Sometimes the last piece of the puzzle is the one you’ve been waiting for all along.

There are some books in a series that you read because you need to know what happens next.

And then there are books where, somewhere along the way, you realise you’ve become completely invested in the people inside them.

By the time I reached The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley, I was very firmly in the second camp.

This is book seven in the Seven Sisters series, and after six books of family secrets, journeys across the world and unanswered questions surrounding Pa Salt, there was one question hanging over everything:

Who is the missing sister?

The Search Begins

The D’Aplièse sisters have spent years discovering the stories behind their individual origins. Each sister has followed the clues left by Pa Salt and travelled to places connected to her past.

But there has always been a missing piece.

There are six sisters they know about.

There should be seven.

When a possible clue to the identity of the seventh sister emerges, the family sets out to find her. What follows is another huge journey, taking the reader across several countries as the sisters try to piece together the clues.

And, naturally, it isn’t quite as simple as following an address and knocking on a door.

There are secrets, false leads and people who don’t want the past uncovered. And there is the increasingly tantalising question of just who this seventh sister might actually be.

The Sisters Together

One of my favourite things about The Missing Sister is that this feels much more like a story about the whole family.

After spending so much time with individual sisters throughout the earlier books, it was lovely to see Maia, Ally, Star, CeCe, Tiggy and Electra working towards the same goal.

They are all very different women, with their own personalities, experiences and ways of dealing with things. And, unsurprisingly, that means they don’t always agree.

But underneath the disagreements is the same thing that has held this family together throughout the series: they genuinely want to find the person who is missing from their family.

They aren’t simply solving a mystery.

They are looking for one of their own.

A Story Spanning Generations

As with the previous Seven Sisters books, the present-day search is intertwined with a historical story.

This time the historical thread takes us into Ireland, adding another layer to the mystery and exploring themes of family, love, loyalty, sacrifice and political upheaval.

That combination of past and present is one of the things that makes this series so addictive for me.

You can be completely absorbed in what is happening to the sisters in the present day, only for the historical story to reveal another clue or connection that makes you rethink what you thought you knew.

Gradually, those two timelines begin to fit together.

The Mystery of the Missing Sister

This is probably the hardest part of the book to review without giving anything away.

The identity of the missing sister has been hanging over the entire series, so obviously I wanted answers.

And yes, there were moments when I thought I had worked something out.

Then I changed my mind.

Then I thought I had worked it out again. 😂

That’s exactly what I wanted from this book.

There is enough information to keep you thinking, but enough uncertainty to keep you turning the pages.

And because you’ve already spent six books getting to know the other sisters, the search feels personal.

You want them to find her.

You want the family to be complete.

And you desperately want to know what Pa Salt knew all those years ago.

The Travel

If you’ve read my other reviews in this series, you’ll know that one of the things I love most about the Seven Sisters books is the travel.

The Missing Sister doesn’t disappoint.

The story moves across countries and continents as the sisters follow one clue after another, giving the book that wonderful sense of adventure that has become such a big part of the series.

Lucinda Riley has a real talent for making locations feel like part of the story rather than simply somewhere the characters happen to be.

You get the feeling that you’re travelling with the sisters, following the clues and trying to work out what everything means.

The Family at the Heart of It

For me, the biggest strength of The Missing Sister is that underneath all the mystery and travel, this is still a story about family.

These women were brought together by one man, from completely different backgrounds and parts of the world, yet over the course of the series they have become sisters in every way that matters.

Their relationship isn’t always perfect.

They have different opinions. They make mistakes. They frustrate one another.

But when it really matters, they show up for each other.

And I think that’s why the search for the seventh sister carries so much emotional weight.

By this stage, I cared about this family.

I wanted them to have their answers.

I wanted them to find her.

Did I Enjoy It?

Yes.

Absolutely.

By book seven, there was no chance I wasn’t going to be invested in what happened.

There are a lot of characters, a lot of locations and a lot of information to keep track of. This is not a short or simple read.

But that is part of the appeal.

The Seven Sisters has always been a huge story, and The Missing Sister feels like a book that knows it is bringing together years of clues and characters.

There were moments when I wanted answers immediately.

There were moments when I was convinced I knew where things were heading.

And there were moments when I simply wanted to keep reading.

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

There is something quite satisfying about reaching the seventh book in a series like this.

Six sisters have already had their stories.

Six journeys have taken us around the world.

Six pieces of the family puzzle have fallen into place.

And now we finally get to search for the missing piece.

That’s what makes The Missing Sister feel different from the books that came before it.

It isn’t just another sister’s story.

It is a story about all of them.

After spending so long with the D’Aplièse sisters, I really enjoyed seeing their individual stories begin to come together into something much bigger.

Final Thoughts

The Missing Sister is everything I have come to expect from the Seven Sisters series: family secrets, historical drama, romance, travel, mystery and a story that spans generations.

But there is an extra sense of anticipation here because this is the book we’ve been waiting for.

The missing sister has been a question sitting in the background since the very beginning, and finally getting to follow the sisters as they search for her made this feel like a significant chapter in the series.

I loved the sense of family, the mystery and the feeling that everything was gradually coming together.

And although I knew there was still one more book waiting for me — The Story of Pa Salt — I couldn’t help feeling that this was the end of one enormous part of the journey.

After seven books, countless characters, and an awful lot of travelling, I was definitely ready to find out what came next.

⭐ My rating: 4.5/5

Have you read The Missing Sister?

If you’re following my Seven Sisters journey, I’d love to know which sister’s story has been your favourite so far. 💕