Book review: Twisted Fate

In Norah Olson’s Twisted Fate, sisters Sydney and Ally couldn’t be more different. Ally is naïve, picks blueberries, bakes muffins, and doesn’t mind dressing like her mother to go sailing. Syd skateboards, like punk music, and is on track to be class valedictorian, despite her main interests in life including skipping class and getting high. When new boy Graham moves in next door, he’s an enigma—in a fairly clichéd and uninteresting way. He’s got a troubled past, feels he’s a genius filmmaker, and comes between the sisters. He’s self-adjusted his various anxiety and ADD medications so that he’s pretty much just one big dilated pupil of intensity. Even Syd, who likes drugs and pushing boundaries, think he’s pretty freaky. He films the sisters, their friends, and random children around town, often using a tiny and hidden camera. As the content of his art films are revealed, they prove to be incredibly disturbing. Like, profoundly messed-up and gruesome.

Both sisters take turns telling the story, often recounting the same episode but from completely different perspectives—in fact, it took me a while to realize they were even talking about the same time/thing, their stories were so different. Graham also narrates, as do two police chiefs and his stepmother. The whole story boils down to this: Graham is disturbed and something bad happened in the past; Ally is sweetness and light and everything good; Syd is a rebel who sees Graham for the threat he is, yet is still drawn to him. This psychological thriller manages to build but not entirely sustain suspense as it moves toward an ending that close readers will be able to predict.

Pieces of the story stand out, like a fantastic conversation between Sydney and (I think) a guidance counselor at school about the roles and expectations for girls. There’s commentary on class privilege, drug use and abuse, and our current culture of documenting and sharing our lives. There are a lot of interesting things going on in this novel, but they often get buried under too many unnecessary other things.

Something about the writing occasionally feels clunky—maybe the many heavy-handed hints, maybe the flat characters who definitely feel like what an adult’s version of what this kind of teen is, maybe the unbelievable excuses and exemptions that allow the story to unfold as it does. The premise is interesting, but the execution leaves something to be desired. This might be a good pick, maybe, for reluctant readers, because of the high level of interest, but that interest is hard to sustain as perspectives shift and the same cliffhangers are dangled over and over again. Tighter writing and less foreshadowing would have helped the eventual big reveal to pack the punch that it should. Fans of thrillers and suspense stories may enjoy this one, despite its flaws, especially if they like bad things happening and disturbing (and disturbed) main characters.

REVIEW COPY COURTESY OF EDELWEISS
ISBN-13: 9780062272041
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 1/20/2015

Filed under: Book Reviews