Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon Jun 05 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Starred Review In Meade's debut, sisters Casey and Sutton have a difficult relationship that goes beyond sibling rivalry. Then Sutton goes missing and, when she returns, has memories only of her sister. But something beyond Sutton's limited memory isn't right, and everyone is determined to get to the bottom of Sutton's mysterious disappearance. Unsettling to an excellent, haunting effect, The Shadow Sister makes the most of tone and atmosphere with prose that seems straightforward at first glance but buzzes with tension. In a book that keeps readers guessing, Meade harnesses generational and personal trauma to paint a stunning story while weaving in themes around religion, family, and privilege e sisters' father is a Black historian, and Sutton is not the first Black girl to go missing in the neighborhood. Incorporating hoodoo and root magic, this creeping narrative avoids getting into the weeds of these practices while still allowing their clear impact on the events of the story to be seen. Readers who enjoy domestic dramas will be sated as the book examines various relationships made complicated by the new dynamics introduced by Sutton's return and uncharacteristic behavior. All of this is underscored by a complex sibling relationship that evolves over the course of the novel. Hand this unique and quiet horror novel to fans of Beware the Wild (2014) and House of Hollow (2021).

Kirkus Reviews

A biracial high school student questions the truth surrounding her sister's disappearance and unexplained return.Sixteen-year-old Cassandra "Casey" Cureton despises her older sister, Sutton. The girls have a White mom and Black dad, and unlike her sister, Casey keeps her hair natural. She prefers the company of best friend Ruth, who is Black, and her online music fandom community. Dedicated cheer captain, flat-iron enthusiast, and rising senior Sutton is a mean girl with a convincingly sweet public persona. When Sutton goes missing on their last day of classes, their parents rally their affluent suburban Seattle-area community to band together and bring Sutton home. Weeks later, she is found physically unharmed but unable to remember anything. While her parents adjust to Sutton's bittersweet homecoming, Casey realizes there's something deeply unnerving about the sister who has returned-and it has nothing to do with her amnesia. As Casey races to unmask Sutton's secrets, she discovers how her paternal family legacy protected Sutton, shedding new light on the powerful bonds of blood. Debut author Meade offers an intriguing, emotionally resonant novel wrapped in supernatural realism. Guided by layered themes of generational inheritance, Black identity, and the reclamation of history, the first-person narrative is told through Casey's point of view with flashbacks from Sutton. Twists abound, but readers may crave a fuller ending than the action-packed but quick resolution.A gripping portrait of fractured sisterhood, reverberating traumas, and the triumphs of omniscient ancestors. (author's note) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Biracial (Black and white) teenager Casey attempts to unearth the mysterious circumstances behind her lighter-skinned older sister Sutton’s disappearance and sudden return in Meade’s pulse-pounding supernatural debut. Though Casey and Sutton have never gotten along, she’s devastated when Sutton vanishes. But as her parents and their affluent Seattle community initiate a search and rescue, Casey can’t help but feel that there’s something off. Casey grows even more suspicious when Sutton miraculously returns seeming like a ghost of her former self and claiming no memory of her life beyond Casey. Her investigation into Sutton’s situation brings up two other Black girls in Seattle who have disappeared in recent months. And when Casey’s Black best friend goes missing, Casey and Sutton must work together to save her. Dual POVs alternate between Casey’s present-day voice and Sutton’s, whose chapters chronicle wide-ranging years before her disappearance. Through their developing perspectives, Meade unveils the past between two feuding sisters and how the social politics within their community affected their relationship, weaving a speculative mystery and an ode to sisterhood that confronts systemic injustice alongside issues of colorism and individual and communal identity. Ages 14–up. Agent: Elana Roth Parker, Laura Dail Literary. (June)

School Library Journal (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 8 Up —"My sister is a bitch, but that doesn't mean I want her dead" begins Meade's narrative of adolescent animosity between sisters—until one goes missing. Casey resents her cheerleader older sister Sutton. The feeling is mutual. When Sutton goes missing and is miraculously found alive, her memory is wiped by trauma and the only person she recalls and reacts to is Casey. Annoyed by this attention, Casey, with the help of her bestie Ruth, asks questions and learns about events prior to the disappearance—such as why Sutton's boyfriend had her jeep, issues with the cheer coach, and that two more young Black women disappeared in the weeks before her sister's abduction. Slowly, the sisters rebuild their relationship with less hostility. Then Ruth goes missing, and Casey risks taking Sutton to the place she was found, hoping it might unlock a memory to help them find Ruth. A horrible truth altered by a metaphysical twist is revealed. Most of the story is from Casey's perspective. Sutton tells her side in some chapters on events going back several years to the day she disappeared. Always in the background is the history of their enslaved ancestors and their grandma's influence on them. Casey and Sutton are biracial Black and white, and Ruth is Black. VERDICT Suspenseful, thoughtful, and gripping, the slow build to the truth creates a story that leaves readers wanting more. A great first purchase.—Tamara Saarinen