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My Sister And I
'From the author of 'The Old Man and The Princess' (Soon to be a major motion picture) - comes a new, dark and violent, gripping and twisted tale, of horrifying terror in the Scottish Highlands.'
MY SISTER AND I
(Strong language and Graphic violence and some Scots Dialect - Not for the faint of heart)
Two teenage sisters, both raised in solitude in the harsh Scottish Highland Wilderness by their strict, survivalist, tyrant father, begin to question his twisted and sinister ways after they find chilling evidence to suggest that their estranged mother might not have abandoned them at birth after all.
- What readers are saying about this truly disturbing novel -
'Truly delicious horror'
'Jeezo, I love a bit of dark depravity fiction, but this was absolutely merciless.'
'I was drawn to this book in the first sentence and could not put it down until the last sentence. It is heartbreaking and evil and sad with a little hopeful all at the same time.'
'Make no mistake, the novel is carried by the heart of the characters, through the sick and the depraved, to the shining little core of hope that is sisterhood.'
'The narrative here is what gets me the most. Written in first person, from the perspective of the gentler twin, it’s all thoughts and descriptions, with a lack of dialogue. This made the unfolding of the plot all the more terrifying'
'A road trip tale from hell.'
'Wow. This is dark and perhaps the darkest book so far from Sean-Paul Thomas. I love the way that whatever genre he writes he evokes the atmospheric feel of where it is set. I could feel the isolation and have to say I was impressed with this book.'
'There’s a particularly fast pace here, which was excellent. The girls are no sooner released from some form of ‘survival training’ nightmare before being plunged into their next woeful task. The appearances of the clearly mentally ill father are sporadic, frightful, and completely concerning. His beliefs, his upbringing, and his treatment of his daughters, all point towards something we hope we’ll never encounter in our own lifetimes.'
MY SISTER AND I
(Strong language and Graphic violence and some Scots Dialect - Not for the faint of heart)
Two teenage sisters, both raised in solitude in the harsh Scottish Highland Wilderness by their strict, survivalist, tyrant father, begin to question his twisted and sinister ways after they find chilling evidence to suggest that their estranged mother might not have abandoned them at birth after all.
- What readers are saying about this truly disturbing novel -
'Truly delicious horror'
'Jeezo, I love a bit of dark depravity fiction, but this was absolutely merciless.'
'I was drawn to this book in the first sentence and could not put it down until the last sentence. It is heartbreaking and evil and sad with a little hopeful all at the same time.'
'Make no mistake, the novel is carried by the heart of the characters, through the sick and the depraved, to the shining little core of hope that is sisterhood.'
'The narrative here is what gets me the most. Written in first person, from the perspective of the gentler twin, it’s all thoughts and descriptions, with a lack of dialogue. This made the unfolding of the plot all the more terrifying'
'A road trip tale from hell.'
'Wow. This is dark and perhaps the darkest book so far from Sean-Paul Thomas. I love the way that whatever genre he writes he evokes the atmospheric feel of where it is set. I could feel the isolation and have to say I was impressed with this book.'
'There’s a particularly fast pace here, which was excellent. The girls are no sooner released from some form of ‘survival training’ nightmare before being plunged into their next woeful task. The appearances of the clearly mentally ill father are sporadic, frightful, and completely concerning. His beliefs, his upbringing, and his treatment of his daughters, all point towards something we hope we’ll never encounter in our own lifetimes.'
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2018
33 people are currently reading
1040 people want to read
About the author
Sean-Paul Thomas
20 books502 followersScottish Author/Screenwriter.
Best Selling Kindle Author of 'The Old Man and The Princess'
A new book just out - Audrey -
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Sean is an author from Scotland. He is the best-selling Kindle Author of 'The Old Man and The Princess' which was recently optioned to be a major motion picture.
Sean spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish army Parents growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales, and England, as an army brat.
With a keen interest in both reading and writing, he was diagnosed with travel and writing bugs very early in life. Now, writing, travelling, reading, cinema, meditation, yoga and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Hibernian for his sins) are his main passions in life.
So far Sean has 16 self-published works of fiction including his best selling kindle ebook 'My Sister and I' and 'The Old Man and The Princess'
Ask me any questions and be kept up to date about new books, and forthcoming releases by joining my Facebook and Instagram page below.
Screenwriting Accolades to date -
Winner of the Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship 2020 for his horror/thriller screenplay - Ugly Beautiful.
A finalist at the 2018 Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting competition for his road trip/fantasy/thriller screenplay 'The Old Man and The Princess.'
A finalist at Cinequest 2022 for my historical fantasy screenplay - The Pict.
A Finalist at the 2021 Bluecat Screenwriting competition for his horror/thriller screenplay - My Sister and I.
One of ten writers selected for the 2020 Nostos Screenwriting Retreat Scholarship in October for his latest Sci-Fi/Mystery screenplay - Sagarmatha
A finalist at the Filmatic Thriller Awards 2020 for his Action/Thriller screenplay - Cold Heart.
A finalist at the Filmatic TV Pilot Awards 2019 for his Action/Thriller screenplay - Cold Heart.
So far Sean has 16 self-published works of fiction including his best-selling Kindle ebooks 'My Sister and I' and 'The Old Man and The Princess'
Ask me any questions and be kept up to date about new books, and forthcoming releases by joining my Facebook and Instagram page below.
https://www.instagram.com/seanpaultho...
Best Selling Kindle Author of 'The Old Man and The Princess'
A new book just out - Audrey -
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Sean is an author from Scotland. He is the best-selling Kindle Author of 'The Old Man and The Princess' which was recently optioned to be a major motion picture.
Sean spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish army Parents growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales, and England, as an army brat.
With a keen interest in both reading and writing, he was diagnosed with travel and writing bugs very early in life. Now, writing, travelling, reading, cinema, meditation, yoga and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Hibernian for his sins) are his main passions in life.
So far Sean has 16 self-published works of fiction including his best selling kindle ebook 'My Sister and I' and 'The Old Man and The Princess'
Ask me any questions and be kept up to date about new books, and forthcoming releases by joining my Facebook and Instagram page below.
Screenwriting Accolades to date -
Winner of the Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship 2020 for his horror/thriller screenplay - Ugly Beautiful.
A finalist at the 2018 Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting competition for his road trip/fantasy/thriller screenplay 'The Old Man and The Princess.'
A finalist at Cinequest 2022 for my historical fantasy screenplay - The Pict.
A Finalist at the 2021 Bluecat Screenwriting competition for his horror/thriller screenplay - My Sister and I.
One of ten writers selected for the 2020 Nostos Screenwriting Retreat Scholarship in October for his latest Sci-Fi/Mystery screenplay - Sagarmatha
A finalist at the Filmatic Thriller Awards 2020 for his Action/Thriller screenplay - Cold Heart.
