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Dead Letters

Caite Dolan-Leach

3.57 · Rating details · 7,104 ratings · 1,047 reviews

A missing woman leads her twin sister on a twisted scavenger hunt in this clever debut novel of suspense for readers of Luckiest Girl Alive and Reconstructing Amelia.

“Ahoy, Ava! Welcome home, my sweet jet-setting twin! So glad you were able to wrest yourself away from your dazzling life in the City of Light; I hope my ‘death’ hasn’t interrupted anything too crucial.”

Ava An A missing woman leads her twin sister on a twisted scavenger hunt in this clever debut novel of suspense for readers of Luckiest Girl Alive and Reconstructing Amelia.

“Ahoy, Ava! Welcome home, my sweet jet-setting twin! So glad you were able to wrest yourself away from your dazzling life in the City of Light; I hope my ‘death’ hasn’t interrupted anything too crucial.”

Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. In Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past. Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.

Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behavior. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls’ increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette. But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message—from her sister.

Just as Ava suspected, Zelda’s playing one of her games. In fact, she’s outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda’s drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers. Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava’s heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?

Featuring a colorful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach’s debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family. ...more

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Kindle Edition, 353 pages

Published February 21st 2017 by Random House

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Feb 27, 2017 Chelsea Humphrey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: from-publisher, netgalley

Oh boy. I'm definitely in the minority it seems, so it must be me. I was initially put off after I realized this was not indeed the thriller or even intriguing mystery it's being touted as on NetGalley. This isn't the author's fault, which makes me feel terrible about not liking it more. I really was hoping that I could switch gears and still enjoy this after shifting gears and expectations, but I struggled with finding a single character I could connect with and like, even if just slightly. The ...more

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Feb 02, 2017 Meredith ( on Semi-Hiatus until February) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Dead Letters is quite an interesting read. The characters are cold, cunning, and detestable, but the mystery is clever and intriguing.

Dead Letters is the story twin sisters, Atrocious Ava and Zigzagging Zelda (sorry for my use of adjectives but you will better understand if you read the book). 25 year old Ava returns home to her family’s winery in the Finger Lakes from Paris upon being informed of her twin’s death. It appears that Zelda has been murdered, but Ava believes that her reckless twin ...more

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Apr 28, 2017 Fran rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Twins Ava and Zelda Antipova were born into a toxic family. By the time they were born, the family vineyard Silenus Wines produced a small yield of mediocre wine and profits were dwindling. Parents Nadine and Marlon fought constantly. Ava and Zelda were subjected to constant and sarcastic verbal abuse. One day, Marlon packed up and left. The twins were saddled with Nadine who was exhibiting genetic markers of alcoholism and starting to suffer from early onset dementia.

Ava was the straight laced Twins Ava and Zelda Antipova were born into a toxic family. By the time they were born, the family vineyard Silenus Wines produced a small yield of mediocre wine and profits were dwindling. Parents Nadine and Marlon fought constantly. Ava and Zelda were subjected to constant and sarcastic verbal abuse. One day, Marlon packed up and left. The twins were saddled with Nadine who was exhibiting genetic markers of alcoholism and starting to suffer from early onset dementia.

Ava was the straight laced twin. Ever the student, she excelled in school. Her room was decorated in white, her clothing was traditional. She had a loving boyfriend, Wyatt, despite being emotionally and physically absent. By contrast, Zelda was wild and reckless. Her room had a bohemian, gypsy atmosphere.

As mother Nadine's health deteriorates, she is plied with more and more alcohol and meds. Nadine refused to eat, misremembered things and was highly critical of her daughters. The fate of Silenus Vineyards fell on their shoulders.

Ava had enough. She runs away to Paris and cuts off all lines of communication with Zelda, leaving Zelda alone to care for Nadine and run the winery. Ava receives word that the barn at home has been bolted from the outside and burned down. Questioned by police, a drugged Nadine says that Zelda was in the barn. Ava leaves Paris and rushes home.

As kids, Zelda set up elaborate puzzles and games for Ava to solve. Ava starts to receive clues and texts from Zelda. Is this a masterful scheme to exact revenge for being abandoned two years earlier, by Ava, after Zelda's betrayal? Zelda always had a talent for deception and a way of wrapping people around her finger. Ava must step out of her comfort zone and confront the family history leading to Zelda's disappearance or demise.

