Friday 26 August 2011 | By: Nicole @ Nicole About TOwn

Review: The Twisted Thread

Title: The Twisted Thread
Author: Charlotte Bacon
Genre: Fiction
Rating: PG
Publisher: Voice
Publication Date: June 14, 2011
Pages: 352 Pages
Source: Digital ARC from NetGalley
My Rating: 3*

[Goodreads | Amazon]

When beautiful but aloof Claire Harkness is found dead in her dorm room one spring morning, prestigious Armitage Academy is shaken to its core. Everyone connected to school, and to Claire, finds their lives upended, from the local police detective who has a personal history with the academy, to the various faculty and staff whose lives are immersed in the daily rituals associated with it.


Everyone wants to know how Claire died, at whose hands, and more importantly, where the baby that she recently gave birth to is a baby that almost no one, except her small innermost circle, knew she was carrying.


At the center of the investigation is Madeline Christopher, an intern in the English department who is forced to examine the nature of the relationship between the school s students and the adults meant to guide them. As the case unravels, the dark intricacies of adolescent privilege at a powerful institution are exposed, and both teachers and students emerge as suspects as the novel rushes to its thrilling conclusion.

*Warning* May Contain Spoilers!

My Thoughts


A book about secret societies?  A book about secret societies of girls?  A book about secret societies of girls wreaking havoc on those around them?  I am so in.  Add in a murder of the girl who is rumoured to be the head of said secret society and it should be a great read.

Well, it didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

The book begins with scatter brained Madeline who now has a new job at the prestigious Armitage boarding school as a teacher, despite being little older than the student's she is in charge of.  Within the first few pages of the book, a student named Claire, is found dead in her dorm room.  It soon becomes clear that Claire was not only murdered, but that she had recently had a baby.  A baby, that none but a select few were aware she was even carrying, and a baby who is now missing.  From there is not only becomes a case of whodunnit, but it also becomes an investigation into the secret society that Claire was rumoured to run.

The story itself, at least the idea of it, was good.  It's the execution that falls a little short.  For some reason, we are introduced to 15 characters or so it seemed..  Characters, whose stories are so developed, and more often than not irrelevant to the central plot of the story.  I often found myself having to flip back and forth trying to remember what they brought to the story.  The answer: nothing!  I felt like I spent too more time trying to keep all the back stories straight than I did trying to figure out who killed Claire.  The fact that a girl was murdered and her baby was missing got lost in the back story until the last 40 pages.

I will say this, I really didn't see the ending coming and the culprit never even made it to my suspect list.


This review was done after reading an uncorrected ARC copy courtesy of Voice Publishing and NetGalley. My priority is to you, and I honour that commitment by being honest! I don’t do reviews for payment, nor do I guarantee favourable reviews for any book/galley/ARC sent to me for review.  I promise to stay truthful with you and all opinions represented here are my own. If you are uncertain what this all means, I urge you to read my Review Policy for further clarification. You can also contact me at contact@nicoleabouttown.com.

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