Book Review: The Silent Twin by Caroline MItchell

Title: The Silent Twin

Author: Caroline Mitchell

Genre: Thriller, Paranormal

Age Group: Adult

Rating: 2 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m alone in the dark, please can you find me …
Nine-year-old twins Abigail and Olivia vow never to be parted. But when Abigail goes missing from Blackwater Farm, DC Jennifer Knight must find her before it’s too late.
Twin sister Olivia has been mute since Abigail’s disappearance. But when she whispers in Jennifer’s ear, Jennifer realises it is Abigail’s voice pleading to be found.
A damp and decaying house set in acres of desolate scrubland, the farm is a place of secrets, old and new – and Jennifer must unravel them all in order to find the lost girl. But could Olivia’s bond with her twin hold the key to finding Abigail? And can Jennifer break through her silence in time to save her sister’s life?
A darkly gripping, page-turning thriller that will enthrall fans of Rachel Abbott, Alex Marwood’s The Wicked Girls and Mark Edwards.

All right, so first, everyone on Goodreads seems to love The Silent Twin. It has five and four stars reviews, and at the time of my review, not a single three star or lower. Ehm, well, I struggled to rate it. Basically, I’m the exception, and since everyone else seems to like it, don’t write it off just because I didn’t.

Jennifer, DCI Knight, is the family liaison for a distraught family whose daughter, Abigail, has gone missing. Abigail has a twin sister, Olivia, and the family lives on a farm that is supposedly haunted. The investigation starts, family secrets are uncovered, and some ghosts come into play.

Basically, I should love this book. This kind of plot, a missing child / possible murder mixed with ghosts? That’s heaven for me. That is my absolutely favorite kind of book.

Except… I didn’t like this one.

Now maybe it’s because I didn’t read parts one and two, but I struggled to connect with Jennifer. She seemed a bit too logical, too cold and distant for me. Even worse were the other characters – the only one really relatable would have been Joanna. At least once could understand the struggle she went through. Maybe Nick too.

But the main problem I had was not the inability to connect with the characters. It was the plot. Which was basically one over-the-top thing on top of the other. First she’s there, then she’s not, then this secret is revealed, then this other secret… How much bad luck can a family have? The plot was basically waaaaaaay over the top for me. I don’t want to hand out any spoilers, but especially the Nick secret mixed with the Joanna secret and then the meditation thing? Yeah, I couldn’t buy all that, not when put in one single book.

Also, I knew who the culprit was from the first time that character was introduced. It was obvious. A lot of people didn’t think so, but I certainly thought so. I even figured out how everything was related before the book even reached the mid-point, which completely ruined the experience.

On top of that, the ghosts. Now I love love LOVE ghosts. But they’re not used here. The farm is supposedly haunted but we don’t get more than a few “bad feelings” and objects moving on their own. Why throw in the history of a haunted farm if you’re not going to utilize it properly? I at least expected the ghosts to play some role in the story but instead it focused more on the telepathic connection between the twins – slightly dissapointing too.

The writing was all right, but not great. I did read the book to the end, but I took frequent breaks and it didn’t really engage me. Paranormal mystery is usually my favorite genre, so I had high hopes for this one. Alas, it didn’t deliver.