A finalist at the Filmatic TV Pilot Awards 2019 for his Action/Thriller screenplay - Cold Heart.
So far Sean has 16 self-published works of fiction including his best-selling Kindle ebooks 'My Sister and I' and 'The Old Man and The Princess'
Ask me any questions and be kept up to date about new books, and forthcoming releases by joining my Facebook and Instagram page below.
https://www.instagram.com/seanpaultho...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 11, 2018
*** ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Hmmmm I was sure that Sean would not disappoint me.
This is such a good book. This guy can write!!! The story is for adults, it's a little bit dark, but not over the top. I like the writing, the plot and the characters. The book is about family, how the education and environment can shape a human, but also the struggle to remain good in situations that you have no choice but hurt people....
In the end it seems that the evil one is not all black soul.....
Thank you Sean for trusting me with your work!!!
Hmmmm I was sure that Sean would not disappoint me.
This is such a good book. This guy can write!!! The story is for adults, it's a little bit dark, but not over the top. I like the writing, the plot and the characters. The book is about family, how the education and environment can shape a human, but also the struggle to remain good in situations that you have no choice but hurt people....
In the end it seems that the evil one is not all black soul.....
Thank you Sean for trusting me with your work!!!
September 28, 2018
"My Sister and I" written by established author Sean-Paul Thomas is a dark, gritty and twisted thriller set in the Scottish Highlands. The story focuses on thirteen year old twin sisters and their violent, psychotic and sadistic father who's obviously suffering from a severe mental health problem. One girl is desperate to gain approval from him whilst the other just wants to be free from him and live a normal life. They are constantly given survival challenges to complete in the unforgiving Scottish wilderness to prove their worth before the apocalypse he's convinced is soon coming. However the survival trials become more and more sadistic and as time goes on, could the final challenge be one too many for the sisters??
All of the narrative is written in the first person from one of the sister's point of view and with not much dialogue this does seems to make this dark story all the more sinister. What dialogue there is (mostly from the father) is very broad Scottish, so it does take a little while to understand but once you start to comprehend the dialect it's soon easy to follow.
This book had a really creepy feel to it even from the very first page and it had me turning each page with trepidation. Very dark, gritty, full of suspense with an element of horror, this tale is definitely not for the faint hearted and due to the content and amount of language not for young readers either. However, if this is your sort of reading genre then you will love it and enjoy this sick and twisted tale of sisterhood, survival and psychotic horror as much as I did.
I regularly visit the highlands of Scotland and can't imagine finding these two twisted sisters in one of the forests I walk in and because this atmospheric book has had such a profound effect on me, I'll be forever looking over my shoulder in the future!
Sean-Paul Thomas is a new author to me but I understand he has successfully written another eleven novels, one of which is soon to be a major movie too. I'd happily recommend "My Sister and I" and will certainly be looking for more by him again in the future.
I really enjoyed reading this book and at least now if I ever find myself stranded in a Scottish forest, I'll know how to survive.......
4.5 stars
All of the narrative is written in the first person from one of the sister's point of view and with not much dialogue this does seems to make this dark story all the more sinister. What dialogue there is (mostly from the father) is very broad Scottish, so it does take a little while to understand but once you start to comprehend the dialect it's soon easy to follow.
This book had a really creepy feel to it even from the very first page and it had me turning each page with trepidation. Very dark, gritty, full of suspense with an element of horror, this tale is definitely not for the faint hearted and due to the content and amount of language not for young readers either. However, if this is your sort of reading genre then you will love it and enjoy this sick and twisted tale of sisterhood, survival and psychotic horror as much as I did.
I regularly visit the highlands of Scotland and can't imagine finding these two twisted sisters in one of the forests I walk in and because this atmospheric book has had such a profound effect on me, I'll be forever looking over my shoulder in the future!
Sean-Paul Thomas is a new author to me but I understand he has successfully written another eleven novels, one of which is soon to be a major movie too. I'd happily recommend "My Sister and I" and will certainly be looking for more by him again in the future.
I really enjoyed reading this book and at least now if I ever find myself stranded in a Scottish forest, I'll know how to survive.......
4.5 stars
April 13, 2020
Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com
This book was so much darker than I expected and I loved it for it, however I would like to issue all manner of content warnings for this book: child abuse, sexual assault, murder, violence and general darkness. I don’t make those warnings lightly either, this book is horrific.
Now that you’ve been duly warned, I can say that this book is excellently written. It’s written in the first person from the perspective of a 13 year old girl who has been raised alongside her twin sister by her psychotic, doomsday prepping father. He’s taken the girls off the grid and is determined to prepare them to survive the end of the world, as his father taught him, through a strict regimen of abuse and neglect.
Seeing this from the perspective of the daughter is harrowing, she’s never known anything different but she feels that this isn’t right. Her sister is the only constant in her life that she isn’t afraid of and their bond is truly unique, though we only see it from the one side.
The author has a visceral writing style which left me feeling physically ill in places due to the gore (seriously, it was graphic and nasty!) and also the heightened emotions from the perspective of an abused child. It’s the strength of the girl’s personality that breaks through and makes the narrative bearable.
I found myself entranced by all of the characters, good and bad, they all play their roles to perfection and I found myself totally invested in their fates. The story is set in the very north of Scotland and the geography is used to the fullest extent to set the scene; coupled with the father’s Scots dialect, it gave the story a distinctly regional feel that I enjoyed.
I did feel like the very end of the book was a little rushed and wish that there had been either a little more to it or it had ended a chapter earlier, but the main conclusion was satisfying for all characters involved. If you’re a fan of dark thrillers with strong characters and horrific violence – this book is going to blow your socks off.
This book was so much darker than I expected and I loved it for it, however I would like to issue all manner of content warnings for this book: child abuse, sexual assault, murder, violence and general darkness. I don’t make those warnings lightly either, this book is horrific.
Now that you’ve been duly warned, I can say that this book is excellently written. It’s written in the first person from the perspective of a 13 year old girl who has been raised alongside her twin sister by her psychotic, doomsday prepping father. He’s taken the girls off the grid and is determined to prepare them to survive the end of the world, as his father taught him, through a strict regimen of abuse and neglect.
Seeing this from the perspective of the daughter is harrowing, she’s never known anything different but she feels that this isn’t right. Her sister is the only constant in her life that she isn’t afraid of and their bond is truly unique, though we only see it from the one side.
The author has a visceral writing style which left me feeling physically ill in places due to the gore (seriously, it was graphic and nasty!) and also the heightened emotions from the perspective of an abused child. It’s the strength of the girl’s personality that breaks through and makes the narrative bearable.
I found myself entranced by all of the characters, good and bad, they all play their roles to perfection and I found myself totally invested in their fates. The story is set in the very north of Scotland and the geography is used to the fullest extent to set the scene; coupled with the father’s Scots dialect, it gave the story a distinctly regional feel that I enjoyed.
