I really liked the author’s Pretty Things, despite the book’s considerable bulk, despite my strong belief that books should contains themselves in under 400 pages (under 300 ideally) for optimal reading enjoyment. Pretty Things was a very good book, and it carried its weight with admirable grace, reading very quickly and dynamically. It wasn’t a conventional mystery thriller that is so insanely/oppressingly popular right now, it was more of a crime drama, a highly literary, character driven crime drama and a strikingly engaging one at that.
So I knew I was going to read more by the author and this book certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s more of the same in quality and style, though thematically it takes a somewhat different approach. This is a story of twins and all the ways their naturally strong connection is stretched and twisted over the years. And it’s quite mesmerizing in its own way. Sam and Elli were born 11 minutes apart and, while being virtually indistinguishable in appearance, grew up to be very different people. Their innate closeness resisted this and so throughout the years they tried to compensate for it by making compromises. It didn’t work in the end, because compromises can only take one so far. And so, two bright and shining teen starlets grew into a barely getting by junkie and an addict, Sam, and a perfect suburban wife, Elli. And they followed along in their tracks until…well, until now. Now Elli’s gone, missing. She left her freshly adopted baby girl behind and freshly sober Sam has to come and help take care of her. But the longer Elli stays away, the more suspicious Sam gets and decides to investigate this on her own. She soon finds out that her sister was involved in a self-improvement group i.e. cult and things unravel from there. As much as I love cult stories, it wasn’t even the main appeal here. The main appeal was the writing itself, strikingly engaging even when the characters were difficult to like or love, overpowering even the potent estrogen/mommy streak throughout the novel, it had such a terrific energy, such dynamism, it was tough to put down. The sister act of Sam and Elli, their title predicted interchangeability and their variously unpredictable differences, made for a profoundly entertaining and wildly compelling read. And this time the author did manage to tell the story in well under 400 words, so yey. Very good read all around. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
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