Scan barcode
kyliea32's review
5.0
A thrilling, levels you on the edge of your seat kind of read, and so edgy. Literally, until the last pages I found myself guessing at what happens next!
nicovreeland's review
2.0
SPOILERS throughout
I really liked the premise, or what I thought was the premise, but the way it was presented felt too "authory" to me. It was too obvious that certain details were being held back for the sake of future twists, but at the same time, too much was given away in the early going so I knew most of the twists by the time they arrived.
The story concerns, basically, three women: Mel, Jackie, and Candy. Mel is a madam with a heart of gold, running an escort service that purports to empower the women it employs (the degree to which this is true is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel, imo, but it's never deeply dug into). Jackie is Mel's right-hand woman, and Candy is a new girl they find on the street and take in.
Soon it becomes clear that all three women have either past lives or alternate personalities. They have vague memories of other lives, and all three repeatedly see pill bottles containing the same mysterious drug, prescribed by a Dr. Miranda Conch.
The three women stumble through mysterious interactions, such as a stranger who recognizes Jackie as Brielle Jeffries, a famous socialite and party girl. Evidently this happens all the time to Jackie; but she just shrugs it off. When Jackie and Mel first find Candy, they also find a bottle of the mysterious drug prescribed to a Lexi, who Candy insists she is not. Meanwhile, Mel is consistently haunted by someone named Patsy, often waking up in Patsy's husband's house.
So, after about half the novel like this, we the readers know that Jackie/Brielle, Candy/Lexi, and Mel/Patsy are each the same person. We know that the drug seems to either have eliminated one personality and created another, or else it forces them to flip between them.
Infuriatingly, it's fully 75% into the book before ANYBODY decides to investigate Dr. Miranda Conch, and almost 90% of the way into the book before anybody investigates the mysterious drug. (There's also a detective POV character. His chief personality trait is that he tells bad jokes. The less said about him, the better.)
During the half a novel between when we readers figure out what's happening and any character does, whenever anybody remarks on the three women's sharp personality changes, or the fact that they routinely disappear for days at a time, or the fact that Patsy looks exactly like Mel, EVERYBODY, including the women themselves, discount and disbelieve any notion that they might be the same person.
When it's so obvious to we the readers that these women are alternate personalities of each other, it only makes them seem stupid when they don't catch on and they can SEE EACH OTHER. Jackie doesn't kinda look like Brielle, SHE IS BRIELLE, they look EXACTLY ALIKE to the point that strangers repeatedly comment on it. But she's never even CURIOUS about Brielle. She never wants to know if maybe she's Brielle's half-sister or anything.
To make matters worse, it turns out late in the novel that the drug does not cause multiple personality disorder, it only exacerbates it. So all three of these women ALREADY HAD MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER AND STILL REFUSE TO BELIEVE THEY MIGHT HAVE MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES. (We know for a fact that Brielle/Jackie's parents know she has multiple personalities but don't try to, I don't know, help her in any way? In fact they lie to her and maintain her delusion that her alter is one of her friends.)
This is just the tip of the unsuspendable disbelief iceberg. How did these three women's alters meet up? Why don't they (as the new alternate personalities) question why they don't remember anything from more than a few years ago? There's also a couple of messy subplots where the women's alters go back to their main personality's trauma sources and fix them. Mel kills Patsy's abusive husband, etc. The fact that all of these things are happening at the same time just exceeds my coincidence limit.
Furthermore, when Mel is FINALLY FINALLY told she is Patsy (she's told because she never figures it out herself, ugh), there's no surprise at all for us readers. The tension of that revelation has been sucked out by having clues dropped for almost the entire book--clues that no character deigns to touch.
One of the only powerful twists in the book happens when Mel's boyfriend is revealed to be the doctor who created the mysterious drug. But then he disappears and leaves a video confession for the cops that is full of lies. He claims he met Mel at a bar and fell in love with her--but he was the one who gave Miranda Conch the drug that created Mel in the first place? What's the point of having the villain lie in his final confession? And if he didn't lie, and he just happened to randomly meet the alter of a woman who took the drug he invented..... well, excuse me while I roll my eyes all the way back.
I think and hope that the style of these twists might hit other readers better than they hit me. I think there are some really interesting points in this book about trauma and your true self, etc, but to me they're just too deeply buried in mud to be worth digging up.
I had rated this a hopeful three stars, but I since found out that the confusing, half-finished ending is because there's a SEQUEL coming out next year, ie the second half of the story. That's never a good thing for me, but in this case, it's especially unnecessary
I really liked the premise, or what I thought was the premise, but the way it was presented felt too "authory" to me. It was too obvious that certain details were being held back for the sake of future twists, but at the same time, too much was given away in the early going so I knew most of the twists by the time they arrived.
The story concerns, basically, three women: Mel, Jackie, and Candy. Mel is a madam with a heart of gold, running an escort service that purports to empower the women it employs (the degree to which this is true is one of the most interesting aspects of the novel, imo, but it's never deeply dug into). Jackie is Mel's right-hand woman, and Candy is a new girl they find on the street and take in.
Soon it becomes clear that all three women have either past lives or alternate personalities. They have vague memories of other lives, and all three repeatedly see pill bottles containing the same mysterious drug, prescribed by a Dr. Miranda Conch.
