11 July 2018

Review: TWIST OF FAITH, Ellen J. Green

  • this edition published by Thomas & Mercer 2018 (Amazon Publishing)
  • ISBN 9781503949065
  • 321 pages
  • source: my local library
Synopsis (Amazon)

When family secrets are unearthed, a woman’s past can become a dangerous place to hide…

After the death of her adoptive mother, Ava Saunders comes upon a peculiar photograph, sealed and hidden away in a crawl space. The photo shows a shuttered, ramshackle house on top of a steep hill. On the back, a puzzling inscription: Destiny calls us.

Ava is certain that it’s a clue to her elusive past. Twenty-three years ago, she’d been found wrapped in a yellow blanket in the narthex of the Holy Saviour Catholic Church—and rescued—or so she’d been told. Her mother claimed there was no more to the story, so the questions of her abandonment were left unanswered. For Ava, now is the time to find the roots of her mother’s lies. It begins with the house itself—once the scene of a brutal double murder.

When Ava enlists the help of the two people closest to her, a police detective and her best friend, she fears that investigating her past could be a fatal mistake. Someone is following them there. And what’s been buried in Ava’s nightmares isn’t just a crime. It’s a holy conspiracy.

My Take

Ava Saunders is driven by the need to know who her mother was, who she is, and what her real name is. Frustratingly her adoptive mother Claire dies without telling her. Ava has snatches of memories that don't tie in with what little Claire has told her. Something connects her to events happening over twenty years before, but Ava has never managed to get the true story.

The author manages to carry the mystery attached to Ava's origins almost to the end of the story, providing a number of puzzles for the reader to solve. At the centre of it all seems to lie a number of black and white photos of open doors taken by an old Polaroid camera.

Prior to her death her mother insisted that Ava return from Canada where she has been studying. She has never got on really well with her adoptive mother. They seem to have been on the move for much of her life. After Claire's death Ava gains a couple of friends, one a detective, who are willing to help her search for information.

While this novel is about a search for identity, it is also about revenge.

My rating: 4.4

About the author:

Ellen J. Green was born and raised in Upstate New York. She moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University, where she earned her degrees in psychology. She has worked in a maximum security correctional facility in the psychiatric ward for fifteen years. She also holds an MFA degree in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. The author of The Book of James, Ms. Green lives in southern New Jersey with her two children.

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