Kate’s Review: “Forgotten Sisters”

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Book: “Forgotten Sisters: A Novel” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, March 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org| Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A city’s haunted history and fairy-tale horrors converge for two women in an addictive novel of psychological suspense by a multiple Bram Stoker Award–nominated author.

Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They’re tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them from their family home. Not the maddening creaks and disembodied voices that rattle the old walls. Not the inexplicable drownings in the area, or the increasing number of bodies that float by Anna’s window.

To stave off loneliness, Anna has a podcast, spinning ghostly tales of Chicago’s tragic history. But when Anna captures the attention of an ardent male listener, she awakens to the possibilities of a world outside.

As their relationship grows, so do Jennie’s fears. More and more people are going missing in the river. And then two detectives come calling.

They’re looking for a link between the mysteries of the river and what’s housed on the bank. Even Anna and Jennie don’t understand how dreadful it is—and still can be—when the truth about their unsettled lives begins to surface.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

I’ve been following Cynthia Pelayo on social media for a few years now, and that was where I first caught wind of her newest novel “Forgotten Sisters”. I had hopes that there would perhaps be very early ARCs of it at ALA last year, and while that didn’t come to fruition (hey, a girl can dream and I DID get “Loteria” and “The Shoemaker’s Magician”), I waited patiently for this “Little Mermaid” inspired dark fantasy horror novel. I was pumped when I saw that it was available on NetGalley, and when my request went through I was very eager to start. Pelayo is one of the more unique horror authors out there right now, a multi- Bram Stoker Award winner, and this one was REALLY tantalizing.

While I thought that “Children of Chicago” was more full on malevolent horror, “Forgotten Sisters” leans more into dark fantasy, with references to “The Little Mermaid” being crafted into a melancholy tale about sisters Anna and Jennie. Through Anna’s perspective we learn about the terrible loss that they have endured, the way that they have clung to each other, and the river side house that they have been living in since their childhood, which may be housing a number of ghosts as well as grief and haunting memories. Anna has been running a podcast about the haunted history of Chicago, and while she loves her sister and can’t see herself leaving their troubled home, she does seem to long for more, in spite of Jennie clinging all the more at any hint of Anna pulling away (which becomes all the more complicated when Anna meets a man named Peter through her podcast). When we start we know that Anna isn’t necessarily reliable due to the unknown unresolved trauma she has endured, but Pelayo does a good job of easing into the peeling back of the tragedies that these women have had to live with, and what cost their enmeshment has taken and how that warps Anna’s perceptions. It’s dreamy and weird and uneasy, and it was both mesmerizing and unsettling at once, and while I pieced together bits and pieces just based on hints laid out and a knowledge of the history of Chicago, I thought that it was a well done dark fairy tale at heart. That said, sometimes I got lost in the flowery and dreamlike elements of this part of the story, which could take me out of it once in awhile.

I did like the police procedural parts quite a bit as well. I am a huge sucker for a procedural, and Pelayo succeeds at writing gritty and cynical dialogue and setting up interesting and tense crime beats. In this book we have Detectives Kowalski and Rodriguez, a seasoned long timer and an idealistic rookie, who are investigating the mysterious deaths of young men who are found drowned in the Chicago River under strange circumstances. It has hints of the Happy Face Killer theory, and with the criminal history of Chicago always lurking (after all this is the city of John Wayne Gacy and H.H. Holmes, amongst others) you get a more sinister vibe and a sense of dread as these two detectives try to piece things together. I liked their dynamic, and I liked seeing them slowly circle in on a potential serial killer, and the connection to Anna and Jennie and the River itself. It comes together really well and makes for a satisfying combination of dark fantasy and cop thriller, balancing each other out in ways that caught me by surprise.

One of the things that always strikes me when I read a Pelayo book is that she so clearly loves the city of Chicago, and that love comes through her tales even if they are about the darker histories of this city. As a Midwesterner I’ve been to Chicago multiple times, and it’s always a joy seeing the references to various locations and historical footnotes, as she so effortlessly sprinkles them in as well as making her book just so grounded in the city itself. This really comes through in both the hard boiled cop procedural aspects, as well as through the pieces we see of Anna’s podcast. Pelayo has such a strong knack for writing and developing a sense of time and place, and it makes the city shine, even if it’s the darker sides of the history.

“Forgotten Sisters” is another well done dark fantasy horror tale from Cynthia Pelayo. I’m always intrigued by what she writes, and this haunting story is sure to please her fans.

Rating 8: An eerie and melancholy dark fairy tale meets a gritty no nonsense procedural, “Forgotten Sisters” is another tribute to Chicago from Cynthia Pelayo!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Forgotten Sisters” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward To in 2024”.