S. K. Tremayne

Sarah and Angus, parents of Lydia and Kirstie, two blonde haired, blue eyed twins, notably called, The Ice Twins, must grapple with the reality that one twin has died in a terrible fall from a balcony. The Ice Twins takes the reader on a twisted ride of twin psychology, parental angst, marriage deterioration and more on a small remote island in Scotland. This is a very mysterious story that unfolds slowly while everyone begins to fall apart at the seams though the story takes place a year after the death of the little girl. There is a lot of fascinating psychology in this book, such as why does the dog, Beany, behave differently between the twins and why does he act a certain way with the surviving twin? There is some good stuff in this book. The twin aspect I found to be super interesting. In this story, they are identical and hard to distinguish.

While reading this book, I found there is no one to trust in the story making it very unsettling. The surviving twin seems to be self com-busting while the parents try to amble along to find remedies, solutions, justifications and blame for all of their problems which begin to have a very claustrophobic feel due to their decision to move to the lighthouse island to an aged house that once belonged to Angus's grandmother. Once there, things really go haywire. Is the kid having an identity crisis? Maybe she is being haunted? Or, is her behavior based on more sinister happenings within the family?

Angus and Sarah are facing some serious troubles in their marriage. You get alternating viewpoints and narration throughout the book from Sarah and Angus who don't really communicate well to each other due to the loss of their daughter and other events. It's hard to believe either one of their stories and you never know if either is telling the truth.

This is a pretty good, taunt psychological mystery. I was interested, intrigued and creeped out by The Ice Twins. I found Tremayne's writing to be very good and I would read future books by this author. This story was well done and, for a nice change, I was glad to hit on a good mystery that combined psychological twists with a great setting and well distinguished characters. Well done.
… (mais)

Received from HarperCollins in exchange for a review.

This book is written from the points of view of both Angus and Sarah - mainly Sarah - and when the book starts we find the two of them in London a year after one of their daughters has died in a freakish accident. Neither of them have really come to terms with it or have dealt with the fallout particularly well. Angus has lost his job due to his drinking (and punching his boss), and Sarah's part time work does little to contribute to the bills. When Angus inherits a cottege on a distant Scottish island (Thunder Island/Torran), where he spent many a summer when he was younger. The cottage is in a state of disrepair, having not being lived in or maintained for a few years, and despite it coming into winter, Angus, Sarah and Kirstie decide to move. It is during the planning of this that Kirstie drops a bombshell - she's not Kirstie, she's Lydia. They got it wrong.

Because the twins were identical (and not mirror images of each other) there is no real way of telling which girl actually died. It is down to the personality of the remaining child to show who died and who didnt - and "Kirsty" is becoming more and more like Lydia.

They move to Torran, and find the island is isolated from the mainland via a causeway, that means that depending on the tide there is several hours a day where they are completely cut off. The house is in disrepair - damaged through squatters as well as general lack of maintenance on an island subject to adverse weather. The house is of course used as an analogy for the wedding, initially getting better and almost liveable (despite the lack of heating and an abundance of rats) but there comes a point that no matter how much they cover up the cracks, the cracks are still there.

Angus continues to drink, Sarah tries to get her daughter (almost exclusively called "Lydia" now) to settle into a new school, but it soon becomes apparent that she is being ostracised by the other children, who fear her as much as anything. Lydia's behaviour is also erratic, maintaining that Kirstie still comes to visit and the two of them are still playing and talking.

Due to the isolation of the island, there is virtually no mobile signal and the land line is dubious at best, so there's another way that Sarah is feeling isolated, especially when Angus gets freelance work on the mainland and he spends several days a week away. Sarah hasnt made friends with the other school mothers and the lack of phone signal makes it difficult for her to maintain friendship with her London friend - especially when she finds out that Isobel and Angus have had a one night stand a few months after the accident. There are

With everything that is going on, Sarah's animosity towards Angus develops quickly to the point where she demands a divorce and she levels some accusations towards Angus. This makes Angus retaliate and forces him to reveal something he'd hoped he'd never have to - the accident and the following months are not like Sarah remembers, and Sarah is not as lilly white in the whole situation as she seems to believe. The first big storm of the winter brings everything to a head as the storm rages outside.....

The premise was good, execution was decent, but I was not entirely convinced about Sarah's condition (though a very brief lookup indicates that it's a known issue so that'll teach me). The external force of nature was a decent reflection to the inner turmoil of the marriage and the deteriation of Sarah's health.

Book can be brought direct from HarperCollins here

 … (mais)