My Readers Guide for The Better Sister by Alafair Burke discusses this 2019 suspense book that is about to be a new summer 2025 thriller series on Prime Video. My post has a plot summary for The Better Sister, the details on where and when to watch the Better Sister series, and a book vs series comparison.
Readers Guide to the Better Sister
Table of Contents to The Readers Guide to the Better Sister
Jen’s Quick Take on The Better Sister (below)
Plot Summary to the book The Better Sister by Alafair Burke
Spoilers and The Ending Explained for The Better Sister
Where and When to Watch the streaming series of The Better Sister
Jen’s Quick Take on The Better Sister
- This suspenseful sister story does have some 2010s hallmarks: a main character who works at a magazine, two rival woman facing off over a man, The Last Mrs. Parrish-style
- But after someone turns up dead, this book has a law and order element as there’s a trial.
- Overall, this had some weird aspects for me (discussed below under spoiler protection) but I’m excited to see how it was adapted. It does have a bit of a Presumed Innocent feel.
- Published on April 16, 2019 by Harper.
- I’ve also reviewed The Note by Alafair Burke.
Plot Summary to the book The Better Sister by Alafair Burke
Fourteen Years Ago: Chloe Taylor betrayed her sister Nicky when Nicky’s husband Adam called to get her help with his wife. Chloe didn’t know that four years later she’d be married to Adam Mackintosh.
Part One: CHLOE
Chloe is now the editor of Eve, a feminist magazine. Tougher they are raising Ethan, Adam’s sixteen year old son with Nicky.
The Gala: Chloe, who is going to be honored at a gala, regularly receives death threats online for her feminist views. She has brought her stepson Ethan to the gala as Adam has to work and is running late. She greets Adam’s boss, Bill Braddock, and his colleagues: Jake Summer and Laurie Connor. Adam finally does show up.
The next day, Adam is dead and Chloe is being questioned.
- Detective Guidry drives Chloe to pick Ethan up from a sleepover and break the tragic news.
- Chloe reflects that Adam got custody of Ethan two years ago, but that Nicky still has parental rights. Adam named Chloe guardian in his will, but that’s not binding in court.
- Guidry asks if Chloe want to call Nicky and tell him that Adam is dead, but she declines.
- Guidry questions Ethan’s friend Kevin and his mom Andrea. Chloe says the boys went a movie, but neither Ethan nor Kevin mentioned seeing a movie.
What is Chloe Up To?
The next day, Chloe gets up, texts a burner phone, and disposes of it. Her boss, Catherine Lancaster, shows up at the house and tells her she needs to make a statement.
Giudry arrives to do a walkthrough of the house with Ethan and Chloe. Chloe doesn’t see anything missing, but Ethan says his expensive headphones and sneakers are missing from the poorhouse.
Chloe reflects that an hour ago, she broke up with her lover, Jake Summers, who told her that Adam didn’t meet with the client he said he was meeting the night of the gala.
Guidry and her partner Bowen realize that a broken window in the house was broken after Adam seemingly got out of bed to confront an intruder the night he was murdered.
Chloe and Ethan leave East Hampton and go back to Manhattan. When Ethan goes out to get food, Chloe looks in Ethan’s backpack and finds a burner phone. She hides it in her desk drawer.
Part Two NICKY:
Nicky was Adam’s girlfriend through law school. Then Chloe “did something terrible” to Nicky to the Met Gala. WHAT WAS IT?
Chloe tries to hack into Adam’s email. She can’t but looks at their credit card and finds four Uber rides to Queens the day before and day of his death.
Nicky tells Chloe that the police are obviously trying to look into her and Ethan as suspects. She also tells Chloe that she can tell she was cheating on Adam.
Was Ethan Involved?
Ethan shows them a story in the paper about him bringing a gun to school. Kevin texts Ethan and says he had to tell the police that they weren’t together all night.
Chloe calls Jake and gets a recommendation for a criminal defense attorney, Olivia Randall. The police show up with a search warrant. Then the police arrest Ethan for Adam’s murder.
What happened the night of the Met Gala:
Nicky passed out while holding Ethan in the swimming pool. Chloe helped Ethan get a psych hold on Nicky.
Part Three: The Trial
At the bail hearing, the prosecutors say that Ethan’s missing shoes and headphones were found in his NYC apartment. Ethan is remanded without bail.
Nicky and Chloe defend Ethan to Olivia, telling her that Ethan and Kevin were smoking pot and probably have bad memories.
Four Months Later
Chloe is still seeing Jake, who lets it slip that the Gentry Group, the client Adam said he was visiting the day he died, is being investigated. She learns the FBI has an office in Queens near where Jake took the Uber. Chole gets served to be a prosecution witness in the case against Ethan.
The trial begins:
The principal at Ethan’s school testifies that he did bring a gun to school and that Adam was worried that Ethan might have inherited some of his biological mother’s “tendencies.” She says Adam wanted to send Ethan to military school. Chloe denies knowing any of this and Olivia is upset that this was kept from her. Nicky offers to confess to the crime.
Chloe sees that Jake has given a quote to the NYT about a corruption investigation against the Gentry Group.
Bombshell Revelations in Court
- Olivia (Ethan’s lawyer) asks Nicky and Chloe to leave court as the prosecution will show evidence that Ethan was one of Chloe’s online harassers.
- The prosecution shows a video of Adam screaming at Ethan. Nicky says Adam behaved abusively toward her.
- Ethan takes the stand and says that his father physically abused Chloe. Chloe reflects that she was just like her mother, who was abused as well by their alcoholic father.
Olivia says the case is not going well. Nicky presses Chloe to come clean about her affair and about what was going on with the mysterious Gentry Group.
Chloe testifies about Adam’s abuse and about her affair. She admits that Jake, her lover, knew that Adam would be home alone. Jake testifies taking the fifth on every question.
Guidry learns through an FBI contact that Adam was at the FBI office looking for an agreement in exchange for providing information on his client, the Gentry Group. He didn’t want his firm to know.
Spoilers and The Ending Explained for The Better Sister
The jury deliberates for three days. Back in the NYC apartment, Chloe finds a secret folder about the Gentry Group. Since the jury’s already deliberating, she decides not to say anything.
Ethan is found not guilty.
Ethan tells Chloe the truth: he staged the break in because he thought Chloe killed Adam.
Part 4: Chloe
Chloe gets a copy of some custody documents Adam had filed agains Nicky. She goes to her storage bin and gets Ethan’s burner phone. She charges it.
Chloe confronts Nicky. Ethan had been calling her for months. Nicky says she thinks Adam was gaslighting Ethan, just like he gaslit her.
Who killed Adam?
Nicky killed Adam. He had abused her, and she knew it was abusing Chloe and Ethan. She used their father’s knife and left her phone in Cleveland.
Chloe goes to visit Bill, Adam’s boss. He thinks she was lying about the abuse. Chloe hides the knife in Bill’s house. Then she gives the Adam’s secret files to Detective Guidry.
Olivia tells Chloe that the police aren’t charging Bill with murder, but he does have to serve time for the corruption.
Where and When to Watch The Better Sister
Amazon Prime will release all eight episodes on May 29, 2025
Here’s the cast of The Better Sister:
- Jessica Biel as Chloe
- Elizabeth Banks as Nicky
- Corey Stoll as Adam
- Maxwell Acee Donovan as Ethan
- Gabriel Sloyer as Jake
- Kim Dickens as Nancy (not sure who this is)
- Bobby Naderi as Matt (not sure who this is)
Comparison: The Better Sister book vs series
Coming soon!