The Ice Twins

This book really only becomes chilling at the very end. Otherwise, it\’s a story about miscommunication that makes the reader want to shriek to the protagonists, \”Just say what you mean!\” None of the main characters is especially sypathetic except the dog. The pace can be maddeningly glacial, largely because the central character spends an enormous amount of time paraphrasing her thoughts. The narration is good.

A good story was spoiled by being so slow. Good narration saved it to a certain extent. Unlike some reviewers I did find a sympathetic character – I will not say who or why as it may spoil the book for another reader, let\’s just say that the author did a much better job creating male characters as nearly all the females were not the people I would want to sit down with a glass of wine with. As for the reactions of the school in Skye – implausible to say the least!

Maybe this is one of those rare books that\’s better read than listened to. Whatever the reason, in spite of terrific narration ( wonderful accents) and evocative descriptive prose, the dialog thwarted me at every turn. Why not simply embrace the supernatural angle and go with that?? I found I had to repeat sections often to keep track of which twin was \”active\”. Probably worth another listen down the road sometime.

Ok, first of all, it is misleading to compare this book to Gone Girl or The Girl On The Train. Second, being slow in parts and annoying because of the children\’s voices, I only finished it so that I could give a proper review, having survived to the end. And I’m glad I did, because it only redeemed itself in the VERY end. Now, the review: The narrators were VERY talented. All of the voices and dialects were so complicated and they did a great job of doing their job, which was to read the story with meaning and gravity. But OH SO ANNOYING were the children’s voices, like nails on a chalkboard. So bad that it made me wish I had read the story instead of listened to it. FRUSTRATED was how I felt the whole time I was listening to this book (save the last 20 mins). Maybe it was the inflection of the voices, always anxious and hysterical or breathless and whispery. But I digress. The story is hard to relate to the whole time, be it the choices of the adults or the thoughts/words of the kids. They are just not believable. That is my main problem with the whole book. At the end I am left thinking: Angus could have made this whole story go differently, and wondering why the author didn’t explore the more complicated version that acknowledged some of the things only revealed in the end, and the story could have been much better. I just found it irritating to go on this whole journey with the characters, only to sit here thinking about how the writing could have been better. It’s not something I normally do, as I am usually content to take story at face value. But I liked how it ended, so all I can say is listen with caution. Don’t expect the same satisfaction as the other two books referenced previously. But in my opinion the book redeemed itself in the last 20 mins.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who read it (as opposed to listen), but when I read the reviews on Audible I didn\’t buy it. This went on for months and finally I was desperate for a suspenseful story …it was unusual, but very good, and I definitely recommend it for those who enjoy a thriller

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