BOOK REVIEW: TWIN LAKES: AUTUMN FIRES BY THE SISTERS OF SLAUGHTER

A campfire in the distance should be a relief to a victim on the run, but instead, it signals
darkness and the doorway to evil….
When Liz accepts a ride from a stranger, she ultimately becomes the victim of a heinous crime.
After fighting off her attacker, she stumbles towards a campfire in the distance and onto the
scene of a violent murder. The terror of discovering a decapitated young woman is only the
beginning, as when the shadows begin to move, she finds that this new killer has set his sights
on her. He wants her to share in an autumn fire.
Meanwhile local law enforcement, along with a secret group of town founders, are working to
solve the murders and end to the autumn fires. Can they stop the perpetrator in time before he
gets to Liz? The ancestors have centuries of wisdom on their side, and yet, will it be enough to
stop a murderer calling upon the power of demons to guide him? After generations of hiding,
will their identity be revealed to the unsuspecting citizens of Twin Lakes?
From the Bram Stoker nominated authors of Mayan Blue comes a new tale woven to introduce
you to the creepiest of towns. For fans of Twin Peaks, Wayward Pines, or the new Castle Rock,
this one is sure to draw you in.

This is the first book I’ve read by the Sisters of Slaughter.  In a nutshell, I think that the story is captivating and the characters are lovable (the good guys, anyway!) but I think that some of the characters and scenes lacked depth.

But first off, here are the things I loved about the book.

Some of the main characters were easy to love and get behind.  I found myself rooting for them to uncover the true killer and biting my nails when they were in danger.  The main three characters are Liz, Linda and Earl.  Linda and Earl tirelessly watch over Liz ever since she found her way into town.  But I also loved Rosalie, one of the Ancestors whose gifts make her the resident seer and who trains Linda to take her place once she’s gone.  Liz and Rosalie have some neat backstories woven throughout the book, but I wished we’d learned more about Linda and Earl.

Speaking of backstories, I really enjoyed the segments detailing the history around the town’s “Ancestors” and the werewolves.  Both groups of people must hide their incredible inherited powers from average citizens because they would generally be feared and unaccepted.  But both groups have codes by which they can use their white magic (owned by the Ancestors) and their shape-shifting abilities (owned by the werewolves).  It would have been neat to learn more about the day-to-day usage of the supernatural powers, but understandably the focus is more on how the powers are being used to try and overcome the dark evil that’s new in town.

While there were definitely elements of mystery and creepiness early on in the book, you get about halfway through and then the grotesque factor ramps up quite a bit.  It’s to the point where even I become squeamish.  And that’s a compliment!  In fact, the evil deeds done by the villain are so bad that there is no room for empathy at all for him.  Usually I can find a little sympathy for the villain because there must be a little bit of a good guy in there somewhere...right?  Not the case here.  Very well done.

Without trying to give anything away, I will say that the ending was left resolved enough so that I wasn’t disappointed in it, but open enough to think that exciting stories will follow.  Some of the characters end up with a renewed purpose and I was left wanting to know what they could get caught up with in the future!

There were just a few facets in which I think the book was lacking.  I felt like some of the characters were well rounded (Liz, Earl and Linda) but other characters felt flat, like there was no basis to explain why the did the things they did or said the things they said.  Some examples are Julie and Deana, who both seem to play a decent role in the plot but I felt like we knew nothing about them.  I also felt like more depth should have been given to some of the ancestors, or maybe not mention them at all, because I had a hard time keeping them straight or understanding their roles within the family.

I also felt that some scenes lacked enough detail to help me follow along, and sometimes I’d have to reread just a bit.  Many scenes had a great level of detail so that you could follow along with the character or with the plot, whichever was the main focus of the segment, but other scenes were hard to follow.  Such scenes felt very rushed and I had a hard time following along because there wasn’t a good balance of action and detail.  But other scenes were awesome in their level of detail.  If there had been more consistency in the level of detail throughout the book, I feel like the book would have had a better overall flow.

This fantastic writing duo can undoubtedly take the gore level to the maximum, and I love that about their writing.  I think that the characters and setting of Twin Lakes: Autumn Fires could set the stage for an awesome series.  I definitely hope to read future works from the Sisters of Slaughter!