The Ice Twins

The Ice Twins is the debut novel by the writer S.K.Tremayne, and is the fourth crime novel I have recently read in which female twins feature prominently, and seems to be part of an on-going trend in crime fiction.

Angus and Sarah Moorcroft outwardly appear to be a happy family, until the death of one of their twin daughters. They move to a tiny Scottish island owned by Angus to recover, whereupon the family implodes. The surviving daughter Kirstie behaves very strangely, challenging her parents’ perception of reality, by calling into question which daughter died.

Sarah feels as though she's going insane, as she is unable to remember what happened at the accident, or what happened immediately afterwards. She finds half used prescription medication with her name on, which she doesn't remember taking.  The story is told from the perspective of both Sarah and Angus, with Sarah's story being told in the first person, and Angus in the third person. The reader is meant to engage and be on Sarah's side and not Angus.

This is a very gothic novel, being about a woman in peril, evil twins out for vengeance, as they blame Sarah for the death of one of them. The identity of the dead and surviving twins is meant to keep the reader guessing for the entire novel, however I quickly identified which was which early on, and merely felt impatient waiting for Sarah to realise that the identity of her.

There were some good features of the book. I liked the use of photographs alongside most of the chapters, to evoke the sense of place. I've often wished that more novels could use photographs alongside the text.  I also liked the semi mystery as to the identity of the writer, as initials are used. I strongly suspect from the use of language and descriptions that the writer is female.

 The book was at times suspenseful, although an undemanding read. However I did not particularly enjoy the book, frequently losing interest, as the plot was simplistic and derivative, reminding me of too many similar better-plotted books such as Christobel Kent's the crooked house that I have recently read.