Tuesday 3 February 2015

Review ~ The Ice Twins by S K Tremayne

23553419
Harper Collins
January 29th 2015




A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.



There’s so much about this book which captured my imagination, but to reveal the plot would say too much and therefore deaden the impact of the story. Suffice it to say, that this is no ordinary book about twins and when the book is ended, and its story is told,  you will look on the whole concept of the irreversible bond between identical twins in a whole new light.

The power of the book, for me, came in the strength of the writing. This is obviously a writer who has the ability to manipulate a complex and convoluted plot, whilst at the same time allowing the emotional fragility of his protagonists to evolve. In setting The Ice Twins on the idyllic Isle of Skye, with its wild and windswept coastline and the intimidating closeness to nature only emphasises the inherent feeling of brooding menace.  And believe me the book is menacing, the irrational grief is palpable, and the loss and confusion of a family at odds with itself, is so beautifully done, that by the end of the story I was an emotional wreck.

Sometimes a book leaves such a strong impression, that even days after finishing the story, snippets of it come back to you and you wish that you could read the whole thing again in the hope that things might turn out differently. This is one such book.

I think this will be on my Book of the Year list for 2015.



***


About the Author


S. K. Tremayne is the pseudonym of a journalist and bestselling writer, who lives in London.



My thanks to  Louise Swannell and the team at Harper Collins for my ARC of this book.


2 comments:

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