"Dead Letters" by Cait Dolan-Leach did not pique my interest at first. Suddenly, however, I was caught up in a web of unfolding events. Letters and texts kept arriving from Zelda and the cat and mouse game led to a surprising conclusion. A good debut tome from up and coming author Cait Dolan-Leach.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Dead Letters". ...more

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Mar 16, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery-thriller-crime

Confession....
I don't drink alcohol. It's just never been my thing.
But I feel a little drunk after reading this book. My gosh- there is so much alcohol drinking - a tasting room and Vineyard make for an easy access to drink until one is unconscious. --- but if readers 'do enjoy wine - you might consider a glass while reading this novel. Could enhance the experience!

Drunk is..... business as usual! Passed out is......business as usual!
Moving on.....
The setting is lovely -
The blurb gives almos ...more

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Feb 26, 2017 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lor

3.5 Twins,, Ava and Zelda, the beginning and the end of the alphabet, raised by a pair of constantly fighting parents, they had each other and made the best of it. They grow up, Zelda the wild one. Ava the good girl, their parents divorce and their mother has dementia. An act of betrayal by the two people closest to her will send Ava fleeinh for Paris, leaving Zelda to handle their mother's deteriorating health and a failing vineyard. Ava is brought home by the news that her sister has perished ...more

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May 03, 2017 Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: readers-first

I was just a little disappointed in this book, even though the premise of it sounded really good. Ava's twin sister Zelda is believed to be dead in a barn fire. Through a series of emails Ava receives (from whom she assumes is her dead sister), she starts believing that Zelda may well be alive and playing a game with her, where she needs to follow the clues from A - Z in order to find her. This book is being categorised as a mystery thriller - which to be fair, there is an element of mystery to ...more

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Feb 05, 2017 Sam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-reads, aty-challenge-2017

I was surprised by how much I liked Dead Letters, a novel filled with dysfunctional, detestable characters with a plot hinging on protagonist Ava Antipova playing an elaborate game set up by (is she? isn't she?) her dead sister Zelda, forcing Ava to confront mysteries, truths, lies about herself and her family. Though on the face of things, I wouldn't have thought this was my kind of book, I was pulled in to the twisted clues Ava was following, and the history of emotional manipulation and damag I was surprised by how much I liked Dead Letters, a novel filled with dysfunctional, detestable characters with a plot hinging on protagonist Ava Antipova playing an elaborate game set up by (is she? isn't she?) her dead sister Zelda, forcing Ava to confront mysteries, truths, lies about herself and her family. Though on the face of things, I wouldn't have thought this was my kind of book, I was pulled in to the twisted clues Ava was following, and the history of emotional manipulation and damage and destruction between Ava, Zelda, and their parents and closest friends. It helps that Caite Dolan-Leach has a writing style that is just a bit overly wordy, but is entirely accessible and approachable, hitting just the right balance for a literary mystery novel. And while at first I more or less disliked all of the characters, Dolan-Leach does a tremendous job drawing sympathy and empathy for each of them, so by the novel's conclusion I was surprised and emotionally involved at the outcome.

This is an elevated entertaining novel: with the vineyard backdrop and the obscene amounts of alcohol consumed by the characters, part of this is a fantastic escape into the lives of well-to-do, pretty people coming into harder times and revealing the darkness lurking below the surface. But even more than that, it's a psychological study of characters, slowly peeling away at the outer shells surrounding them, and even though Zelda's master plan required some suspension of disbelief, I was completely engrossed by the drama and dysfunction. Overall, Dead Letters is smart writing, a clever conceit, flawed and fascinating characters, and a satisfying mystery with an emotional ending. 4 stars from me: I'd read it again (with a very nice glass of wine in hand), will be interested to see what Caite Dolan-Leach comes out with next, and would recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers and dysfunctional families in the mood for a slightly more moody and literary hybrid of the two categories. ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 JanB rated it it was ok · review of another edition

1.5 stars

There are a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews on here so I'm obviously the outlier.

Let me just say up front that I don't demand characters in the books I read to be likable. Many of my favorite books have unlikable characters and I joke that dysfunctional should be a genre of its own. But I need to be able to empathize or at least understand them a little. Or there needs to be enough humor to offset the distasteful character(s). Or the plot is so clever I can overlook it.

I've never met such ...more

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Mar 24, 2017 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, 2017, suspense, mystery-shelf

Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach is a Random House publication.

This book first cropped up on my radar while reading the book section in the NYT. It seems there has been a little confusion as to which category this book belongs in. The Times seemed to think the book falls into the Gothic genre, while Amazon and GR labeled it a mystery/thriller. None of these really apply here, in my opinion.

