Still reeling from the recent death of her mother, Lyssa flees from her home in River John, NS, and heads for Halifax where she hopes to make a fresh start. But when she finds herself with nowhere else to turn she reluctantly contacts Aidan, the stepbrother who walked out of her life two years earlier. Aidan insists on taking her in, and is eager to make things right between them. However, while a complicated situation brews with her new friend Liam, she also begins to worry that there is much that Aidan isn’t telling her. Can she piece together the full truth and get Aidan the help he needs?

As she ably demonstrated in her previous book, Live To Tell, Lisa Harrington excels at creating briskly-paced, carefully-plotted narratives that are taut and filled with just the right amount of tension. As the story inexorably weaves its way towards its electrifying conclusion, readers will find themselves fully invested in Lyssa’s efforts to create a new life for herself. The secondary characters are vividly rendered, giving the story greater depth. Ultimately, it is a chilling tale that provides a sobering look at mental illness and ample food for thought but still leaves the reader wondering.

Twisted
by Lisa Harrington
$14.95, paperback, 266 pp.
Dancing Cat Books, September 2014