as though I still don't know the characters. Much of what was written is simply inconceivable, and I feel as though I wasted two days reading this.

[Jay Bakman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many more people need to know about this book. This novel is one of my absolute favorites! I wish Bill Benners wrote more books, I would buy them all! His writing is just so suspenseful, and leaves you wanting more. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime novels. Definitely.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was badly written, poor;y thought out, badly crafted CRAP! I have never been so happy to finish a book, even if finishing it was like sucking spoiled gravy through a dirty sock... and this one was like that and worse! I only gave this one star because I cant give a negative rating. ughhh

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Benners does a great job with My Sister's Keeper.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it did keep me reading, I just found it to be a bit too unrealistic...both in dialogue and plot. Too many side stories and coincidences combined in one novel.

[Sharon Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, a fast read. Enjoyed the depth of the characters. Can't wait for his next book.