Review ~ The Sister Brothers by Patrick deWitt

This book is so far out of my comfort zone that I wasn't sure whether I would be able to find anything in it to enjoy, but I am pleased to say that I absolutely loved the whole of the book from start to finish.
I read it quickly over the space of a couple of days, and soon became enthralled in the story of Eli and Charlie Sisters.

Hired by the mysterious Commadore, Charlie and Eli are charged with tracking down and killing the eccentrically named Hermann Kermit Warm, but in order to do so they must travel to the gold fields of Sacramento. The spirit of the wild west and the desolation of the gold fields was perfectly done - you could sense the greed and the squalor. The overwheming desperation as men fought to survive in a tough and often unforgiving wilderness.There is an abundance of dark and drear humour, and yet there are also flashes of brilliance, and some genuine laugh out loud funny moments.My only cringe moments came with the bouts of violence and animal cruelty, this sort of thing doesn't sit easy with me, but I can fully understand why is was there - it did fit in with the story and wasn't gratuitously violent -

Both Charlie and Eli, whilst never likeable characters, do get under your skin, and in the end , despite their arrogance and irascibility, I ended the book feeling a certain amount of sympathy for both of them.

It's also one of my favourite book covers ever !!!



The Sister Brothers get a  5 ***** review from me ... I think Jaffa is reserving judgement on this one !