I did feel like the very end of the book was a little rushed and wish that there had been either a little more to it or it had ended a chapter earlier, but the main conclusion was satisfying for all characters involved. If you’re a fan of dark thrillers with strong characters and horrific violence – this book is going to blow your socks off.
September 10, 2018
I'm always willing to read a new Sean-Paul Thomas book because he always surprises me as to where the tale will go next. Or even which genre. Sometimes the books are light and sometimes they're pitch black.
This one is like the struggling bright lights of two barely-teen sisters under the insane yoke of an uber survivalist dad who pretty much puts them through all kinds of paces... that steadily get worse and worse.
At its core it's horror, but it's far from being on the lighter side of horror. It pushes you deeper and deeper into worst-nightmare territories and makes you want to survive despite all odds. Even your ideas about what constitutes right are utterly twisted by the journey. Make no mistake, the novel is carried by the heart of the characters, through the sick and the depraved to the shining little core of hope that is sisterhood.
Of course, it eventually turns into a roadtrip tale of hell.
Truly delicious.
This one is like the struggling bright lights of two barely-teen sisters under the insane yoke of an uber survivalist dad who pretty much puts them through all kinds of paces... that steadily get worse and worse.
At its core it's horror, but it's far from being on the lighter side of horror. It pushes you deeper and deeper into worst-nightmare territories and makes you want to survive despite all odds. Even your ideas about what constitutes right are utterly twisted by the journey. Make no mistake, the novel is carried by the heart of the characters, through the sick and the depraved to the shining little core of hope that is sisterhood.
Of course, it eventually turns into a roadtrip tale of hell.
Truly delicious.
October 28, 2018
There are horror stories and then there are horror stories. One type tells about monsters and things that go bump in the night and the other type shows us the dark pits of hell a human soul can reach. Most of the time, humans are the worst monsters.
Here, we follow twin sisters as they grow up with their abusive father. No sexual abuse but, as one of the girls correctly states, that doesn't really make it better. He's one of those that had his own father already drill the whole apocalypse schtick into him and he's passing it on to his girls.
Thus, they learn how to make a fire, survive in the wild on food they find or hunt and kill, how to build a shelter ... that sort of thing. And at first one might say that survival skills aren't all bad, but when combined with such a rotten heart and such a sick mind, making them take "tests", it really is as horrible as one thinks.
Their father is also not just some trailer park white-trash idiot, he knows his stuff, he knows how to keep a secret. And he knows how to terrorize and control.
The sisters are quite different, too. One the perfect little survival specialist, the other just hoping they will escape somehow someday.
I do enjoy violence and darkness in my horror stories. In fact, I like blood and gore, but here ... I'm not really sure but somehow I wasn't as invested as I probably should have been. There was one death I enjoyed immensely but .
Anyway, it wasn't bad but it also didn't rock my world as they say.
P.S.: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review etc pp. So thanks to the author for the chance to read this story.
Here, we follow twin sisters as they grow up with their abusive father. No sexual abuse but, as one of the girls correctly states, that doesn't really make it better. He's one of those that had his own father already drill the whole apocalypse schtick into him and he's passing it on to his girls.
Thus, they learn how to make a fire, survive in the wild on food they find or hunt and kill, how to build a shelter ... that sort of thing. And at first one might say that survival skills aren't all bad, but when combined with such a rotten heart and such a sick mind, making them take "tests", it really is as horrible as one thinks.
Their father is also not just some trailer park white-trash idiot, he knows his stuff, he knows how to keep a secret. And he knows how to terrorize and control.
The sisters are quite different, too. One the perfect little survival specialist, the other just hoping they will escape somehow someday.
I do enjoy violence and darkness in my horror stories. In fact, I like blood and gore, but here ... I'm not really sure but somehow I wasn't as invested as I probably should have been. There was one death I enjoyed immensely but .
Anyway, it wasn't bad but it also didn't rock my world as they say.
P.S.: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review etc pp. So thanks to the author for the chance to read this story.
March 14, 2019
The author provided this book to me in exchange for an honest review.
My Sister and I is a psychological dark twisted tale of an abusive father who wants to toughen up his two young daughters. Both daughters are twins and one is almost as twisted as the father, but the other one is more timid. To give the twins a challenge beyond what young daughters normally experience, the father takes them out into the wilds of the Scottish Highlands and leaves them out there to fend for themselves.
What the twins go through on their twisted adventure leaves a trail of gore and unspeakable acts of horror out in the wilds as they try to impress their father that they are capable of handling themselves in dire situations.
The book was a little drawn out for me as there was so much detail in what the sisters were doing and how they were doing it that I had a hard time getting through the book. It was a good book, but not enough to give it anything beyond three stars.
My Sister and I is a psychological dark twisted tale of an abusive father who wants to toughen up his two young daughters. Both daughters are twins and one is almost as twisted as the father, but the other one is more timid. To give the twins a challenge beyond what young daughters normally experience, the father takes them out into the wilds of the Scottish Highlands and leaves them out there to fend for themselves.
What the twins go through on their twisted adventure leaves a trail of gore and unspeakable acts of horror out in the wilds as they try to impress their father that they are capable of handling themselves in dire situations.
The book was a little drawn out for me as there was so much detail in what the sisters were doing and how they were doing it that I had a hard time getting through the book. It was a good book, but not enough to give it anything beyond three stars.
September 17, 2018
My rating 4.8
The book "My Sister And I" by Sean-Paul Thomas is a psychological thriller with a dramatic dark story. Throughout the book, we follow the thoughts of one of the twin sisters who tell us the story, about her and her sister's life, with their morbid father who came from the dark side of hell. Although the book is classified as horror, this is a hard thriller and very sad drama of two girls and their growing up in a totally insane world of a maniacal killer who is their father. But although the book is dark, the writer excellent written pulls you to read it to the end. This is the third book I've read from writer Sean-Paul Thomas and every time he surprised me with his ideas and writing. In this book, his characters are far more perfectly balanced and to the very end, you are not sure what will happen. One thing is certain, the book will not leave you indifferent, but it's not for everyone because it has a pretty violent scene. I would recommend this book to fans of thriller and psychological drama.
The book "My Sister And I" by Sean-Paul Thomas is a psychological thriller with a dramatic dark story. Throughout the book, we follow the thoughts of one of the twin sisters who tell us the story, about her and her sister's life, with their morbid father who came from the dark side of hell. Although the book is classified as horror, this is a hard thriller and very sad drama of two girls and their growing up in a totally insane world of a maniacal killer who is their father. But although the book is dark, the writer excellent written pulls you to read it to the end. This is the third book I've read from writer Sean-Paul Thomas and every time he surprised me with his ideas and writing. In this book, his characters are far more perfectly balanced and to the very end, you are not sure what will happen. One thing is certain, the book will not leave you indifferent, but it's not for everyone because it has a pretty violent scene. I would recommend this book to fans of thriller and psychological drama.
