Twisted Fate

by Norah Olson

Overview

Told in alternating points of view by a wide cast of characters, Twisted Fate is a tensely wrought psychological thriller, perfect for fans of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

Two sisters. One mysterious boy.

Ally and Sydney couldn’t be more different—one shy, the other popular and outgoing—and when a new boy moves in next door, tensions between the sisters escalate. Graham is attractive, peculiar, and perhaps a little dangerous, and both girls are drawn to him in ways they can’t quite explain. As each girl’s relationship with Graham unfolds the more complicated the truth becomes—until a shocking encounter turns their sleepy coastal town upside down, and makes the sisters question everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481532525
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/28/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.50(h) x 5.00(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Norah Olson is a former journalist who covered criminal cases for a regional New York newspaper and received a prestigious fellowship for her work. She was educated in New England and lives in Manhattan. Twisted Fate is her first novel for young adults.

Editorial Reviews

11/17/2014
Sisters Allyson and Sydney are total opposites, “like two sides of the same coin.” Allyson likes to bake; Sydney likes to get baked. Allyson is sweet-natured but struggles with school; Sydney is smart but sardonic. When a boy named Graham moves into the house across the street, both girls become fascinated with him: Allyson wants to be with him, and Sydney wants to uncover what she is sure are dark secrets in his past. Meanwhile, Graham is psychologically disturbed, medicating himself and obsessively filming everyone around him—an activity his parents allow, even though it ended in tragedy in their former hometown. Debut author Olson alternates points of view among Allyson, Sydney, and Graham, along with occasional interludes from their friends, Graham’s worried parents, and others. Readers will quickly—too quickly—realize that things are not as they seem where Allyson and Sydney are concerned; the clues Olson includes sabotage the very tension she is attempting to build. Some of the surprises hit their marks, but many readers will guess where this thriller is headed long before it gets there. Ages 13–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A riveting, addictive, suspense filled story that haunted me for days. If you’re looking for a mysterious, fast-paced, compelling read, this book delivers.

Alyson Noël

Sexy, complex, and unrelentingly tense, TWISTED FATE is a dark, psychological thriller that will set your heart racing.

Gretchen McNeil

As dark and twisted as the title promises. Un-putdownable!

Michelle Gagnon

A creepy, slow-burn thriller. Olson creates a suspenseful story that gets under your skin. You’ll be thinking about it for days afterwards.

Georgia Clark

10/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—Allyson and Sydney Tate may be sisters, but they are hardly alike. Allyson dresses like a model from the L.L.Bean catalog and spends her free time baking muffins, while Sydney skateboards, smokes pot with her friends, and listens to punk rock. Then Graham Copeland moves in next door. Graham is an artist and his medium is film; he quickly and easily loses himself behind his ever-present camera. Graham is cute and seems a little shy, but Syd knows that something about him is off. She just doesn't know if she can convince Ally in time. Set in present-day coastal Maine, Olson's first young adult novel is an exploration of drugs, mental illness, individual perception, friendship, and familial relationships. The work cycles through the perspectives of Ally, Syd, Graham, and a few others, with consecutive chapters that often convey the same scene from two different points of view. Olson combines this distinct style of storytelling with past-tense narration and subtle foreshadowing to develop the three main characters, to create conflict as well as tension, and to propel readers forward. A great addition to any YA realistic fiction collection, this thriller that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.—Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University R. M. Cooper Library, South Carolina

School Library Journal

2014-10-22
In this bracing tale of modern teenhood, the lives of estranged sisters Ally and Syd become re-entwined through an obsession with a mercurial boy. With photonegative personalities, the sisters fill opposite dark and light spaces. Ally, the compliant, helpful, muffin-baking sister, is flattered by the attention the new neighbor, Graham, is paying her. On the other hand, Syd, the pot-smoking, rebellious, brainiac, is both fascinated and repelled by Graham's strangeness and tousled good looks. Syd guesses immediately that the glaze in his eyes comes from drug use. Plagued by his past, Graham sees the sisters as a fresh start in what he believes to be his genius filmmaking career. Syd becomes suspicious when a little boy in the town goes missing, and her terror mounts as Ally's relationship with Graham becomes increasingly intimate. In short chapters that switch point of view, each character describes events in disconcertingly different ways; the story is compelling in its shifting focus. It's a riveting scrutiny of a youth culture raised on a regimen of prescription drugs such as Ritalin and compelled to record and share every moment. The ending blindsides readers, shedding a clarifying backward spotlight on the plot and leaving a haunting afterimage. A goose-bump-raising psychological thriller that will engross even the most jaded mystery enthusiast. (Thriller. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews