The debut psychological thriller of New Zealand author Rose Carlyle is marketed as a chilling story of identity, secrets and greed and features Australian mirror twins, Iris and Summer Carmichael. Iris knows what it is like to live in the shadow of her sister, Summer, whose face she sees when she looks in a mirror. Insecure, cynical and prickly, Iris has long been jealous of her sister but when their father died leaving a clause in his will stipulating that his fortune remain undivided and go to the first of his seven children to produce a grandchild, it introduced extra friction into their relationship. Fast-forward to the age of twenty-three and a failed marriage sees Iris return home to Australia whilst she takes stock of her future with her sister, now married to handsome widower Adam Romain, in Thailand with Adam’s son from his first wife, Tarquin. When Tarquin is taken ill and Summer calls Iris, always the superior sailor of the pair, and asks her to accompany Adam in taking the Carmichael family yacht across the ocean to his home in the Seychelles, Iris sees it as an ideal opportunity to gain some leverage over her favoured sister. Arriving in Phuket to discover that Adam is staying in hospital with Tarquin and Summer, who promptly discloses that she is a few weeks pregnant, is her sailing companion to cross the Indian Ocean, Iris is disgruntled to be missing out on spending time alone with her attractive brother-in-law. When a mid sea incident leaves Iris facing an ultimatum that will change her future and nudges her closer to bagging the inheritance she covets and stealing Summer’s husband, she is faced with a monumental choice that sets up the second half of the novel and sends this psychological thriller into seriously bonkers territory.
There was so much information that was unnecessarily included in the story from the detail on the toddler with the festering genitalia and his erections to the preoccupation with “sexyrape” and the bizarre clause in the twins father’s will that sets up a race for a $100 million inheritance. Whilst secondary characters such as Adam and the twins’ mother were pretty one-dimensional I was disappointed that there was so little depth to the twins or their dynamic, with the discussion for the early part of the ocean crossing limited to Adam’s performance in the bedroom and absolutely no meaningful exploration of their relationship. Whilst the author clearly knows her stuff with regards to sailing, her prose is far less assured and the dialogue throughout had me cringing. There is an abysmal lack of sleight of hand and each implausible twist is telegraphed so far in advance that it gets painful waiting for it to unfold. The characters have little depth, the story lacks any credibility and whilst the story might offer some escapism to some it is neither suspenseful or chilling. Overall best given an extremely wide berth if you are looking for a psychological thriller that doesn’t insult your intelligence although readers who sail may appreciate the colour on crossing the ocean.
There was so much information that was unnecessarily included in the story from the detail on the toddler with the festering genitalia and his erections to the preoccupation with “sexyrape” and the bizarre clause in the twins father’s will that sets up a race for a $100 million inheritance. Whilst secondary characters such as Adam and the twins’ mother were pretty one-dimensional I was disappointed that there was so little depth to the twins or their dynamic, with the discussion for the early part of the ocean crossing limited to Adam’s performance in the bedroom and absolutely no meaningful exploration of their relationship. Whilst the author clearly knows her stuff with regards to sailing, her prose is far less assured and the dialogue throughout had me cringing. There is an abysmal lack of sleight of hand and each implausible twist is telegraphed so far in advance that it gets painful waiting for it to unfold. The characters have little depth, the story lacks any credibility and whilst the story might offer some escapism to some it is neither suspenseful or chilling. Overall best given an extremely wide berth if you are looking for a psychological thriller that doesn’t insult your intelligence although readers who sail may appreciate the colour on crossing the ocean.