September 19, 2018
* I would like to thank the author for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book follows the story of two sisters and their insane and psychotic father (the sisters aren't exactly sunshines either). Well this was a dark story, which shocked me from time to time. Throughout the entire book I was really angry, mainly at the father for being such a horrible person (can he be called a person?), but also at the girls. We can really see how disturbing their relationship was and I felt bad for the sisters. Overall, I liked the book, it definitely left an impact and kept me thinking how some awful parents destroy not only their childrens lives, but their future and common sense as well. And honestly I wished for a slightly different end.
This book follows the story of two sisters and their insane and psychotic father (the sisters aren't exactly sunshines either). Well this was a dark story, which shocked me from time to time. Throughout the entire book I was really angry, mainly at the father for being such a horrible person (can he be called a person?), but also at the girls. We can really see how disturbing their relationship was and I felt bad for the sisters. Overall, I liked the book, it definitely left an impact and kept me thinking how some awful parents destroy not only their childrens lives, but their future and common sense as well. And honestly I wished for a slightly different end.
September 11, 2018
Quick Review:
Sean-Paul Thomas's My Sister and I is a cruel tale with a broken heart at its center. It's going to drag you to the end like a victim and you'd be willing.
The reason I'm giving it only three stars is because I chug tales of horror and gore like water; it's just me looking for something that would surmount my ever-growing expectations for the genre. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this very much. (Or is 'mourned' a more appropriate word?)
Sean-Paul Thomas's My Sister and I is a cruel tale with a broken heart at its center. It's going to drag you to the end like a victim and you'd be willing.
The reason I'm giving it only three stars is because I chug tales of horror and gore like water; it's just me looking for something that would surmount my ever-growing expectations for the genre. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this very much. (Or is 'mourned' a more appropriate word?)
October 11, 2019
My sister and I 3.5⭐️
They are twins but they are nothing alike. Where one shows compassion the other is cruel. Where one shows misery the other thrives in joy. All their lives they have been different, but as they grow they begin to see how different they really are. Also how her sister protects her no matter the cost.
They are twins but they are nothing alike. Where one shows compassion the other is cruel. Where one shows misery the other thrives in joy. All their lives they have been different, but as they grow they begin to see how different they really are. Also how her sister protects her no matter the cost.
December 22, 2019
3.5
This story had me hooked by page two.
I've never read a Scottish set book before and I enjoyed the change in dialect.
This story follows twin sisters that grow up with their strict and abusive father who teaches the girls how to live off the land just as his father taught him.
The story is told from the POV of one of the twins and the reader is given little information about any of the characters so I found it hard to get emotionally invested in any of them.
The father has a dark heart, his brutality has been passed on to one of the twins and she is quite cruel and sadistic to animals and humans alike.
The twin telling the story is very different and wants to escape, knowing this brutal survival lifestyle is far from normal.
I found the concept of the story a chilling one but it was also quite repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated.
While this wasn't a winner for me I would definitely still read more work by Sean-Paul Thomas.
This story had me hooked by page two.
I've never read a Scottish set book before and I enjoyed the change in dialect.
This story follows twin sisters that grow up with their strict and abusive father who teaches the girls how to live off the land just as his father taught him.
The story is told from the POV of one of the twins and the reader is given little information about any of the characters so I found it hard to get emotionally invested in any of them.
The father has a dark heart, his brutality has been passed on to one of the twins and she is quite cruel and sadistic to animals and humans alike.
The twin telling the story is very different and wants to escape, knowing this brutal survival lifestyle is far from normal.
I found the concept of the story a chilling one but it was also quite repetitive and I found myself getting frustrated.
While this wasn't a winner for me I would definitely still read more work by Sean-Paul Thomas.
December 19, 2019
"I was an eleven-year-old girl and he was my father. He was my world. He was my pain, my torture, my teacher, my tormentor. He was the only thing that I knew."
Many, MANY thanks to the author for reaching out to me and sending me a free copy to read in exchange for an honest review. I'm glad he reached out to me so I could discover this violent, dreadful and impending doom gem of a book. As soon as I read what this book was about I put all my other books to the side to dive right in, and I stayed up into the late hours of the night to finish it. I had to know what came next! What a gripping, jaw clenching read this was.
Here we have a psychotic, violent father who is obsessed with the end of the world and survival. Of the 2 daughters he has, one of them shows psychotic tendencies, too, and she is not far from being just like her dad. Since the dad is crazy and has no remorse he keeps throwing his daughter's into these insane scenarios that dreadfully get worse and worse in hoping to teach them about survival.
There were several times this book had me in my feels. I felt bad for the girls having to go through all the chaos that they did. And to be honest, there was one murder that happened that I had no remorse for. Everything else literally had me dreading what would come next. What could possibly happen??? I kept clenching my jaws so tight I thought I would be writing this review with a broken tooth or something!
I've never read a book where there wasnt much dialog but the way you connect with the main character, her story telling and their "adventures", I didnt mind. The author did a good job with this book and that IS my honest opinion/experience. Pick this one up and give it a chance. You're in for the ride with this one.
Many, MANY thanks to the author for reaching out to me and sending me a free copy to read in exchange for an honest review. I'm glad he reached out to me so I could discover this violent, dreadful and impending doom gem of a book. As soon as I read what this book was about I put all my other books to the side to dive right in, and I stayed up into the late hours of the night to finish it. I had to know what came next! What a gripping, jaw clenching read this was.
Here we have a psychotic, violent father who is obsessed with the end of the world and survival. Of the 2 daughters he has, one of them shows psychotic tendencies, too, and she is not far from being just like her dad. Since the dad is crazy and has no remorse he keeps throwing his daughter's into these insane scenarios that dreadfully get worse and worse in hoping to teach them about survival.
There were several times this book had me in my feels. I felt bad for the girls having to go through all the chaos that they did. And to be honest, there was one murder that happened that I had no remorse for. Everything else literally had me dreading what would come next. What could possibly happen??? I kept clenching my jaws so tight I thought I would be writing this review with a broken tooth or something!
I've never read a book where there wasnt much dialog but the way you connect with the main character, her story telling and their "adventures", I didnt mind. The author did a good job with this book and that IS my honest opinion/experience. Pick this one up and give it a chance. You're in for the ride with this one.