What category would it fit into? Well, it could go into the psychological thriller category, only it’s n ...more

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Jan 03, 2017 Monnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Oh my, my. What a wild ride - all the way from Astounding to Zero cool!

My choice of descriptor words is on purpose - a nod to the main characters in this book, twins Ava and Zelda, so named by their father for the order of their entrance in the world at birth (never mind that he got it wrong). It's also a nod to the plot itself, as a grown-up and gone-missing Zelda leaves a trail of alphabetical clues for sister Ava to follow in a quirky and potentially deadly "game."

Two years ago, Ava left the Oh my, my. What a wild ride - all the way from Astounding to Zero cool!

My choice of descriptor words is on purpose - a nod to the main characters in this book, twins Ava and Zelda, so named by their father for the order of their entrance in the world at birth (never mind that he got it wrong). It's also a nod to the plot itself, as a grown-up and gone-missing Zelda leaves a trail of alphabetical clues for sister Ava to follow in a quirky and potentially deadly "game."

Two years ago, Ava left the Antipova family vineyard, which isn't doing well, mostly because of a betrayal involving her twin; they haven't spoken since. She also was eager to get away from their mother, who's not so gradually being overtaken by dementia and alcoholism. The twins' father barreled out years ago and has remarried, an act not since forgiven by either girl.

So Ava heads to Paris, where she finds a new life, a new French boyfriend and happiness at the tender age of 25. But then, her world comes to a crashing halt: She learns that Zelda has died - apparently the victim of a fire that destroyed the barn on the family's property in New York's Finger Lakes region (more on that later).

Not long after Ava returns home, though, she begins to suspect that Zelda isn't dead after all. Soon, she begins to get text messages from her sister, which appear to be clues related to her disappearance - beginning with the first letter of the alphabet. Aha, Ava concludes - Zelda's up to her old devious tricks. As she tries to deal with her totally dysfunctional family (her father returned on a temporary basis when he learned that Zelda had died) that includes her father's obsessive mother and Wyatt, the boyfriend she left behind.

It takes a while, but forensic evidence determines that the human remains inside the burned-out barn are, in fact, Zelda's. The situation is intensified when local police conclude that Zelda's death wasn't an accident - the barn doors were locked from the outside - and a prime suspect is identified. But the messages Ava is getting from Zelda suggest something else is afoot; should she let the police in on her secret or follow her twin to the ends of the alphabet in the hopes of getting to the truth?

Once that decision is made, the book revvs up into high gear - capturing and holding my attention for the rest of the drive even during crucial college football playoff games (although dividing my time between the book and TV did get a little easier, I'm sorry to say, once "my" Ohio State University Buckeyes got thoroughly trounced by Clemson in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl).

Now that I've finished the book (most of the time keeping half an eye on the Rose Bowl), I see the whole picture. Truthfully, I had a bit of trouble believing the whole thing could have been accomplished as efficiently (for want of a better word) as it was, but in the end it really doesn't matter. The whole thing is far more a study in character development and interaction than murder mystery - and what intriguing characters they all are.

My enjoyment of the book was enhanced, I admit, by the setting. One of my favorite places to visit is Seneca Lake; my husband and I have spent many wonderful days relaxing and doing our photography thing at Seneca Harbor Station, hiking the awesome Gorge Trail in Watkins Glen State Park, "touring" the NASCAR track (in between races, visitors are allowed inside) and, not insignificantly, sampling as many wines as we can from the dozens of vineyards in and around Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka lakes. When I head out for morning walks here in my northeast Ohio neighborhood, I often wear the T-shirt I bought at Keuka College mostly because I figured it would be a conversation starter (I was right).

But I digress. In summary, this is a great debut novel - one I hope (and expect) will do very well. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Feb 15, 2017 Sandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

Before I get into the story, I’d like to talk about helping a book find its audience. When I read the publicity blurb & saw it listed under Mystery/Thriller I thought oh goody, this is for me. Sadly it was not but through no fault of the author. Instead, I think it’s the victim of a poor choice in marketing which may lead to it being passed over by readers who enjoy family sagas & disappointment for those looking for a good thriller.

The story centres around 25 year old twins Ava & Zeld 3.5 stars

Before I get into the story, I’d like to talk about helping a book find its audience. When I read the publicity blurb & saw it listed under Mystery/Thriller I thought oh goody, this is for me. Sadly it was not but through no fault of the author. Instead, I think it’s the victim of a poor choice in marketing which may lead to it being passed over by readers who enjoy family sagas & disappointment for those looking for a good thriller.

