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laurazdavidson's review against another edition
2.0
Convoluted plot, flat characters, unsatisfying explanation and ending. And why, oh why, would you move a grieving twin to a remote, unfamiliar island? Especially when her parents are having marital problems? (Shades of [b:The Shining|11588|The Shining|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1353277730l/11588._SY75_.jpg|849585] here... Except that's actually a really terrific book.) I really disliked this one.
reneeshantel's review
3.0
I really wanted to love this novel. Really, I did. I love twins. I love creepy. And the blurb drew me right in and made me love my idea of what this book was going to be.
But it just. didn't. get there.
There were things about it that I did love. I loved the psychology involved, and that every few chapters I found myself believing a different truth. I loved the setting, on a little island with barely any phone reception. But honestly, these were pretty much the only things I loved.
I found the characters...annoying. I wanted to sympathise with Sarah, but it was hard when every other line she made me want to bang my head against the wall. There was no hope for Gus. I just...hated every minute he was on the page. Even Kirstie/Lydia got on my nerves most of the time, and that made me sad. I struggled to get through the book just so I could find out who she really was and what truly happened, and I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed in the end.
If the blurb is something that catches your interest, I would recommend giving the book a read. But I can't say that this one was much to my taste.
But it just. didn't. get there.
There were things about it that I did love. I loved the psychology involved, and that every few chapters I found myself believing a different truth. I loved the setting, on a little island with barely any phone reception. But honestly, these were pretty much the only things I loved.
I found the characters...annoying. I wanted to sympathise with Sarah, but it was hard when every other line she made me want to bang my head against the wall. There was no hope for Gus. I just...hated every minute he was on the page. Even Kirstie/Lydia got on my nerves most of the time, and that made me sad. I struggled to get through the book just so I could find out who she really was and what truly happened, and I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed in the end.
If the blurb is something that catches your interest, I would recommend giving the book a read. But I can't say that this one was much to my taste.
zoe_e_w's review
The Ice Twins is one of the books I picked up to try and read outside my comfort zone, and the blurb certainly made it sound interesting. Nearly a year after a twin dies in an accident, the other twin suddenly starts claiming that her parents have mistaken her identity. Yep, interesting.
I was maybe 75 pages in and really not liking it when Cinzia, a friend of my husband, came over for dinner and was raving about how this was so, so good. I told her, "I'm trying to read it, but nothing is happening." She said, "Yes, it's slow to start."
I think we have vastly different tastes and understandings of slow to start, because this book continues to grind on and on for roughly half its length before it decides to attempt shifting into second gear. And it fails and slips back into first before making another attempt one hundred pages later. It doesn't help that the whole book is one long struggle with unreliable narration, or that the book has some really strange choices about comma and colon placement that had my inner editor making baffled sounds like "buh-wha-da-fu-is-dis-shi?"
That blurb gave me the impression that this was a happy family until the accident, but much like most of the book, that's a lie. This was an unhappy family long before the death of Lydia Moorcroft. Sarah and Angus are now close to openly hostile to each other even as they talk about wanting to start over and patch things up, and it's not until very late in the book until their various sins are brought to light. To be sure, once it's clear they're both assholes, I had an even harder time caring what happened to them. Angus' unreliable narration even makes their daughter come out looking like shit, and in the end, it turns out she wasn't half as bad as his story made her out to be. He's constantly saying or thinking things that made me think "Well, that's certainly ominous." But it's all pointless misdirection, an artistic attempt at making a pair of shitty people seem more interesting than they really are.
At least with Sarah, I could feel some sympathy for her problems, but Angus didn't help himself because everything he says is often soon thereafter revealed to be a lie. So even if he eventually must be telling the truth, it's all but impossible to believe him. He's an alcoholic asshole, a constant liar, and he's just...so...angry, but can't be bothered to let the reader in on the joke, even in his private thoughts, until the very end of the book.
Starting somewhere around the middle of the book, the story drags on with this question "Is it really a ghost haunting the family?" There's lots of "spooky" events and spooked people suggesting it might be, and then the ending goes for what some will think is a clever twist, but just made me sigh. I'd complain about it in detail, but I'll just leave this one spoiler free. Maybe you'll like it and think it's clever. I felt it was cliched.
To me, there's so much fluff and filler here that I just didn't care about. I slogged on thinking it had to get better if Cinzia was gushing over it so much, but nothing in the story clicked for me. I felt nothing for the characters, or even the writing style, although the subversion of the style for the last chapter's twist was....irksome. I didn't quite hate the story, but I never felt invested in it, either. I'm just glad it's over and I can move on to reading something I might actually enjoy.
I'll give The Ice Twins 2 stars. They call this a Thriller, but to me it ought to be filed in a new genre, "Needless Melodrama."
I was maybe 75 pages in and really not liking it when Cinzia, a friend of my husband, came over for dinner and was raving about how this was so, so good. I told her, "I'm trying to read it, but nothing is happening." She said, "Yes, it's slow to start."
I think we have vastly different tastes and understandings of slow to start, because this book continues to grind on and on for roughly half its length before it decides to attempt shifting into second gear. And it fails and slips back into first before making another attempt one hundred pages later. It doesn't help that the whole book is one long struggle with unreliable narration, or that the book has some really strange choices about comma and colon placement that had my inner editor making baffled sounds like "buh-wha-da-fu-is-dis-shi?"