September 12, 2018
My Sister and I
By Sean-Paul Thomas
Genre - Horror/Psychological Thriller/Scottish
Pages - 211
Publication Info - Paul Thomas Publishing; 1 edition, August 25, 2018
Format - Digital
Rating - 📙📙📙📙📙
If you’re looking for a twisted tale that takes place in the Scottish Highlands, My Sister and I, by Sean-Paul Thomas is just the answer. This is one truly messed up and sick family drama. Twin sisters, one evil and one trying to not be evil, and a father who is nothing but pure unadulterated evil. I like psychological horror a bit more than I like blood, guts and gore horror; and with this you get a little bit of blood, guts & gore, and a lot of the psychological horror elements. The author weaves quite an interesting and intriguing tale with only a few characters, but characters with lots of meat. It’s a quick read, but it’s a read from hell and creepy as all get out. This is only my second time reading a Sean-Paul Thomas piece. My first read was The Old Man and the Princess which was an entirely different kind of read from this one. Sean-Paul seems to have a pretty wide berth between genres and creative ideas. I have about four or five of his books on my Kindle and I think I’m going to get through them before the year’s end. So, if you’re looking for dark, creepy and wicked nasty this is the read to pick up.
From the back cover: A young teenage girl and her twin sister have been growing up in the Scottish Highlands with their cruel and twisted father for as long as they can remember. A sick and violent, narcissistic man who is obsessed with the end of the world and one hundred percent convinced that an apocalypse is fast approaching.
Since they were old enough to walk he has been training and preparing the girls to survive in the wild, by taking them out into the brutal Highland terrain, sometimes for weeks on end, where he teaches them how to survive in a world without people and technology and how to hunt and kill, animals at first then humans later.
One of the sisters has her secrets though. And unlike her sinister twin who worships the very ground their dad walks on, she carries a hatred towards him and his way of life that slowly begins to consume her from the inside out. She harbors dreams of one day fleeing her father’s brutal, dictatorship grasp to live a normal, happy life in some far-off, safe haven place with her troubled sister and perhaps, even, their estranged mother too. A mother neither sister has seen nor heard from since their birth, and a mother that their father refuses to even acknowledge without striking out.
When the girls’ father decides to put the sisters through their biggest challenge yet, though, leaving the girls alone and to fend for themselves in one of the furthest and remotest regions of the Scottish isles, hundreds of miles from their home, the two inseparable sisters are given one last chance to make their father proud and convince him that they are finally ready to live in his vision of the new world.
But tensions soon escalate and spiral out of control between the two siblings and finally come to a devastating conclusion as the sisters are forced to make a series of brutal, life-changing decisions on their homeward bound journey, especially regarding where their opposite life paths are leading and where their true loyalties really lie. With their father or each other?
About the author: Sean is an author from Edinburgh in Scotland. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish Parents (No they weren't bank robbers ;) growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales and England, as an army brat.
With a keen interest in both reading and writing, he was diagnosed with the travel and writing bugs very early on in life. Now, writing, traveling, reading, cinema and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Hibernian FC for his sins) are his main passions in life, along with cooking, yoga, meditation and health, and fitness.
His main inspiration for writing today comes from living in such a beautiful, charming and hauntingly, Gothic city, such as Edinburgh. An awe-inspiring wee city that has given Sean so much amazing inspiration to write the more time he spends there.
At this moment Sean is working on a couple of screenplays adaptations of his books. one of which 'The Old Man and The Princess' has made the final three at the Nashville Film Festival.
Other books: The Fairy Boy of Calton Hill (The Fairy Boy Chronicles Books 1, 2 & 3), The Wrath of David (Parts 1 & 2), Once Upon a Time in Edinburgh, Sarah Smiles, Lust for Life (Parts 1 & 2) , Alone, Ugly Beautiful, Cafe Independence, The Old Man and the Princess (Soon to be a major motion picture).
By Sean-Paul Thomas
Genre - Horror/Psychological Thriller/Scottish
Pages - 211
Publication Info - Paul Thomas Publishing; 1 edition, August 25, 2018
Format - Digital
Rating - 📙📙📙📙📙
If you’re looking for a twisted tale that takes place in the Scottish Highlands, My Sister and I, by Sean-Paul Thomas is just the answer. This is one truly messed up and sick family drama. Twin sisters, one evil and one trying to not be evil, and a father who is nothing but pure unadulterated evil. I like psychological horror a bit more than I like blood, guts and gore horror; and with this you get a little bit of blood, guts & gore, and a lot of the psychological horror elements. The author weaves quite an interesting and intriguing tale with only a few characters, but characters with lots of meat. It’s a quick read, but it’s a read from hell and creepy as all get out. This is only my second time reading a Sean-Paul Thomas piece. My first read was The Old Man and the Princess which was an entirely different kind of read from this one. Sean-Paul seems to have a pretty wide berth between genres and creative ideas. I have about four or five of his books on my Kindle and I think I’m going to get through them before the year’s end. So, if you’re looking for dark, creepy and wicked nasty this is the read to pick up.
From the back cover: A young teenage girl and her twin sister have been growing up in the Scottish Highlands with their cruel and twisted father for as long as they can remember. A sick and violent, narcissistic man who is obsessed with the end of the world and one hundred percent convinced that an apocalypse is fast approaching.
Since they were old enough to walk he has been training and preparing the girls to survive in the wild, by taking them out into the brutal Highland terrain, sometimes for weeks on end, where he teaches them how to survive in a world without people and technology and how to hunt and kill, animals at first then humans later.
One of the sisters has her secrets though. And unlike her sinister twin who worships the very ground their dad walks on, she carries a hatred towards him and his way of life that slowly begins to consume her from the inside out. She harbors dreams of one day fleeing her father’s brutal, dictatorship grasp to live a normal, happy life in some far-off, safe haven place with her troubled sister and perhaps, even, their estranged mother too. A mother neither sister has seen nor heard from since their birth, and a mother that their father refuses to even acknowledge without striking out.
When the girls’ father decides to put the sisters through their biggest challenge yet, though, leaving the girls alone and to fend for themselves in one of the furthest and remotest regions of the Scottish isles, hundreds of miles from their home, the two inseparable sisters are given one last chance to make their father proud and convince him that they are finally ready to live in his vision of the new world.
But tensions soon escalate and spiral out of control between the two siblings and finally come to a devastating conclusion as the sisters are forced to make a series of brutal, life-changing decisions on their homeward bound journey, especially regarding where their opposite life paths are leading and where their true loyalties really lie. With their father or each other?
About the author: Sean is an author from Edinburgh in Scotland. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish Parents (No they weren't bank robbers ;) growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales and England, as an army brat.
With a keen interest in both reading and writing, he was diagnosed with the travel and writing bugs very early on in life. Now, writing, traveling, reading, cinema and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Hibernian FC for his sins) are his main passions in life, along with cooking, yoga, meditation and health, and fitness.
His main inspiration for writing today comes from living in such a beautiful, charming and hauntingly, Gothic city, such as Edinburgh. An awe-inspiring wee city that has given Sean so much amazing inspiration to write the more time he spends there.
At this moment Sean is working on a couple of screenplays adaptations of his books. one of which 'The Old Man and The Princess' has made the final three at the Nashville Film Festival.
