Hi friends, and thanks for stopping by to read my book review of The Sister Under the Stairs.
The Sister Under the Stairs is a Kindle eBook that I “bought” on Amazon when it was free. (Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. If you click a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for the referral.)
I’m always keeping an eye out for free books I can read on my Kindle. Occasionally I do a review here, and I’m thinking I should get back into doing more reviews. Obviously some books are better than others, but taste is subjective when it comes to reading material.
I’ve decided to boycott leaving reviews on Amazon seeing as how they declined to publish my 4 star review on my Pelsee dash camera. I will no longer waste my time crafting a thoughtful review only to have Amazon reject it.
So, let’s dig in. What did I think about The Sister Under the Stairs? Spoiler alert. I will be discussing scenes from the book while I give my opinion.
Book title: The Sister Under the Stairs
Let’s start with one of the first things that grabs a reader’s attention when choosing a book: the title. And did the title live up to its name?
The Sister Under the Stairs.
The title reminded me of a movie I saw back in the 1970s called Bad Ronald.
I’ve checked on YouTube, Pluto TV, and Amazon Prime and I can not find a viewing of this old TV movie anywhere. It was a creepy movie about a creepy teenager hiding in a house and being a peeping Tom. The lead actor, Scott Jacoby, was in another well-known film around that time called The Little Girl who Lives Down the Lane starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. Another creepy movie. This one can be seen for free on YouTube.
With visions of Bad Ronald in my head, I downloaded The Sister Under the Stairs when it was free on Amazon thinking I would be reading a chilling, psychological thriller.
Nope. Not so much.
There was only one scene where one of the sisters was “under the stairs”. The scene happened over halfway through the book and lasted a few pages. I assumed she was under the stairs, though I’m not sure that was clarified. She was locked into a small closet which may have been under the stairs. She was inside that closet for half an hour, more or less. And never inside there again.
I spent the entire book wondering when I’m going to read about the sister under the stairs.
The title of the book is misleading and confusing.
I like the cover image. Usually I can judge a book by its cover. The cover is the main reason I downloaded the book while it was free.
Walking to and from school
The title is not the only unbelievable thing about this book.
At the beginning of the book there are teenage twin sisters, Paige and Jessica. I think they are 16 years old. Mommy and daddy don’t let them walk to and from school solo. They must walk together.
Reality check.
Starting when I was five years old I had to walk to and from school by myself. The elementary school was a mile from our house. And there was a steep hill, about two blocks long that is tough for a little girl especially in bad weather. I walked to and from school every day, rain or shine.
In Grade 3 a family moved two houses down with a girl in the same class as me and we became good friends. We always walked to school together. That’s because we liked each other. If we didn’t, I’d have continued walking alone. And her mother was nice. If it was raining she often drove the kids to school and I hitched a ride.
My point being, if an elementary school kid can walk to school alone, one mile each way, there’s no reason that a teenager can’t walk three or four blocks on their own.
Hate my sister
At the beginning of the book Paige is waiting for her sister so they can walk home from school. Paige has to get to her job at an ice cream shop. Her boss has threatened to fire her because she has shown up late a few times.
And why is Paige late for work? Because Jessica is a dawdler and the the slowpoke is causing Paige to be late for work.
Paige makes no secret how much she hates Jessica. Yes, hate is the word the author used. Paige is angry that Jessica is going to get her fired. Jessica gets treated differently by her parents and doesn’t need to work. She can just goof off and do teenager stuff.
On this day Jessica is flirting with one of their classmates. Paige is irritated and tries to get her to hurry. Jessica waves her off, and tells Paige to go ahead, and she’ll follow in a few minutes.
Seeing as how Paige hates her sister, this is no problem and away she goes so she’s not late for work.
This sets the stage for the story. The Sister Under the Stairs would have been more believable if Paige was just irritated with her twin. But the word the author used is hate, hate, hate. A lot of hatred happening here, established at the beginning of the book.
And here I want to add to my readers, that if you have toxic people in your world, it is OK to hate them and to drop them out of your life – related to you or not. You deserve to have a peaceful, happy existence and not be tormented by someone you hate.
The Missing Sister
After reading the book, a simpler more accurate title would have been The Missing Sister.
As you may have guessed, when Paige comes home after work, her parents are frantic because Jessica is missing.
I don’t have a sister, but if I did and I hated her, I wouldn’t be all that broken up that she’s gone missing. If you hate someone and they’re out of your life, in this case probably kidnapped, that would be a huge relief.
But no, Paige does a complete 180 and the rest of the book is about her whining about how much she misses her sister and how much she loved her and how close they were.
So why did the author establish at the beginning of the book that Paige hates Jessica and they hate being around each other? This 180 makes no sense. And then Paige finds a job with CHILD, an organization that supports families of missing children.
At one point Paige even laments to her boyfriend that she can’t marry him because she and Jessica promised each other they’d be at each other’s weddings. Really? I wouldn’t want someone I hate at my wedding. And move on already, Paige. Your sister has been missing for 12 years. What are the chances she’ll be found? And found alive? The mother already is planning to have the daughter declared dead and hold a memorial service for her.
More mixed signals
In addition to the book’s title being confusing, it’s also an odd career choice for someone who hates their sister. Like I said if I hate someone, I’m not going to be all broken up by their disappearance and I wouldn’t seek out a job that would be a reminder this person is missing.
Then a minor character shows up, a police officer whose sister has been missing for about 20 years. Now I’m having an aha moment because we’ve come quite a ways through the book and so far no sister under the stairs. Maybe this is the sister who will be found under the stairs.
Nope. That story line petered out. Or should I just say that sister continues to be missing.
Wrap it up
OK I’m getting bored so it’s time to wrap up my review of The Sister Under the Stairs.
And that’s kind of the theme throughout the book – boredom for the reader.
The book itself was decently written, a few errors but nothing as contradictory as the beginning where Paige reveals she hates her sister. And because of that – an air of disbelief runs throughout the entire novel. So a very poor choice of words on the author’s part making the readers know about the hatred. Using the word annoyance instead of hate would have have made the story line more credible
Spoiler alert!
Eventually Jessica is located. She is being held hostage by a man who is well known to Paige and her coworkers at CHILD.
I didn’t see that coming. A real Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde plot twist.
For me, the book was rather boring. Not to mention unbelievable. Let me say it again. If you hate someone – you don’t care if they vanish off the face of the earth!
This book did help me fall asleep at night. I read it after getting into bed and it took me about 3 weeks to read. The book normally sells for $2.99. I got it for free, and if you’re thinking this might be a good read, I’d recommend waiting awhile to buy it and see if it comes up for free again.
The Sister Under the Stairs wasn’t so bad that I quit reading. I wrote a post about when it’s OK not to get what you paid for, and that also includes free books. When it comes to books, quit wasting your time on a stinker.
I was able to push through and finish it. The mixed messages, the confusion, and the bad title choice all contribute to me giving this book 3 stars out of 5.
My recommendation is if this book is available for free and you can get past the bad title and unlikable Paige, then go ahead and download it.
Published by Cheryl @ The Lifestyle Digs on April 19, 2025.
