Sarah Pekkanen delivers another gripping psychological thriller with “The Locked Ward,” a novel that expertly weaves together themes of family secrets, identity, and the devastating consequences of buried truths. Known for her collaborative works like “The Wife Between Us” and solo efforts including “House of Glass,” Pekkanen demonstrates her mastery of the genre by crafting a story that keeps readers questioning everything until the final pages.
The novel opens with Georgia Cartwright, a successful wedding planner from a wealthy Southern family, awakening in a high-security psychiatric ward after being accused of murdering her younger sister Annabelle. The Crime of the Decade, as the media dubs it, appears straightforward: pathological jealousy drives the adopted daughter to kill the biological one. Yet from the moment Georgia whispers to her estranged twin sister Amanda, “I didn’t do it. You’ve got to get me out of here,” Pekkanen begins dismantling reader assumptions with surgical precision.
The Architecture of Suspense
Dual Perspectives That Illuminate Hidden Truths
Pekkanen’s decision to alternate between Georgia and Amanda’s perspectives creates a compelling narrative tension that serves multiple purposes. Georgia’s chapters, told in second person, immediately establish an unsettling intimacy that mirrors the claustrophobic atmosphere of the psychiatric ward. This unusual narrative choice forces readers into Georgia’s headspace, making her paranoia and desperation palpable while simultaneously questioning the reliability of her perceptions.
Amanda’s first-person narration provides a contrasting anchor of apparent normalcy. As a bar owner living a modest life, she represents the reader’s entry point into this world of wealth and deception. However, Pekkanen skillfully uses this narrative device to reveal how unreliable even the most straightforward narrator can be, building toward revelations that recontextualize everything we thought we understood about both sisters.
The Locked Ward as Character
The psychiatric facility itself functions as more than mere setting—it becomes a character that embodies the themes of imprisonment, both literal and metaphorical. Pekkanen’s detailed descriptions of the ward’s protocols, from the Velcro restraints to the fifteen-minute check-ins, create an atmosphere of suffocating control that extends beyond institutional walls to encompass the broader power structures controlling both sisters’ lives.
The ward’s other patients, including the predatory Josh and the seemingly sympathetic Patty, serve as both threats and mirrors, reflecting different aspects of Georgia’s situation. Patty’s eventual revelation as Senator Dawson’s operative represents one of the novel’s most chilling twists, demonstrating how even apparent allies can be part of a larger web of manipulation.
Character Development and Psychological Complexity
Georgia: The Unreliable Narrator We Root For
Georgia emerges as one of Pekkanen’s most complex protagonists. Initially presented as potentially dangerous, she gradually reveals layers of vulnerability, intelligence, and genuine love for the sister she barely knew. Her backstory of boarding school exile and family rejection creates sympathy while her strategic thinking and manipulation of the psychiatric evaluation system showcases her intelligence and desperation.
The revelation of Georgia’s dissociative state performance adds another layer to her character. Rather than diminishing her, this calculated deception highlights her resourcefulness and the impossible situation she faces. Pekkanen avoids the trap of making Georgia entirely sympathetic, acknowledging her genuine anger toward Annabelle while distinguishing between emotional complexity and murderous intent.
Amanda: The Dark Horse
Amanda’s character arc represents perhaps the novel’s greatest achievement. Initially appearing as the grounded, working-class twin seeking truth, her gradual transformation reveals depths that justify the story’s shocking conclusion. Pekkanen plants subtle clues throughout Amanda’s narrative—her martial arts training, her fierce protective instincts, her pattern of intense friendships—that retrospectively illuminate her true nature.
The revelation of Amanda’s past violence, particularly the drowning of her roommate’s rapist, reframes her entire character without feeling like a betrayal of earlier characterization. Instead, it demonstrates Pekkanen’s skill in showing how the same protective instincts that make Amanda sympathetic can manifest in terrifying ways.
Family Dynamics and Social Commentary
The Price of Privilege
Pekkanen uses the Cartwright family to explore how wealth and social position can corrupt natural bonds. Honey Cartwright emerges as a particularly chilling antagonist—not through supernatural evil, but through the recognizable toxicity of a mother who views her children as accessories to her social ambitions. Her casual disposal of Amanda as an “inconvenient” baby and her systematic emotional abuse of Georgia demonstrate how privilege can dehumanize even family relationships.
The revelation that Annabelle was Senator Dawson’s daughter adds another layer to the family’s dysfunction, showing how political ambition and social climbing supersede parental love. Stephen Cartwright’s passive complicity in his wife’s behavior reflects the enabling that often occurs in dysfunctional family systems.
Twin Dynamics and Nature Versus Nurture
The novel’s exploration of twin connection transcends typical thriller territory to examine fundamental questions about identity and destiny. The sisters’ shared traits—from their reading choices to their simultaneous nosebleeds—suggest connections that survive separation and different upbringings. Yet their divergent moral paths demonstrate how environment and choice shape character despite genetic similarities.
Strengths and Minor Weaknesses
What Works Brilliantly
Pekkanen excels at maintaining suspense while developing character relationships. The growing bond between Georgia and Amanda feels authentic despite the unusual circumstances, making their ultimate divergence more impactful. The author’s research into psychiatric facilities and legal procedures adds authenticity that grounds the more outlandish plot elements.
The pacing maintains tension without rushing crucial character development. Each revelation feels earned rather than convenient, and the multiple red herrings serve story purposes beyond mere misdirection.
Areas for Consideration
Some readers may find certain coincidences—particularly the timing of various revelations—slightly convenient. The senator’s immediate confession and cooperation feel perhaps too neat given his established character. Additionally, while Amanda’s dark past is well-foreshadowed, some readers might want more exploration of her psychological development.
The novel’s complex web of relationships occasionally requires careful attention to track, though this complexity serves the story’s themes about hidden connections and secret motivations.
Final Verdict: A Worthy Addition to the Psychological Thriller Canon
“The Locked Ward” succeeds as both an entertaining page-turner and a thoughtful exploration of family, identity, and the sometimes thin line between protection and destruction. Pekkanen demonstrates growth as a storyteller, crafting characters that feel genuinely complex rather than merely functional to the plot.
The novel’s examination of how family trauma perpetuates across generations, combined with its unflinching look at privilege and power, elevates it beyond typical thriller territory. While maintaining the genre’s essential entertainment value, it offers substance that rewards careful reading and discussion.
Similar Reads for Thriller Enthusiasts
Readers who enjoyed “The Locked Ward” should consider:
- “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn – For similar family dysfunction and unreliable narration
- “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides – For psychiatric facility settings and psychological manipulation
- “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” by Ashley Winstead – For complex twin dynamics and hidden identities
- “The Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn – For unreliable narrators and shocking revelations
- “Big Little Lies” by Liane Moriarty – For wealthy family secrets and maternal relationships
“The Locked Ward” confirms Pekkanen’s position among contemporary thriller masters, offering a story that will haunt readers long after they close the book and question everything they thought they knew about family bonds and the capacity for both love and violence that exists within us all.