Other books: The Fairy Boy of Calton Hill (The Fairy Boy Chronicles Books 1, 2 & 3), The Wrath of David (Parts 1 & 2), Once Upon a Time in Edinburgh, Sarah Smiles, Lust for Life (Parts 1 & 2) , Alone, Ugly Beautiful, Cafe Independence, The Old Man and the Princess (Soon to be a major motion picture).
January 30, 2020
2020 reading challenge ( author I've never read before)
First of all, thanks to the author for a review copy.
Now onto the review.... This isn't my usual blood/ guts kinda story. It was brutal in other ways. Think child abuse, not really physical.
Okay, so a crazy dad raising twin girls is teaching them to be survivors. For the end of the world. Making them live of the land by themselves, stranding them hundreds of miles from home, and oh yeah some physical abuse. Both girls are traumatized by him. One wanting to please him, the other not so much. Oh yeah, and dad is a murderer too. Anyways, I never caught neither of the girl's names. Kinda cool how the author didn't have to use names. It was a bit of a slow start, but then I had to keep reading to see what would happen next. I loved it all. Until the end. I wished it ended better. But I get it. The author had their own vision. Heed the Scottish dialect warning in the blurb. I have no clue what dad said most of the time
Going forward..... Spoilers SPOILERS
ahead about some of the cool stuff in this book. A scene where a girl breaks all legs of a rabbit and watches it crawl around before she eats it. Cutting off a man's penis. Buried alive with a pipe to breath through. ( Sidenote to author ... I'm so glad you didn't drag that scene out. I was worried her isolation would have been much longer. It was the right amount of time. Good job)
First of all, thanks to the author for a review copy.
Now onto the review.... This isn't my usual blood/ guts kinda story. It was brutal in other ways. Think child abuse, not really physical.
Okay, so a crazy dad raising twin girls is teaching them to be survivors. For the end of the world. Making them live of the land by themselves, stranding them hundreds of miles from home, and oh yeah some physical abuse. Both girls are traumatized by him. One wanting to please him, the other not so much. Oh yeah, and dad is a murderer too. Anyways, I never caught neither of the girl's names. Kinda cool how the author didn't have to use names. It was a bit of a slow start, but then I had to keep reading to see what would happen next. I loved it all. Until the end. I wished it ended better. But I get it. The author had their own vision. Heed the Scottish dialect warning in the blurb. I have no clue what dad said most of the time
Going forward..... Spoilers SPOILERS
ahead about some of the cool stuff in this book. A scene where a girl breaks all legs of a rabbit and watches it crawl around before she eats it. Cutting off a man's penis. Buried alive with a pipe to breath through. ( Sidenote to author ... I'm so glad you didn't drag that scene out. I was worried her isolation would have been much longer. It was the right amount of time. Good job)
January 19, 2020
This is a very graphic novel, so some may find it hard to read. A father raising twin girls for the end of the world by way of camping and hunting skills and murder sets a dark tone for this Scottish located book. One seems to follow her dads teachings loyally while the narrating one is desperate to escape. Various tests for survival put them among people without their father's constant supervision. There are several violent altercations, some feel a little more torture porn than I prefer. Some of it was a little muddy for me to understand and I found myself skipping pages due to violence overload. Not that I mind it usually, but it felt repetitive in places here. Towards the end it tried to add a supernatural element that felt rushed to me. It was a good read, but not a great one for me.
Read
September 19, 2018ARC kindly provided by the author.
Sorry I can't finish this book, so I can't rate it. Too much violence for me, to much pleasure hurting innocent people (twisted family - a dad and two sisters, American cheap horror movie like). And the language .......wow! no, did not like it at all. Not for me.
Sorry I can't finish this book, so I can't rate it. Too much violence for me, to much pleasure hurting innocent people (twisted family - a dad and two sisters, American cheap horror movie like). And the language .......wow! no, did not like it at all. Not for me.
September 15, 2020
I picked up My Sister and I after I saw it recommended in a book group, and I am glad I did. The blurb was the initial draw for me, and the actual story delivered on that promise. The story is of two teenage twin sisters who have a very rigorous upbringing from their father. We see the story through the eyes of one of the sisters, the docile one, while the other is just as merciless and aggressive as her father. It was interesting how the author has not named any of the three major characters (the sisters and the father), which adds to the mystique of the story. Through the story, the father puts the sisters through grueling tests for survival, which, as the story progressess, become more and more harrowing. The resourceful sisters scrape out of these difficult situations, mostly using violence followed by remorselessness, which are taught to them by their father.
The best part of the book is how the characters progress throughout the story. The sister who narrates the story begins to shift her perspective of her father from being merely an extremely strict father to being a lunatic. The development between the two sisters is also slow and surefooted, which makes the sequence of events in the climax quite a must-read.
I did spot a few grammatical errors, though. There is quite a bit of mixup between the use of 'to' and 'too' and in one place 'spoonful's' (with the apostrophe) is written instead of spoonsful. I would have ignored these errors if the book wasn't so brilliant!
I have already recommended this book to a lot of people. Quite an impressive piece of work. This is not plain horror; it is true dread that creeps up on you.
The best part of the book is how the characters progress throughout the story. The sister who narrates the story begins to shift her perspective of her father from being merely an extremely strict father to being a lunatic. The development between the two sisters is also slow and surefooted, which makes the sequence of events in the climax quite a must-read.
I did spot a few grammatical errors, though. There is quite a bit of mixup between the use of 'to' and 'too' and in one place 'spoonful's' (with the apostrophe) is written instead of spoonsful. I would have ignored these errors if the book wasn't so brilliant!
I have already recommended this book to a lot of people. Quite an impressive piece of work. This is not plain horror; it is true dread that creeps up on you.
May 8, 2019
For fans of psychological horror, this is definitely one of the most twisted books I've read in a while. Admittedly, some of the Scottish lingo was difficult to comprehend, but the tension throughout the book was almost palpable. The psychopathic father raising his young daughters to become killers struck home in a hard way, myself being the father to three daughters. Thomas' writing was raw and gritty, and the story grabbed me from the first page until the final sentence.
September 10, 2018
Title: My Sister and I
Author: Sean-Paul Thomas
Publisher: Paul Thomas Publishing
Date of publication: August 25, 2018
Number of Pages: 211
ASIN: B07GV1LQ88
We Love Quality Books reviews, My Sister and I written by author Sean-Paul Thomas.
My Sister and I, is a Crime, Thriller & Mystery. It is a Fiction/ Women’s Fiction published by Paul Thomas Publishing. Before we start reading the novel, there is a disclaimer that reads, ‘My Sister and I, is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents represented are either the products of the author’s imagination….’
And boy! What an imagination author, Sean-Paul Thomas has. My Sister and I, is a book that can’t be put down once we start reading it. We, @WeLoveQualityBooks, finished the novel in about a day and a half. Why? How? Such questions are relevant ones. And we have only one answer…
My Sister and I, is a book is gripping and unputdownable.