The three women stumble through mysterious interactions, such as a stranger who recognizes Jackie as Brielle Jeffries, a famous socialite and party girl. Evidently this happens all the time to Jackie; but she just shrugs it off. When Jackie and Mel first find Candy, they also find a bottle of the mysterious drug prescribed to a Lexi, who Candy insists she is not. Meanwhile, Mel is consistently haunted by someone named Patsy, often waking up in Patsy's husband's house.
So, after about half the novel like this, we the readers know that Jackie/Brielle, Candy/Lexi, and Mel/Patsy are each the same person. We know that the drug seems to either have eliminated one personality and created another, or else it forces them to flip between them.
Infuriatingly, it's fully 75% into the book before ANYBODY decides to investigate Dr. Miranda Conch, and almost 90% of the way into the book before anybody investigates the mysterious drug. (There's also a detective POV character. His chief personality trait is that he tells bad jokes. The less said about him, the better.)
During the half a novel between when we readers figure out what's happening and any character does, whenever anybody remarks on the three women's sharp personality changes, or the fact that they routinely disappear for days at a time, or the fact that Patsy looks exactly like Mel, EVERYBODY, including the women themselves, discount and disbelieve any notion that they might be the same person.
When it's so obvious to we the readers that these women are alternate personalities of each other, it only makes them seem stupid when they don't catch on and they can SEE EACH OTHER. Jackie doesn't kinda look like Brielle, SHE IS BRIELLE, they look EXACTLY ALIKE to the point that strangers repeatedly comment on it. But she's never even CURIOUS about Brielle. She never wants to know if maybe she's Brielle's half-sister or anything.
To make matters worse, it turns out late in the novel that the drug does not cause multiple personality disorder, it only exacerbates it. So all three of these women ALREADY HAD MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER AND STILL REFUSE TO BELIEVE THEY MIGHT HAVE MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES. (We know for a fact that Brielle/Jackie's parents know she has multiple personalities but don't try to, I don't know, help her in any way? In fact they lie to her and maintain her delusion that her alter is one of her friends.)
This is just the tip of the unsuspendable disbelief iceberg. How did these three women's alters meet up? Why don't they (as the new alternate personalities) question why they don't remember anything from more than a few years ago? There's also a couple of messy subplots where the women's alters go back to their main personality's trauma sources and fix them. Mel kills Patsy's abusive husband, etc. The fact that all of these things are happening at the same time just exceeds my coincidence limit.
Furthermore, when Mel is FINALLY FINALLY told she is Patsy (she's told because she never figures it out herself, ugh), there's no surprise at all for us readers. The tension of that revelation has been sucked out by having clues dropped for almost the entire book--clues that no character deigns to touch.
One of the only powerful twists in the book happens when Mel's boyfriend is revealed to be the doctor who created the mysterious drug. But then he disappears and leaves a video confession for the cops that is full of lies. He claims he met Mel at a bar and fell in love with her--but he was the one who gave Miranda Conch the drug that created Mel in the first place? What's the point of having the villain lie in his final confession? And if he didn't lie, and he just happened to randomly meet the alter of a woman who took the drug he invented..... well, excuse me while I roll my eyes all the way back.
I think and hope that the style of these twists might hit other readers better than they hit me. I think there are some really interesting points in this book about trauma and your true self, etc, but to me they're just too deeply buried in mud to be worth digging up.
I had rated this a hopeful three stars, but I since found out that the confusing, half-finished ending is because there's a SEQUEL coming out next year, ie the second half of the story. That's never a good thing for me, but in this case, it's especially unnecessary
thegirlwiththebookonthecouch's review
5.0
On the same night that Detective Ryan Boone is called to a jewelry heist, Mel Parker, the head of a not quite legal escort service, finds a girl beaten and bruised on the street while she walks home with her friend Jackie. Mel discovers a pill bottle in the girl’s purse, and she finds herself pulled toward figuring out their source. Detective Boone finds the same pills at the scene of his robbery, and he begins researching their source as well. As Mel and Detective Boone’s paths begin to cross, the truth behind the pills starts to come into focus.
I loved the moody noir-esque atmosphere of this book, and felt instantly connected to all of the characters’ points of view. I had so much fun trying to unravel where the plot was headed, and struggled to put the book down. If I could have, I would’ve devoured this in one setting. There’s not much more I can say without spoiling what happens, but fans of psychological thrillers with noir and police procedural vibes will love this book!
I do want to point out that THIS IS THE FIRST IN A DUOLOGY. I was shocked when I got to the end and it ended on a cliffhanger, so know that going into it. I can’t wait to read Wicked next year when it comes out, but don’t expect to have all of your questions answered at the end of Twisted.
I loved the moody noir-esque atmosphere of this book, and felt instantly connected to all of the characters’ points of view. I had so much fun trying to unravel where the plot was headed, and struggled to put the book down. If I could have, I would’ve devoured this in one setting. There’s not much more I can say without spoiling what happens, but fans of psychological thrillers with noir and police procedural vibes will love this book!
I do want to point out that THIS IS THE FIRST IN A DUOLOGY. I was shocked when I got to the end and it ended on a cliffhanger, so know that going into it. I can’t wait to read Wicked next year when it comes out, but don’t expect to have all of your questions answered at the end of Twisted.
meganrae047's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Child abuse, and Kidnapping
More...