Title: The Blossom Twins
(Detective Natalie Ward #5)
Author: Carol Wyer
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
First published: December 12th 2019
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: December 10th 2019
Pages: 399
“Natalie had worked some tough cases in her time, but none had left their mark as much as the Blossom Twins.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I’ve said it before that it seems like you can’t go wrong when it comes to Carol Wyer‘s detective thrillers, and the announcement of every new title always make me feel giddy with delight. I’ve been following Detective Natalie Ward since the beginning, so of course I was very excited when I heard Natalie was ready to give us her fifth adventure… After how things ended in her personal storyline in book four, I was definitely most curious to see how things would continue. And as I’ve been enjoying my time with Natalie Ward so far, the decision whether to read book number five was simply a no-brainer. I’m not sure why it took me longer than expected to actually get to it, but there is no doubt that The Blossom Twins is another solid sequel with and ending that left me completely shellshocked, flabbergasted and simply destroyed.
So, The Blossom Twins. First of all I have to say that you can technically read this story as a stand-alone, although you will be missing certain key background information about the main characters and you might not get certain clues and character dynamics. You will be able to follow the case itself easily though. I felt that the balance in The Blossom Twins was slightly different than in the previous books, with a little more focus on Natalie’s personal situation at home. We definitely get a good glimpse at their current situation as well as quite a few changes… I don’t want to reveal too much to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that things won’t be static in book five. That said, I did have an issue with how the current situation was described and portrayed by the characters involved. There was quite a lot of complaining and nagging going on in The Blossom Twins, both by Natalie and those around her and both on a personal and professional level. I can understand a bit of bickering and frustration, but it soon became a little too much for me and it started to affect my reading experience negatively.
I still can’t put my finger on the why, but The Blossom Twins wasn’t my favorite of the series so far. Part of this had to do with the bickering and probably also the current team and work situation at the station. The whole ‘enemy’ and ‘sneaky’ colleague element came over as a bit of a cliche for me and I found myself soon very annoyed with the whole situation… Also, I thought it distracted from the case itself, which on its own is without doubt both shocking and spine-chilling. A serial killer hunting teenagers and seemingly leaving no trace behind… Without doubt the worst nightmare of any parent! Things were a bit slow to start developing, but once the ball started rolling it was on a collision course and ready to bowl you over without warning. I wasn’t kidding when I said before that the ending left me shell shocked, flabbergasted and unable to render a word! Oh yes, the ending will most likely destroy you and it left me personally especially desperate to find out what will happen next in Natalie’s life.
In short, while The Blossom Twins wasn’t my favorite Natalie Ward installment so far, there is no doubt that it is still a solid serial killer thriller that ends with a bang the size of an atomic bomb. Fans of the genre and series will enjoy spending more time with Natalie Ward!
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