The Split

September 1, 2023

When flighty Esme calls rock-steady older sister Jane amid a torrential storm, asking to be picked up in the city (she's just dumped her husband), Jane refuses--and is guilt-stricken when Esme subsequently goes missing. But wait, there's an alternative narrative, with Jane dutifully lugging home an unappreciative Esme as tensions between them streak to breakpoint. From ITW finalist Frick, for the YA novel I Killed Zoe Spanos. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2023

"Plain" Jane Connor has returned to her Connecticut hometown to spend time with her mother, now living in an assisted-living facility. Jane and her younger, enigmatic sister Esme have never had a close relationship, but when Esme, in Manhattan, calls for help on a fateful night, Jane faces a life-changing decision: whether or not to drive to her sister's rescue in a storm that conjures traumatic memories of her past. And thus, the story is split in two, where separate plotlines lay out the consequences of each decision. In one reality, Esme returns to their childhood home with Jane, and tensions are thick from Esme's furtive goings-on. In the other, Jane is deterred by the storm, and soon after Esme goes missing. In both, Jane attempts to understand her sister by untangling the intricacies of Esme's life while bringing family secrets to light. VERDICT This is two thrillers in one, and readers will be enthralled with both. YA thriller author Frick (The Reunion), making her adult debut, expertly demonstrates how one decision can change a life, and how, despite those decisions, some things, and some people, remain the same.--Alicia Zuniga

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2024
YA novelist Frick's adult debut is an edge-of-your-seat suspense tale about sisters and secrets. Jane lives in her childhood home, caring for her mother at a nearby memory care facility. She and younger sister Esme remain marked by a car accident 15 years earlier, Esme with physical scars, and Jane burdened by the guilt of having caused it. Formerly close, the sisters have drifted apart--until Esme calls one stormy night, having left her husband, begging Jane to come bring her home. Jane is torn between rescue and tough love. This crisis moment fractures the story into two threads told in alternating chapters: "Home," in which Jane rescues Esme, and "Gone," in which Jane refuses to give in. With Esme home, Jane hopes their relationship can begin healing, but resentments multiply and fester. In the other thread, Jane discovers Esme went missing after her refusal and feverishly searches for her, fearing the worst and blaming herself again. Illustrating the repercussions of choices, Frick leaves readers breathless. Be careful what you wish for.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2024
In a taut thriller with two timelines, both are packed with clever twists. Jane and Esme Connor are sisters, but it's been years since they were close. When they were teenagers, Esme was seriously injured in a car crash with Jane at the wheel, and things have never been the same. Now they're in their 20s; Jane has a lucrative job at a financial firm, while Esme has married into a wealthy, socially prominent family. The sisters have recently moved their mother, Marjorie, into a memory care facility, and Jane, the dutiful one, is living in the family home in Connecticut to help care for her. (Marjorie and the girls' father, Ivy League professor Carl, divorced acrimoniously years ago.) Self-involved Esme, an aspiring writer who never seems to write, is living her busy social life in Manhattan. Then one night she calls Jane, distraught. She's left her husband and wants Jane to come pick her up at a Midtown bar. That's the point at which this thriller divides into two timelines: one in which Jane drives through a storm and brings her sister home, and one in which Jane, tired of being used by Esme, tells her no--and Esme vanishes. Jane narrates both timelines, which track clearly in alternating chapters. In both plots, Jane is dealing with a recent breakup with her doctor boyfriend, Jamie, and rekindling a relationship with her teenage crush, Dylan, but with very different results. Esme's disappearance leads Jane into a desperate search for her sister, but in the other timeline, Jane's rescue of Esme results in a different set of complications and perils. Frick skillfully builds details into one plot that morph into something shockingly different in the other. The prose is streamlined, the pace headlong, and the surprises satisfying on both sides of reality.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from February 12, 2024
YA author Frick (The Reunion) makes an auspicious adult debut with this knotty Sliding Doors–esque thriller about two sisters who share a dark secret. Jane Connor has moved back to her Connecticut hometown to help care for her dementia-stricken mother. She’s surprised when her impulsive sister, Esme, calls during a storm one night and says she’s left her wealthy husband and needs Jane to come pick her up in Manhattan. The request paralyzes Jane, who immediately flashes back to the last time she drove Esme in inclement weather­—a trip that ended with Esme severely injured. From there, the narrative fissures into two timelines: in one, Jane picks Esme up and their relationship implodes; in the other, she refuses, and Esme goes missing. As the parallel stories swerve into murder, betrayal, and exhumed family secrets, Frick keeps readers deliriously off-balance, tossing out just enough breadcrumbs to make the truth seem obvious only in hindsight. The format gives new life to the unreliable narrator trope, and Frick is excellent at establishing a plausibly lived-in dynamic between Jane and Esme. It’s an exhilarating puzzle. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary.