*Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy*
About the book:
Ava doesn’t believe it when the email arrives to say that her twin sister is dead. It’s not grief or denial that causes her scepticism – it just feels too perfect to be anything other than Zelda’s usual manipulative scheming. And Ava knows her twin.
Two years after she left, vowing never to speak to Zelda again after the ultimate betrayal, Ava must return home to retrace her errant sister’s last steps. She soon finds notes that lead her on a twisted scavenger-hunt of her twin’s making.
Letter by letter, Ava unearths clues to her sister’s disappearance: and unveils harrowing truths of her own. A is for Ava, and Z is for Zelda, but deciphering the letters in-between is not so simple…
Dead Letters by Caite Dolan Leach
My thoughts:
I had seen Dead Letters popping up on fellow bloggers social media pics as well as reviews, and I was intrigued by the sound of it so I was thrilled to receive a copy in the post from Corvus to read and review.
Dead Letters follows Ava and Zelda, twin sisters, and Ava’s reaction to finding out that her sister has died in a fire at their childhood home. Upon receiving the traumatic email, Ava returns home from Paris to deal with the aftermath. When she arrives, her mother is in the throws of a degenerative brain illness and her father (now remarried) has returned from California as well.
The sisters had parted on less than friendly terms two years ago, with Ava fleeing to Paris and Zelda staying at home to mind the family vineyard. Not long after arriving home, Ava finds a note from her sister and what follows is a very unusual treasure hunt to discover the truth of what happened to her sister.
Dead Letters has a dual timeline going on, as we get flashbacks to the sisters lives when they were younger, and we get an insight into their personalities back then. Zelda has always been enigmatic and wild, and it seems she is no different in the present. Ava must work through the letters to discover what happened and it leads her on an emotional journey for which she was thoroughly unprepared.
I enjoyed Dead Letters. It took me a few chapters to get immersed in the story, but it definitely kept me reading as I was eager to find out what was going on. It’s a clever take on a psychological thriller, questioning why we do what we do and so on. It will also keep the reader guessing as they race to the end.
Recommended!
