Riley MacPherson Books in Order

The Riley MacPherson books follow one woman’s search for the truth about her family and her vanished sister. Made up of the short story The Broken String and the novel The Silent Sister, the series combines psychological suspense with questions about memory and identity.

The Broken String is a brief, powerful prequel that shows Riley at seventeen, racing to the hospital after learning that her older brother has been gravely wounded in Iraq. On the drive she looks back over their childhood, remembering how he once protected her and how their relationship fell apart. The story hints at secrets in the MacPherson household and sets the emotional tone for the betrayal and longing that will surface later.

In The Silent Sister, Riley is twenty‑five and reeling from the recent death of her father. Tasked with clearing out the family home in New Bern, North Carolina, she stumbles across paperwork that suggests her older sister Lisa—long believed to have died by suicide as a teen—may actually be alive and living under a new identity. The discovery unravels everything Riley thought she knew about her childhood.

As she follows a trail of clues from the past to the present, Riley is forced to question her grief-stricken brother, her withdrawn aunt and the stories her father carefully constructed. The book moves between Riley’s investigation and glimpses of Lisa’s life on the run, showing how one family tragedy splintered into two very different lives.

Together, the prequel and novel explore how families rewrite their history in order to survive, and what happens when the person left behind refuses to accept the official story. Themes of loyalty, survivor’s guilt and chosen identity run through both installments.

For the fullest picture of Riley’s emotional journey, it works well to read The Broken String first, then continue straight into The Silent Sister, where the questions raised in the short story finally get their answers.