The Thornthwaite Inheritance

This is an incredibly fun book! I have mentioned before in blogging that Young Adult Fiction is not my thing. I'm not sure it was ever my thing when I was a young adult. But when I saw the review for The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth P Jones over on Fleur Fisher's blog I was sucked right in. The premise was fresh and interesting. I mean, how many books are there about 13 year old twins trying to kill each other off? And that's just what we've got going on.

Ovid and Lorelli Thornthwaite have been trying to do each other in for so long that they have forgotten who made the first try. Was it the working guillotine? Or was it the exploding iced lolly? It really doesn't matter...where other children have simple sibling rivalry, Ovid and Lorelli have machineries of death. They finally decide that enough is enough and plan to call a truce. A truce that will be sealed with a will...cutting the surviving twin out of their vast inheritance if both of them don't make it to age sixteen. The trusted family lawyer is called in to draw up the will, but before he can do so the murderous attempts begin again. Which twin has broken their word? Or is someone else trying to eliminate the heirs?

This tale is full of twists and turns and surprise revelations. Just when you think you've come to the bottom of the mystery, Jones adds another twist. In fact the final scenes reminded me of the ending of the movie Murder by Death. Just when you have one explanation presented, another character barges in and says, "No, it was really this way." Several of the revelations were surprises to me, but I have to admit that the ultimate surprise wasn't news. I'd guessed that (Ahem) was a baddie--but that didn't dampen my fun. I enjoyed every minute of this mysterious adventure. Four stars out of five.