The story centres around 25 year old twins Ava & Zelda. They grew up on a vineyard near Ithaca in one of the most dysfunctional families you’ll come across, fictional or otherwise. Ava escaped to Paris for grad school but now finds herself flying home to attend her sister’s funeral. She’s told Zelda died in a barn fire but from the time she receives the news, Ava has her doubts.

And with reason. She is soon on an alphabetical treasure hunt fed by clues Zelda left for her. It’s a clever device & ultimately, what saved the book for me. Without it, you’re left in the company of 4 alcoholics who never tire of sniping & wounding each other through booze soaked dialogue. Rest assured, none of them would be candidates for “Up with People”.

Each is fuelled by a bitter disappointment in how life has treated them, a situation not helped by having a wine store in their backyard. Only Ava has managed to secure a glimmer of something better but struggles to overcome the lingering affects of her childhood.

When a book has a large cast, having one or two unpleasant characters adds some spice & conflict to the story. If it’s set on a small stage & all are unlikable, you risk readers not caring enough about the characters to become invested in their outcome. This is not a thriller & there’s little mystery so I confess I grew tired of the constant back-biting & just found them sad.

Again, not the author’s fault. She possesses a formidable vocabulary & knows how to use it. There’s a definite Southern Gothic feel to the story & Ava’s hunt for clues is an original feature that adds interest to the plot. It’s more a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. We’ve all come across books whose only issue is they don’t appeal to that ethereal thing called your personal preference.

So don’t take my word for it. There are many glowing reviews for this book & I think if they dropped the Mystery/Thriller label & marketed it under just General Fiction or Women’s Fiction, it would find the target audience it richly deserves. ...more

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Mar 17, 2017 Liz Barnsley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Dead Letters was TOTALLY unexpected. In a great way for me but I should caution, the context in the marketing seems to be gearing it towards thriller or a typical psychological thriller audience (which I am too so I would probably have loved that also) but Dead Letters is far more on the side of literary mystery and family saga than it is sudden thrills or huge plot twists. So going into it with an open viewpoint will make a difference I feel.

This was beautiful writing, beautiful plotting and a ...more

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Nov 26, 2018 Heidi The Reader rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, book-club, mystery

Dead Letters is a mystery and psychological thriller about a dysfunctional family and two unhealthily entwined twins. It is also about how relationships with those closest to us can be an unending source of unhappiness, if that is what we choose.

Ava has felt stifled by her family. Her mother has dementia, her father left them to start another family and conflict with her twin sister, Zelda, has dominated her existence. She now lives in Paris, when she receives an unexpected email from her mother ...more

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Apr 11, 2017 Sue rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: family-saga, publishers-sent-bookmail, thrillers

This book is marketed in the thriller genre, so I was expecting more excitement thank what I got.

It kicked off well enough with the twin girls and how they were named.
Then an email arriving to one of the twins informing the other twin that her sister was dead, so that got me interested.

But I have to be honest in saying that the book was a roller coaster ride for me in between loving it, then it dipping to where I lost a bit of interest
The book is written very well .

There was an element of 'thr ...more

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Jan 15, 2017 CL rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ava and Zelda Antipova are twins and Ava left home 2 years ago to escape her twin and the life she was not prepared to live. Now her sister Zelda has died and she has to return home. Zelda was always the wild one and Ava was the one who always followed the rules. Ava suspects Zelda is playing a trick and now more than ever she is convinced when the letters and clues from Zelda start to arrive. As Zelda's clues lead her from one place to the next she begins to find out things about her sister tha ...more

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Mar 06, 2017 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, disaster-women, covers-i-love, netgalley, 2017

Dead Letters probably has the weirdest vibe of anything I've ever read. If I had to explain this book to someone, I don't think it would be particularly helpful to summarize the plot, which makes it sound like a tense mystery instead of the literary character study that it is. I'm not really sure how I would explain it. There's something about it that reminds me vaguely of a film noir, told with a linguistic prowess and dramatic flair that calls to mind the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. Somehow. Des Dead Letters probably has the weirdest vibe of anything I've ever read. If I had to explain this book to someone, I don't think it would be particularly helpful to summarize the plot, which makes it sound like a tense mystery instead of the literary character study that it is. I'm not really sure how I would explain it. There's something about it that reminds me vaguely of a film noir, told with a linguistic prowess and dramatic flair that calls to mind the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud. Somehow. Despite not really having anything in common with either of those things. Are you sufficiently confused? Yeah, me too. Let's proceed.

