An enthralling, historically rich, small-town mystery in which a teen works with her deceased sister to solve an assumed murder. Sixteen-year-old Clara Morris is facing an awkward summer with her father in the tiny upstate town of Redmarch Lake. Clara’s relationship with her parents—and with life in general—has been strained since she lost her twin sister, Zoe, when the girls were eight. As a child, her sister had been her whole world—they even shared a secret invented twin language. Clara has managed to rebuild herself as best she can, but she still feels a hole in her life from the absence of her twin, and she suspects she always will. She soon finds that Redmarch Lake, where her father’s family has lived for generations, is a very unusual place. The townspeople live by odd rules and superstitions. The eerily calm lake the town is named for both fascinates and repels her. The town’s young people are just as odd and unfriendly as their parents. Clara manages to befriend the one boy willing to talk to an outsider, but he disappears during a party in the woods. The next day, he is found dead in the lake under mysterious circumstances. The townspeople all treat this as a tragic accident. Clara isn’t buying it, but she doesn’t know what to do until she receives a mysterious note hinting at murder—a note written in the language she shared with her twin sister, Zoe.
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“You think you know who and what I am, but you have no idea. You would weep if I told you. I am older than the stars and colder than the space between them.”
I tend to avoid leaving a perfect five star review, however this book far impressed me beyond my expectations, and left an everlasting impression on me. It drew me in, I was so enveloped by the story and the characters. The setting is so interesting, it feels strangely familiar yet just barely distant from reality; just how Clara sees the town. There are elements of fiction, horror, mystery, truly I adored this book. I had so many questions, and once the answers were revealed, I wasn't let down. The writing is so incredibly strong that Scorza will be on my radar for new releases. I will even be going back and reading some of his other works.
The pacing was amazing, I tend to always look at the percentage at the corner of my Kindle, but I only checked it twice, and it was out of curiosity, not annoyance. I devoured this book like a hungry dog given its first taste of fresh meat in months of drought and famine. And I never do that. I've decided to buy a hard copy of this book, and this is only the second book I've read in the last 3 years that I've felt the urge buy a physical copy of as I prefer my Kindle. Please, just go read it! You won't regret it.
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