The Ice Twins by S.K.Tremayne
I am Kirstie I am Lydia
I lived I Died
Or did I?
These few lines emblazoned on the back cover of S.K. Tremayne's The Ice Twins managed to grab my attention many months ago and I was keen to get reading right away. However below the promising synopsis of a tale filled with every parents worst nightmares were a vast amount of negative reviews attacking almost every aspect of this book. I decided I did not have the time for a book which offered the promise of an unbearably suspenseful thriller but would ultimately let me down and for the next few months completely forgot about this book. In the end I am glad that I once again found this book in the sales section of Amazon*. I only wish I had taken a chance on it far earlier.
The first chapter introduces us to Sarah and Angus, a couple who we immediately get the sense aren't entirely happy together anymore. We quickly discover that Angus drinks heavily, has lost his job and that there are money worries. We also discover that Sarah and Angus have experienced great tragedy over the last year after they lost one of their identical twin girls, Lydia, who died in an accident 14 months previously. The next step in trying to pick up the broken pieces of their lives is to sell up their previous life in London and move to a remote island in Scotland which Angus has just inherited from his dead Grandmother. It seems a strange thing to do when the surviving twin, Kirstie, is already likely to be feeling isolated and alone but the author does go out of their way to explain just why this seems like a good idea to Sarah and Angus. This is an island which Angus used to visit when he was younger and has fond memories of, and Sarah, after researching the area, has discovered that if they can restore the property they are likely to be able to sell it on for over £1 million. A seemingly great opportunity to start again, away from the painful memories of the last year, with the potential to also solve their financial problems at the same time. Everything seems to be falling into place for the couple again, that is until the final paragraph of chapter one when their surviving daughter utters the nightmarish line "It was Kirstie that died. I'm Lydia."
Now I know many people seem to have given up on this book at this point, labelling it ridiculous and refuting the idea that a parent wouldn't be able to differentiate between their children, even if they were identical twins. In normal circumstances I am prone to agreement on this point. There is usually always a way for parents to know which twin is which, but this is a work of fiction and the author has gone out of their way to establish that these twins were totally identical in every physical way possible. There were no unique birthmarks or moles, nothing at all to separate them visually and Sarah and Angus hadn't followed advice given to them to have a small dot tattoo inked on one twin. They used different coloured clothing as the main way to tell Lydia and Kirstie apart, something which is only effective if the twins stick to wearing their own colour. The twins before Lydia's death had begun to pretend to be each other, wearing all white outfits to confuse people. 'The parents would surely know them by their personality' I hear you cry and ordinarily that would be the case but in the aftermath of a child’s twin sibling dying it is very unlikely that the surviving twin is going to act normally.
The author has worked hard to explain just why this unlikely scenario is true and I commend them for that. They have made the effort to try and explain what a lot of people are labelling a totally unbelievable scenario and because of that I made the effort to suspend my disbelief. I would implore you to do the same. You will be rewarded with a chilling tale, full twists and turns delivered at breakneck pace. Every time you think you have everything figured out, another bombshell will be dropped leading you to question everything that is going on. Is this simply the tale of a troubled young girl whose life has been turned upside down since the death of her sister? Is there something supernatural going on? I won't say too much more as I wouldn't want to ruin the story for you but be prepared for some of the most unlikeable characters you have ever read about! I enjoyed this book and found myself thinking about it for a long time after finishing it. A lot of interesting ideas are raised and there is plenty to talk about once you have finished reading.
This book is not without its problems and I can imagine it dividing opinion into 'loved it' or 'hated it' camps with very little in between. For me personally I would probably rate this book as a solid 4 out of 5. The main characters are very unlikable but this wasn't a drawback in my opinion as I still wanted to find out what happened to them, even if it was not for the typical reason of wanting the hero to prevail. The remote setting of a Scottish island is beautifully described throughout to such an extent that you feel you have seen this island for yourself and experienced life away from the mainland, alone and back to basics. For all of the twists and turns it only noticeably tripped itself up once and it's not the end of the world in the grand scheme of the story being told. Just a slight annoyance as this was otherwise well written and kept me entertained throughout. It felt like the book was over fairly quickly but I think this was due in part to my inability to put it down. If you give this one a chance I hope you enjoy The Ice Twins as much as I did.
*At the time of writing this review The Ice Twins can be found in Amazon UK's 3 for £10 paperback deal.
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