Dead Letters commences when Ava Antipova receives a distressed email from her mother, informing her that her twin sister Zelda has died in a barn fire. Ava, who's been living in Paris, flies home to her family's vineyard outside Ithaca New York, suspecting that Zelda's death may not be exactly what it seems. Soon she begins to receive a series of clues, hoping it will lead her to the truth of what happened that night in the fire.

In this era of fast-paced thrillers, let me stress: this does not belong in the mystery genre. This is a (at times slow-moving) character-driven novel. I didn't like it any less for this fact, but I'm glad I'd heard that it wasn't exactly a thriller before picking it up. Sometimes it's difficult to adjust your expectations partway through a book.

Though you'll have a hard time loving these characters, each makes a hell of an impression. Each member of the Antipova family is a volatile, selfish alcoholic. This is a book about horrible people being horrible to one another, and if you can't bear to read about that, you won't enjoy this book. But if you're fascinated by dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics, as I am, there's a good chance you'll find this rewarding.

Our narrator, Ava, is one of the most well-crafted and three-dimensional characters I've read in anything recently, which is especially a feat considering the first-person narration (which I find at times complicates the reader's ability to give the narrator an objective assessment?) But I thought that Ava was frustratingly, unnervingly real, for all her faults and virtues. Though at the beginning I was sure I wasn't going to be able to see any of myself in her, there were certain details, like her fear of intimacy, that I found I related to so intensely it was a bit unnerving - the kind of thing where you're reading and suddenly your breath catches and you feel deeply unsettled like you're seeing yourself on the page. That's just how present this story felt.

Caite Dolan-Leach's writing is superb. Though it's wordy to the point of pretension, you can always tell, with a book like this, which authors are anxiously flipping through thesauruses and which authors have had these words in their arsenal all along, and it's pretty clear that Dolan-Leach belongs in the latter category. The (at times annoyingly overwrought) prose suits the story and the characters so seamlessly that it's hard to imagine it being written any differently.

As for the ending - I won't spoil anything, but I loved it. It was exactly the emotional payoff I was looking for after this long-winded adventure.

Though it takes a while to get going and relies a bit too heavily on elaborately baseless guesswork from the characters in order to connect certain plot points, Dead Letters was a clever and addicting read, and I thoroughly enjoyed this ride.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley, Random House, and Caite Dolan-Leach. ...more

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Jul 11, 2017 Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-books

* https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
Dead Letters, by first time novelist Caite Dolan-Leach, is the story of Ava and Zelda Antipova, who are identical twins. The twins are estranged at the time of one of the twin’s tragic death in a fire. The remaining twin, Ava, isn’t at all convinced that her sister, who loved nothing more than drama and attention, is really dead. Soon after her death, Ava receives messages from the grave from her sister, sending her on a twisted scavenger hunt.

Dead Letters * https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
Dead Letters, by first time novelist Caite Dolan-Leach, is the story of Ava and Zelda Antipova, who are identical twins. The twins are estranged at the time of one of the twin’s tragic death in a fire. The remaining twin, Ava, isn’t at all convinced that her sister, who loved nothing more than drama and attention, is really dead. Soon after her death, Ava receives messages from the grave from her sister, sending her on a twisted scavenger hunt.

Dead Letters is the debut novel from writer Caite Dolan-Leach. It is best described as a psychological mystery novel. When Paris based student Ava Antipova receives word through email that her identical twin sister has died in a fire that took place on her family’s vineyard property in Finger Lakes, in upstate New York, she immediately returns home. For Ava, home is not a sanctuary. Ava left home over two years ago, after a terrible betrayal on behalf of her sister and high school boyfriend, Wyatt. There are also her parents to contend with. Ava’s mother Nadine is one messed up lady. Suffering from a degenerative illness, Nadine’s days are filled with alcohol and not much else. Her relationship with her daughter Ava, her less favourable twin daughter, is tense. It is no wonder Ava dreads her return home. The twin’s father Nolan also returns home in the wake of his daughter’s death. Nolan traded his family for another many years ago. He is an emotionally distant man, who fills the gap in his life with alcohol. Abuse of alcohol forms a significant part of Dead Letters, as the Antipovas own a disintegrating vineyard. The focus of Dead Letters becomes zoned in on Ava’s hunt for her sister Zelda, who she firmly believes staged her own death. Through the use of letters, emails, text messages and facebook posts, a scavenger hunt following the letters in between A for Ava and Z for Zelda form the basis of this search for Zelda. Is this an elaborate plan to get her sisters attention or is Zelda really dead?