That blurb gave me the impression that this was a happy family until the accident, but much like most of the book, that's a lie. This was an unhappy family long before the death of Lydia Moorcroft. Sarah and Angus are now close to openly hostile to each other even as they talk about wanting to start over and patch things up, and it's not until very late in the book until their various sins are brought to light. To be sure, once it's clear they're both assholes, I had an even harder time caring what happened to them. Angus' unreliable narration even makes their daughter come out looking like shit, and in the end, it turns out she wasn't half as bad as his story made her out to be. He's constantly saying or thinking things that made me think "Well, that's certainly ominous." But it's all pointless misdirection, an artistic attempt at making a pair of shitty people seem more interesting than they really are.
At least with Sarah, I could feel some sympathy for her problems, but Angus didn't help himself because everything he says is often soon thereafter revealed to be a lie. So even if he eventually must be telling the truth, it's all but impossible to believe him. He's an alcoholic asshole, a constant liar, and he's just...so...angry, but can't be bothered to let the reader in on the joke, even in his private thoughts, until the very end of the book.
Starting somewhere around the middle of the book, the story drags on with this question "Is it really a ghost haunting the family?" There's lots of "spooky" events and spooked people suggesting it might be, and then the ending goes for what some will think is a clever twist, but just made me sigh. I'd complain about it in detail, but I'll just leave this one spoiler free. Maybe you'll like it and think it's clever. I felt it was cliched.
To me, there's so much fluff and filler here that I just didn't care about. I slogged on thinking it had to get better if Cinzia was gushing over it so much, but nothing in the story clicked for me. I felt nothing for the characters, or even the writing style, although the subversion of the style for the last chapter's twist was....irksome. I didn't quite hate the story, but I never felt invested in it, either. I'm just glad it's over and I can move on to reading something I might actually enjoy.
I'll give The Ice Twins 2 stars. They call this a Thriller, but to me it ought to be filed in a new genre, "Needless Melodrama."
lisaaah's review
4.0
Sarah and Angus suffered the loss of one of their twin girls, but was it Lydia or Kirstie that actually died in a fall.... There are many twists and turns in this story and slowly you unravel what really happened, which twin died, why the confusion, what really happened, and ultimately quite a dark conclusion. Overall a haunting read.
carolinevaught's review against another edition
4.0
Woah. That was a whirlwind of craziness and confusion. The good kind. At first, I had a hard time getting into this book. It seemed like a simple sob story about how a family loses a child, but it was oh so much more. Sarah and Angus only have one surviving daughter, Kirstie, after a tragic accident. They move from their house to go to new place, an island where they hope to get a fresh start. Until Kirstie starts saying that she's really her twin sister, Lydia.
This story revolves around Sarah as she tries to piece together what happened and which daughter is the surviving daughter.
This story got extremely confusing in some parts, because some people were calling the daughter Kirstie and some people were calling her Lydia. I couldn't keep it straight most of the time. The ending, though. Wow. It was the most confusing, yet the most interesting part of the entire book. It's one of those you just have to read to find out why.
This story revolves around Sarah as she tries to piece together what happened and which daughter is the surviving daughter.
This story got extremely confusing in some parts, because some people were calling the daughter Kirstie and some people were calling her Lydia. I couldn't keep it straight most of the time. The ending, though. Wow. It was the most confusing, yet the most interesting part of the entire book. It's one of those you just have to read to find out why.
aimster4's review
4.0
The book kind of drug at about 60%, and I really started to wonder if it was going to be worth it to finish. But I trudged along, and it turned out to be pretty interesting. The ending had a small twist that I hadn't anticipated.
btpbookclub's review
5.0
This is another of those books that you should have heard about, if not I will ask again… Where have you been? This book is excellent!! The easiest five stars i have awarded yet and let me tell you why… I devoured this book in two nights, it is an easy to read, fast paced psychological thriller. Now, if you have read some of my reviews you will already know that I find twins and the connection between them very interesting and The Ice Twins did not disappoint me. I found The Ice Twins an intense thrilling read which I could not put down, I was hooked alright! As I read this book at night in bed alone I found parts quiet scary which is a first for me (never felt scared through reading a book before), and whenever I heard a slight noise in my house I jumped out my skin (I really am not lying) that is how stuck into the book I was! If you have not already read this, buy it! Buy it, NOW! You will not forget or regret it. You are welcome.
The Ice Twins is perfect for readers who enjoy thrillers, mystery’s, horror, suspense and contemporary… One of the twins passed away after an accident just over a year ago and the family are still trying to piece together their shattered lives by moving to a lighthouse in Scotland and starting over again. But when Kirstie (the other alive twin) insists she is Lydia what can they do? Will they ever know which twin died? When Sarah (the twins mother) finds herself haunted by the past, the twins and strange situations will she ever find out the truth about the accident? And which twin she is still lucky to have? Now, that is all I am going to tell you, so if my review has not tempted you or the gorgeous book cover, what will tempt you? Do not be afraid, dive in! I dare you.
The Ice Twins is perfect for readers who enjoy thrillers, mystery’s, horror, suspense and contemporary… One of the twins passed away after an accident just over a year ago and the family are still trying to piece together their shattered lives by moving to a lighthouse in Scotland and starting over again. But when Kirstie (the other alive twin) insists she is Lydia what can they do? Will they ever know which twin died? When Sarah (the twins mother) finds herself haunted by the past, the twins and strange situations will she ever find out the truth about the accident? And which twin she is still lucky to have? Now, that is all I am going to tell you, so if my review has not tempted you or the gorgeous book cover, what will tempt you? Do not be afraid, dive in! I dare you.