Thicker Than Water

Collins (The Family Plot) keeps readers on tenterhooks throughout this impressive thriller. Julia Larkin, who runs a brand development business with her sister-in-law, Sienna, struggles to process multiple shocks. First, her husband Jason’s boss is brutally murdered—someone stabs him, smothers him, and sews his lips shut. Though the dead man was tied up in a scandal involving the IRS, the police pursue other theories about his murder. Julia gets another gut-punch when she learns that Jason is in a coma after a car crash, and the cops reveal that he’s a suspect in his boss’s murder. With Jason unable to defend himself, Julia and Sienna team up to clear his name. Collins’s choice to alternate perspectives between the sisters-in-law pays off by leaving the reader uncertain about which of them, if either, has an accurate view of Jason’s character. Admirers of William Landay’s similarly themed Defending Jacob will be riveted. Agent: Sharon Pelletier; Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July)