Dead Letters is a novel I have seen around a fair bit on social media and on the Goodreads community. It definitely caught my eye and I was keen to give it a try, despite seeing some mixed responses on Goodreads and other blogs I follow. It took me awhile to get into this novel and my mind seemed to wander a fair bit during my reading of this book. This is perhaps an indication of my response to the book, which was pretty average.

The main narrator of the book, Ava, is a strange as well as unlikeable young woman. She is hard to get close to, which is in part of a reflection of her difficult upbringing. We learn through the flashbacks written by Dolan-Leach that Ava was the less favourable twin. She lives in the shadow of her wilder and more enigmatic twin. Her mother Nadine’s obvious preference for Zelda is clear and it has clearly impacted on who Ava is as an adult. Nadine’s constant alcohol binges and spiralling depression based on her degenerative illness means she has been an absent mother. Her ex husband and the twin’s father Nolan isn’t much better. He escaped the toxic clutches on his ex wife many years ago and has remained detached from his daughters ever since. There really are some complicated and messed up relations that emerge from this dysfunctional family. I thought the characterisation on the whole of these protagonists was solid, despite all of them being unlikeable.

The narrative follows Ava’s search in the present to find her sister via the clues provided to her which links to the letters between A to Z. There are also flashbacks to the twin’s childhood, formative years and the time just prior to their estrangement. The narrative builds a strong picture of the twins. The pace was set at a steady pace but for reasons I am still not sure about, I did find my mind wandering. I wasn’t completely invested in this storyline and I really didn’t like any of the characters. Having said that, I did feel the need to continue reading to the end of the novel to find out the final fate of Zelda. When I reached the end of the novel I felt a bit underwhelmed. There had been so much built up to this point and when I got there it didn’t have quite the level of impact that I seemed to be expecting.

Dead Letters takes a clever concept, infusing letters of the alphabet with a final set of puzzling messages from the grave, sending a sister on a frenzied hunt to find her estranged twin. I liked the concept but had difficulties connecting with this dysfunctional family unit. Dead Letters is a dark and twisted tale of secrets, lies, betrayals and the intricate bond between twin sisters. Make up your own mind on this one. ...more

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Apr 26, 2017 Jennifer Rose rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Dead Letters

This book was one that I’ve had around for awhile...I had heard mixed reviews, so ultimately I pushed it back some on my to-read list. I totally understand why some readers were disappointed. Dead Letters was marketed as a mystery and thriller. It was definitely more mystery and minimal, if any, thriller. Now, I'll be the first to admit I love a great thriller, but I also love a book that can keep it simple and still hold your attention. This was for sure the latter.

Ava Antipova had Dead Letters

This book was one that I’ve had around for awhile...I had heard mixed reviews, so ultimately I pushed it back some on my to-read list. I totally understand why some readers were disappointed. Dead Letters was marketed as a mystery and thriller. It was definitely more mystery and minimal, if any, thriller. Now, I'll be the first to admit I love a great thriller, but I also love a book that can keep it simple and still hold your attention. This was for sure the latter.

Ava Antipova had run away from her family, her life, and her relationship and moved to Paris. At the beginning of this book, she learned that her twin sister Zelda had died in a fire at their family vineyard. Burned in the barn next to the house they had grown up in. Immediately, Ava wondered what her sister Zelda was up to? She hadn’t sensed her death, it couldn’t be true. Ava headed back to her home to handle the situation. As soon as she returned, she started to receive messages from her supposedly dead sister, in a puzzle format. A to Z, each letter corresponded to a piece of the puzzle, the puzzle of where was Zelda now? Ava learned that a lot has transpired over the two years, while she was gone. As Ava sifted through the clues Zelda left, she had to live in the house she so desperately wanted to escape and she had to face the demons she had run from. In the end, Ava was changed...now what about Zelda?

Dead Letters was for me one of those books that I spent time frustrated with most of the characters, most of the time. Growing up with plenty of alcohol in my household, I got the alcoholism references. Maybe a little too close to home. I know many people who elect to escape their lives via the alcohol bottle. Don't get me wrong, I love a good drink, but one or two is enough for me! I have been there and done that too many times to mention, in my younger years...I choose to do my life differently now.