The novel has two protagonists. It is a narration of one of the sisters about her sister and her life. Unlike most of the children their age, the sisters have a tough and rough life. But with grit and spirit, they face the challenges. The novel talks about the special bond that twins share. My Sister and I, also highlights how differently the next generation thinks about parenting. How they always question every instruction parents give the children. It is a different question that the sisters in the novel are quite right in questioning their strict father’s instructions and learning.
Honestly, the father the twins had was quite a repulsive guy. He is the perfect villain that no one can identify with. Two lines are all I can give the villain of the novel. Sean-Paul Thomas, the author of My Sister and I, has done full justice to bring out the darkest shades of the character.
My Sister and I is a very good example of how heredity and environment play an important role in shaping up an individual’s personality. With very similar genetic composition and living in an identical environment, two individuals may turn out to be totally different. My Sister and I by Sean-Paul Thomas makes us think of another hypothesis…
Does self will somehow overrule the heredity and environment theory?
The novel, My Sister and I, is gripping, scary, dark, and fast-paced. It is a book a book lover cannot miss reading. Yes, the book does get dark, but through that darkness, our protagonists find a new light- a new life
Evil exists. My Sister and I, describes that in graphic detail. The novel, however, also points out that after every dark night there is a beautiful morning. After every storm there is peace. After every hopeless event in life, there is a crack of hope.
The novel My Sister and I by Sean-Paul Thomas has excellent team-work with an impressive Cover Design by Andrew Crains. The editing by Hannah Franchesca deserves a special mention. Author Sean-Paul Thomas and his novel My Sister and I, totally deserve full marks.
For this dark and twisted and perfect novel, My Sister and I, we @WeLoveQualityBooks can only think of one score – 5 Stars.
Author: Sean-Paul Thomas
Publisher: Paul Thomas Publishing
Date of publication: August 25, 2018
Number of Pages: 211
ASIN: B07GV1LQ88
We Love Quality Books reviews, My Sister and I written by author Sean-Paul Thomas.
My Sister and I, is a Crime, Thriller & Mystery. It is a Fiction/ Women’s Fiction published by Paul Thomas Publishing. Before we start reading the novel, there is a disclaimer that reads, ‘My Sister and I, is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents represented are either the products of the author’s imagination….’
And boy! What an imagination author, Sean-Paul Thomas has. My Sister and I, is a book that can’t be put down once we start reading it. We, @WeLoveQualityBooks, finished the novel in about a day and a half. Why? How? Such questions are relevant ones. And we have only one answer…
My Sister and I, is a book is gripping and unputdownable.
The novel has two protagonists. It is a narration of one of the sisters about her sister and her life. Unlike most of the children their age, the sisters have a tough and rough life. But with grit and spirit, they face the challenges. The novel talks about the special bond that twins share. My Sister and I, also highlights how differently the next generation thinks about parenting. How they always question every instruction parents give the children. It is a different question that the sisters in the novel are quite right in questioning their strict father’s instructions and learning.
Honestly, the father the twins had was quite a repulsive guy. He is the perfect villain that no one can identify with. Two lines are all I can give the villain of the novel. Sean-Paul Thomas, the author of My Sister and I, has done full justice to bring out the darkest shades of the character.
My Sister and I is a very good example of how heredity and environment play an important role in shaping up an individual’s personality. With very similar genetic composition and living in an identical environment, two individuals may turn out to be totally different. My Sister and I by Sean-Paul Thomas makes us think of another hypothesis…
Does self will somehow overrule the heredity and environment theory?
The novel, My Sister and I, is gripping, scary, dark, and fast-paced. It is a book a book lover cannot miss reading. Yes, the book does get dark, but through that darkness, our protagonists find a new light- a new life
Evil exists. My Sister and I, describes that in graphic detail. The novel, however, also points out that after every dark night there is a beautiful morning. After every storm there is peace. After every hopeless event in life, there is a crack of hope.
The novel My Sister and I by Sean-Paul Thomas has excellent team-work with an impressive Cover Design by Andrew Crains. The editing by Hannah Franchesca deserves a special mention. Author Sean-Paul Thomas and his novel My Sister and I, totally deserve full marks.
For this dark and twisted and perfect novel, My Sister and I, we @WeLoveQualityBooks can only think of one score – 5 Stars.
October 18, 2018
First of all, thanks to Sean-Paul Thomas for sending me a copy of his book in exchange for a honest review.
Also, you have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
Well, I can't say it wasn't an emotional rollercoaster.
I expected some kind of horror given the premises, but all those twists along the plot gave me the chills and they made me furious, anxious and uncomfortable - and it's all the father's fault.
It's a story about a family - about a father who is evil incarnated, about a sister who's likely to become the same since she obeys to him without an objection and about her twin who struggles to stay on the good side even when their father forces them to commit atrocius things.
Because that's his philosophy: to kill or to be killed. According to him, the apocalypse is around the corner and it's all about the survival of the fittest and he believes it's his duty to prepare his daughters for that day - and everything and everyone is a prey.
But is there a limit none of the sisters are willing to cross?
It's a story about how your own family can sometimes rob you of your innocence and your future.
I felt sad for these sisters, even if your relationship isn't exactly sane from time to time and I absolutely hated their father - I was trembling with rage on more than one occasion.
I was shocked and horrified before his violence, before these atrocious things he did that had no sense and that were absolutely out of the blue and an act of pure evil.
Also, animal cruelty made me sick to my stomach - so if you're faint of heart, I don't recommend it to you because this book is very graphic in its details.
The story is made creepier by the lack of dialogue - if you exclude the father's one-way conversations/rants about the apocalypse or the assumed failures of his own daughters.
And I admit I struggled a bit with the Scottish dialect - given that Italian is my mother tongue, I had to take time to adapt myself to the changes.
It's my second book by Sean-Paul and he wrote something that I won't easily forget.
Also, you have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
Well, I can't say it wasn't an emotional rollercoaster.
I expected some kind of horror given the premises, but all those twists along the plot gave me the chills and they made me furious, anxious and uncomfortable - and it's all the father's fault.
It's a story about a family - about a father who is evil incarnated, about a sister who's likely to become the same since she obeys to him without an objection and about her twin who struggles to stay on the good side even when their father forces them to commit atrocius things.
Because that's his philosophy: to kill or to be killed. According to him, the apocalypse is around the corner and it's all about the survival of the fittest and he believes it's his duty to prepare his daughters for that day - and everything and everyone is a prey.
But is there a limit none of the sisters are willing to cross?
It's a story about how your own family can sometimes rob you of your innocence and your future.
I felt sad for these sisters, even if your relationship isn't exactly sane from time to time and I absolutely hated their father - I was trembling with rage on more than one occasion.
