Publishers Weekly
British author Rayne (Tower of Silence) makes her U.S. debut with an intriguing if flawed psychological thriller involving conjoined twins. A bitter divorce has left London reporter Harry Fitzglen hard up and cost him his job in "the upper echelons of Fleet Street." Now working for a tabloid, Harry reluctantly agrees to cover the opening of a photography exhibit at a new Bloomsbury art gallery. Harry's editor suggests that he may find an interesting story in the mystery that surrounds the photographer featured at the galley, Simone Marriot, whose real last name is Anderson. At the opening, Harry meets and falls for Simone, but the focus soon shifts to the past—to the 1899 travails of Charlotte Quinton, who's expecting twins, and to Simone's own youth. Simone had a twin sister whose fate doesn't become clear for a while. A hackneyed ending undermines the power of the novel's earlier sections. (June)
A Dark Dividing
by Sarah RayneJournalist Harry Fitzglen is less than thrilled to write up the opening of some glittering new art gallery. But the boredom falls away when he meets Simone Anderson, whose oddly compelling photographs are on display. Harry loves a girl with a past, and Simone's is a doozy: What exactly happened to her long-disappeared twin sister? And what is her connection
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9781934609804
- Publisher:
- Felony & Mayhem, LLC
- Publication date:
- 06/16/2011
- Pages:
- 400
- Sales rank:
- 1,391,732
- Product dimensions:
- 5.50(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Meet the Author
Sarah Rayne is the pseudonym of a well-known British author. She is the award-winning author of several suspense novels, including The Death Chamber and Spider Light.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
A Dark Dividing
4 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
6 reviews.
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Not the best mystery I've read, not the worst. Lightly entertaining. The review (from another source) had made it sound really scarey and hard to put down--not that by any means. So-so recommendation.
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Harry Fitzglen is a journalist for a magazine in London and is asked to write a story about a local art gallery. The place is called Thorne's and run by Angelica Thorne, who is a socialite and gives lavish entertainments for the rich and famous. Harry is a little apprehensive about this assignment as he is used to doing hard news and not puff pieces. It seems that Harry's boss, Clifford Markovitch, is more interested in Angelica's partner, Simone Marriot formerly called Simone Anderson. It happens that more than twenty years ago there was some sort of scandal in the Anderson family and Markovitch wants to delve into the past and find out just what went wrong. Harry is not thrilled with this but, does go to the gallery and meets the partners. Harry talks with Simone, who is a photographer and looks at her pictures that are displayed. The photos are really peculiar and certainly compelling. Simone is obviously a girl with an interesting past and, as the reader will eventually find out, her past is really insane. There are questions about her sister, who disappeared many years ago and what their connection is to two sisters born at least 80 years before Simone and her sister Sonia were born. All questions direct the reader to a dark and brooding mansion on the border of England and Wales called Mortmain House. Harry studies the history of this mansion and finds many mysteries to solve. Each one more complicated than the last. The sub-plot, a story within the main story concerns a set of twins born to a couple in England. The twins were conjoined ("Siamese Twins") and the mother was told that they had died shortly after birth. As Harry gets closer to Simone he discovers that she was also a conjoined twin but, shortly after the surgery to separate the twins, her sister Sonia passed away. This is an edge-of-your-chair book. And as you are chilled to the bone with some of the things that go on, you will not be able to stop as you want to find out what happened to these people. The stories within are so heart-rending that readers will want to see more of Ms. Rayne's work. Very fascinating characters. Some you'll love and some you'll hate with a passion. Quill says: A Dark Dividing is a terrific read. Extremely creepy in some passages but, very understandable. This is the author's debut in the United States and hopefully we will be able to read more of Sarah Rayne on this side of the pond.
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Love, couldn't put it down
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