The characters - Ava was so self-absorbed and repressed! Zelda was so manipulative and strange! Their mother, holy moly, their poor mother - I guess she was clueless right? Marlon (aka Dad) what a joke, but maybe the life drove him away? At lastly, I didn't and couldn't forget Wyatt...yummy, but what a fool for these two! Poor guy, what's the rest of his life going to be like? Even though I couldn't really find a character to like, besides Wyatt, I still cared - I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to see how the story ended. I felt enough to stick with it, and I'm glad I did.

Here’s the thought that keeps creeping into my mind a few days after finishing the book - what if the ending was a scam? What if Ava got another email shortly after the birth of her child? And it starts again...A to Z…Hmm...I would definitely be willing to go for another ride with these characters. It would also be interesting to see a Hollywood spin on this story. Just saying, it could happen!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Caite Dolan-Leach for allowing me to experience this twisted world in exchange for my honest opinion. ...more

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Mar 20, 2017 Amanda rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Unpopular opinion time. I seem to be in the minority but I didn't like this book. Most of it was a 3 star read as it did keep me turning pages but I really didn't like the ending! ...more

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Mar 10, 2017 Elaine rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: save-the-drama-for-your-mama, fresh-meat, am-i-thrilled

Look, I don't mind books with unlikable characters.

Heck, life is full of not nice people, some of them I even call family but I do expect to either sympathize, empathize or like one redeeming quality, even if the character may be an irredeemable sociopath bent on destroying the universe or some such nonsense.

Unfortunately, I can find very little good to say for Dead Letters where the dysfunctional Antipova family, a bunch of raging alcoholics with no charisma, talent or intelligence hav ...more

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Mar 01, 2017 Book of the Month added it · review of another edition

THE WICKED GAMES YOU PLAY
By Judge Sarah Weinman

“A born creator of myths, my sister always liked to tell the story of how we were misnamed.” I knew from this first sentence that this debut thriller would be something special. For the narrator, Ava, was born minutes after her twin sister Zelda. The alphabet's reversal foreshadowed the sibling pecking order. Zelda is the wild, vibrant, larger-than-life twin. Ava is the buttoned-up, reserved, by-the-book twin. To put it in terms of stress responses ...more

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Mar 14, 2017 Rebecca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-of-the-month-club, read-in-2017

Solid 4.5 stars! Loved this mystery from beginning to end, a total page turner. I agree with most of the reviewers that did not like the characters, but I find that not liking any of them really helped this book with the plot..if that makes sense.

This is my second BOM club book, and very happy with this choice...will definitely recommend to friends!!

Hope you enjoy as much as I did!!

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Jan 29, 2017 Debbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: net-galley-books, ebooks

Ava and Zelda are twins. Their parents thought it would be cool to name them using A and Z which would incorporate all the alphabet. Two years ago, Ava couldn't take living on their family's failing vineyard, their mother's ever slipping into dementia, a romantic betrayal and an absent family. She decides to leave and take up studies in Paris.

Then she receives the news that her twin sister, Zelda, is dead and she must return to upstate New York. Her sister has burned to death in the family barn. ...more

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Mar 26, 2017 Vikki rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: botm-club, mystery-crime-horror, chick-lit, giveaway, netgalley, psychological-thriller, psychology-fiction

This book threw me through a loop. I thought I knew where it was going and I was totally wrong. Ava and Zelda are twins who seem to feed off each other in an unhealthy way and also support each other in while growing up a broken home with alcoholic, psychological abusive parents. They have a falling out over a boyfriend and Ava escapes to France to go to graduate school and build her own life. The sudden death of her sister Zelda in a suspicious fire brings her home to her families' failing wine ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Sarah Joint rated it it was amazing

Smart, absorbing, and well-written. Reading this was a treat. Heed my advice, though: if you are a wine drinker like myself, make sure you have some in the house before you start this one. The long descriptions of flavor notes and wineries will surely leave you wanting otherwise. This is an author I must remember to watch! I'm really impressed with this debut.

Ava hasn't spoken to her twin Zelda in two years. She left the county, wanting to escape from her family, betrayal, and their failing vine ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Kate rated it did not like it · review of another edition

What do you get when you take a raging alcoholic, a raging alcoholic with dementia, a raging alcoholic doing heroin and an alcoholic commitmentphobe? Do you get a book? No, you get a series of disasters because alcoholics like to manufacture drama for their own entertainment. This book was billed as a mystery/thriller. There were definitely no thrills. And the only mystery was a weird and bizarre scavenger hunt that led to (spoiler here) NOTHING. The joke is on you if you read this. I am so so d ...more

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Jan 27, 2017 Tammy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is terrific! The book is set in the beautiful finger lakes region of upstate New York. One sister of a set of twins returns home to her spectacularly dysfunctional family: alcoholic, dismissive and
vicious. A marvelously twisted scavenger hunt ensues. I kept turning the pages and guessing incorrectly about everything at almost every turn. In short, this books works.

