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A review by nattyc96
Once Two Sisters by Sarah Warburton
4.0
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC of "Once Two Sisters" by Sarah Warburton in exchange for my honest review!
"Once Two Sisters" shows the story of Ava and Zoe, two sisters unable to understand each other due to their indifferent scientist parents. Ava becomes a famous writer as an adult and as Zoe sees herself reflected in the stories her anger towards her sister build, until she snaps. Zoe disappears and creates a new life with a new name. Years later, Ava is missing. Zoe returns home to prove her own innocence and ends up working to solve the case. The deeper she digs though, the more connections Zoe sees to her parent's canceled research project. Who really took Ava? And why?
I really enjoyed this thriller. Ava and Zoe are polar opposites, which makes the dynamic that much more interesting. Zoe, the younger sister, feels like a more accessible character, wearing her emotions on her sleeve, but there's more to Ava than meets the eye. Both sisters have great character development throughout the book which makes you want to keep reading.
The other interesting aspect is the research their parents were doing and how it changed their relationships with their children. They were focusing on the best way to force enemies to reveal information through torture or psychological torture. The experiments use a masked family member to simulate danger to someone close to the person being interrogated in order to gain information. The experiment argues that people give up more information when they "see" a family member being tortured. To see how this research changed Ava and Zoe's parents gives great introspect to the family dynamic.
Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. It had a quick pace with interesting characters and always had a reason for the reader to feel on edge. Definitely a thriller must-read.
"Once Two Sisters" shows the story of Ava and Zoe, two sisters unable to understand each other due to their indifferent scientist parents. Ava becomes a famous writer as an adult and as Zoe sees herself reflected in the stories her anger towards her sister build, until she snaps. Zoe disappears and creates a new life with a new name. Years later, Ava is missing. Zoe returns home to prove her own innocence and ends up working to solve the case. The deeper she digs though, the more connections Zoe sees to her parent's canceled research project. Who really took Ava? And why?
I really enjoyed this thriller. Ava and Zoe are polar opposites, which makes the dynamic that much more interesting. Zoe, the younger sister, feels like a more accessible character, wearing her emotions on her sleeve, but there's more to Ava than meets the eye. Both sisters have great character development throughout the book which makes you want to keep reading.
The other interesting aspect is the research their parents were doing and how it changed their relationships with their children. They were focusing on the best way to force enemies to reveal information through torture or psychological torture. The experiments use a masked family member to simulate danger to someone close to the person being interrogated in order to gain information. The experiment argues that people give up more information when they "see" a family member being tortured. To see how this research changed Ava and Zoe's parents gives great introspect to the family dynamic.
Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. It had a quick pace with interesting characters and always had a reason for the reader to feel on edge. Definitely a thriller must-read.