Book Review: The Twisted Thread

The Twisted Thread

Charlotte Bacon

Voice

384 pages

Claire Harkness is one of those girls.  The type that is unflinchingly beautiful, that seems to get what she wants when she wants it.  So it is a shock to everyone at Armitage Academy when she is found dead in her room one morning.  It becomes apparent straightaway that she has been harboring quite the secret; Claire has recently given birth.  How she died and the whereabouts of her new baby are unknown.

Madeline Christopher is a young woman interning in the English department and she is in the vortex of the mystery.  Because of her youth, Madeline is trusted by the teenagers involved, and very quickly she begins hearing information about the case that deeply disturbs her.  I will just add that it involves a secret society that very much reminded me of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.

The mystery surrounding Claire’s death and the paternal parentage of her baby seems clear from probably the midpoint of the book, and in the end wasn’t so shocking.  In fact, it was surprising to me that the investigators on the case didn’t pick up on it earlier.  I suppose that would have made the book go too quickly! The whereabouts of the baby, and whether it was dead or alive, kept me guessing much longer.

I have been on a mystery kick recently, and The Twisted Thread only added to my voraciousness of the genre.  I was enthralled for the majority of the book, and found it insatiably readable. Add to that the setting of a prestigious boarding school, and you’ve got a real winner.  I always seem to go crazy for the boarding school setting, and it did not disappoint in this instance.  If you are into literary mysteries, certainly take a chance and pick this one up.

Other Reviews:

Presenting Lenore

I received an e-galley of this book from Netgalley.