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Feb 26, 2017 Sarah at Sarah's Bookshelves rated it it was amazing

Headline:
This debut novel has absolutely everything and is one I’ll be recommending to just about everyone I know for a long time.

What I Loved:
- It’s rare that I find a book I can comfortably categorize as “literary” AND “brain candy.” These are my favorite kinds of books to discover and are the ones I feel like I can recommend to anyone at any time. Dead Letters is the first book I’ve read in awhile that fits this description.
- I knew within the first two paragraphs that I would love this book. ...more

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Mar 29, 2017 Pamela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-books

3.5 stars - Good writing, but I just really started disliking this family.

On a side note...we do judge books by their covers, and this is not a good cover (in my opinion). I don't feel it describes the twins at all. ...more

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Apr 06, 2017 Ashley Gillan rated it liked it · review of another edition

I would put this book at right around 3.5 stars. It's a intense story which kept me reading, but much like "The Good Daughter," "Dead Letters" had some flaws.

But overall, I did like this book, and I enjoyed guessing t lo see if I could figure it out (I didn't). It kept me plenty entertained, for sure.

The story revolves around Ava Antipova, who comes from an incredibly dysfunctional family of alcoholics (including her father who left the family and started again and her mother who was diagnosed w I would put this book at right around 3.5 stars. It's a intense story which kept me reading, but much like "The Good Daughter," "Dead Letters" had some flaws.

But overall, I did like this book, and I enjoyed guessing t lo see if I could figure it out (I didn't). It kept me plenty entertained, for sure.

The story revolves around Ava Antipova, who comes from an incredibly dysfunctional family of alcoholics (including her father who left the family and started again and her mother who was diagnosed with Lewey Body Dementia and is barely able to grasp reality at times), who own a vineyard in upstate New York. She has been in Paris for the past 20 months when she gets word that her estranged twin, Zelda, has died in a barn fire. When she arrives home, not only does it come out that the fire is being labeled as "suspicious," but her sister may have faked her death. She must follow clues Zelda left for her to find out whether her sister is dead or alive, and why she had to resort to such a drastic measure.

Some reviewers have said it's more of a "family drama" than a mystery/thriller, so they felt let down or mislead. While this novel really is a family drama on a basic level, there is a mystery right at its core - is Zelda alive or dead? - that I think pushes it over the edge into mystery/thriller territory. I was hooked on trying to figure in out, and the author does a great job of keeping up the suspense. I flipped my opinion with each passing chapter: "No she's definitely dead....No way, she's alive!.....Are you kidding me? She's dead!"

I also loved that it was set in Watkins Glen! I live about 40 minutes away, and love visiting there - and the author really gave an accurate depiction of the region, IMO.

My main issues with the book were that I really didn't like any of the Antipovas. Like, I actively hated each of them at some point. In the book, Ava admits that all four members of the family are alcoholics, but while she can acknowledge that, she doesn't do anything about it, so the novel is essentially like watching an alcoholic friend destroy themselves slowly while they refuse to get help. It was frustrating. For girls that seemed to have so much potential, both sisters were completely unlivable in their own ways, and I found myself rooting for the whole damn vineyard to burn down; it was probably what was best for all of them.

Also, the ending sucked. It really did. Without spoiling it, it raised more questions than answers. While the Zelda puzzle is solved, not much else is. I actually had to reread the last chapter because I came up with a new question and thought I missed something.

Basically, if you like reading a good mystery, this one is good. You'll enjoy trying to figure it out. But if you are looking for character development or redeeming endings, they're not here.

Moderately recommended. ...more

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About Caite Dolan-Leach

Caite Dolan-Leach

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Caite Dolan-Leach is a writer and literary translator. She was born in the Finger Lakes region and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the American University in Paris.

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“No one wants the complete picture, the whole story. It would leave no room for the fictions we need to tell ourselves about ourselves.” — 1 likes

“I wonder if this is what so terrifies people about digital technology, the idea that there will be a record of every moment, every mistake, every bad poem or carelessly carved-out letter.” — 1 likes

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