I was shocked and horrified before his violence, before these atrocious things he did that had no sense and that were absolutely out of the blue and an act of pure evil.
Also, animal cruelty made me sick to my stomach - so if you're faint of heart, I don't recommend it to you because this book is very graphic in its details.
The story is made creepier by the lack of dialogue - if you exclude the father's one-way conversations/rants about the apocalypse or the assumed failures of his own daughters.
And I admit I struggled a bit with the Scottish dialect - given that Italian is my mother tongue, I had to take time to adapt myself to the changes.
It's my second book by Sean-Paul and he wrote something that I won't easily forget.
March 13, 2019
This review first published on Oh Just Books.
This is my first book by Sean-Paul Thomas and I was so intrigued by the first few pages, and I couldn't stop reading it. I later found out that any single book of his is not indicative of all his writing because he writes all sorts of genres and in all kinds of styles. That just makes me want to read more of his stuff!
This book is pure horror. Make no mistakes about it. And not the airy, breezy, casual kind either. This is hardcore stuff. The trigger warning for this book is not to be taken lightly. It is weird and gruesome and progressively more terrifying. A survivalist father with two preteen daughters, teaching them how to survive in the great outdoors with nothing but the clothes on your back. It isn't exactly easy, because he's harsh. And deluded. And murderous. Oh, and he's police, too. That makes it an altogether scarier concept because traditionally, a policeman or a father figure is someone you can trust in such stories. Not here.
*A review copy was provided to Oh Just Books by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Read the rest of the review here.
This is my first book by Sean-Paul Thomas and I was so intrigued by the first few pages, and I couldn't stop reading it. I later found out that any single book of his is not indicative of all his writing because he writes all sorts of genres and in all kinds of styles. That just makes me want to read more of his stuff!
This book is pure horror. Make no mistakes about it. And not the airy, breezy, casual kind either. This is hardcore stuff. The trigger warning for this book is not to be taken lightly. It is weird and gruesome and progressively more terrifying. A survivalist father with two preteen daughters, teaching them how to survive in the great outdoors with nothing but the clothes on your back. It isn't exactly easy, because he's harsh. And deluded. And murderous. Oh, and he's police, too. That makes it an altogether scarier concept because traditionally, a policeman or a father figure is someone you can trust in such stories. Not here.
*A review copy was provided to Oh Just Books by the author in exchange for an honest review*
Read the rest of the review here.
December 3, 2018
Thank you to Sean-Paul Thomas for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have to say that horror is not my usual genre. That being said, I actually thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the dialect being in a lot of broad Scottish, spoken mostly by the father. The young twin daughters being raised by him, to be just like him. Cold and ruthless, yet able to handle and take care of themselves in the worst of circumstances. I was drawn to this book in the first sentence and could not put it down until the last sentence. It is heartbreaking and evil and sad with a little hopeful all at the same time. Not for young readers or faint of heart, but an excellent read.
I have to say that horror is not my usual genre. That being said, I actually thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the dialect being in a lot of broad Scottish, spoken mostly by the father. The young twin daughters being raised by him, to be just like him. Cold and ruthless, yet able to handle and take care of themselves in the worst of circumstances. I was drawn to this book in the first sentence and could not put it down until the last sentence. It is heartbreaking and evil and sad with a little hopeful all at the same time. Not for young readers or faint of heart, but an excellent read.
September 20, 2018
I received an ARC from the author in return for an honest review.
Wow. This is dark and perhaps the darkest book so far from Sean-Paul Thomas. I love the way that whatever genre he writes he evokes the atmospheric feel of where it is set. I could feel the isolation and have to say I was impressed with this book. Two twin sisters, one fighting against the evil of her father and the other trying everything to gain her father's approval. As the father goes off the rails more and more something has to give.
Wow. This is dark and perhaps the darkest book so far from Sean-Paul Thomas. I love the way that whatever genre he writes he evokes the atmospheric feel of where it is set. I could feel the isolation and have to say I was impressed with this book. Two twin sisters, one fighting against the evil of her father and the other trying everything to gain her father's approval. As the father goes off the rails more and more something has to give.
March 9, 2021
The synopsis describes this book as "not for the faint of heart", and that is not something to be taken lightly. This book is true horror, using some of the worst nightmares people have to craft this story. The book takes place in the Scottish Highlands, so expect a very strong Scottish dialect in the writing, especially when the father of the sisters is speaking. This book is part survival story, part serial killer tale, and part mysterious family drama that will make you hold on to your loved ones just a bit more closely than before.
October 7, 2018
I received this book for a fair review by the author. Judging by the cover, you know that this will be a great Halloween read. My sister and I features a twin, and by default her twin sister. They are rarely apart, being looked after by their father. Not a book with a lot of names, but it wasn't necessary.
My Sister and I are graphically violent and thought provoking to me. I admire the exploration between nature and nurture (what better way to show human behaviour in its most basic?). As the long synopsis goes, they have a weird and sadistic father.
It is not how the book starts and ends, it is the journey towards a certain comprehension. Very well done, definitely a must read.
My Sister and I are graphically violent and thought provoking to me. I admire the exploration between nature and nurture (what better way to show human behaviour in its most basic?). As the long synopsis goes, they have a weird and sadistic father.
It is not how the book starts and ends, it is the journey towards a certain comprehension. Very well done, definitely a must read.
April 28, 2019
Gory but brilliant
This is first book I’ve read by this author and was not disappointed. Although dark, gory and shocking....I was utterly hooked from the start.
This is first book I’ve read by this author and was not disappointed. Although dark, gory and shocking....I was utterly hooked from the start.
March 12, 2020
A Thriller/horror story will completely satisfy fans of the genre.
Set in Scotland - 2 twin young teen girls have an insanely abusive father. His methods of raising them include survival challenges that grown increasingly more horrific. Their past as well is shrouded in mystery and their home is secluded from the world so the father can do what he pleases to raise the young teens in the manner he wants. A perverted "father (always) knows best". The two sisters are devoted to one another. They have no choice because they have only known each other so it is a symbiotic bond that runs deep in order to keep their sanity with the chaos surrounding the diabolical father.
This is an issue that is current and real. Netflix shows such as the Trials of Gabriel Fernandez and news stories about children kept in abusive situations for years before discovery make a story like this all too real.
There is Scottish dialogue especially from the father, but I found it quite easy to read and not off putting, in fact it made the father even more alive to me and also very scary.
Well written and not easy to forget though some of the bloodier horror scenes can make some readers squeamish, I recommend this book to those who enjoy a page turner with shocking twists and ending.
Set in Scotland - 2 twin young teen girls have an insanely abusive father. His methods of raising them include survival challenges that grown increasingly more horrific. Their past as well is shrouded in mystery and their home is secluded from the world so the father can do what he pleases to raise the young teens in the manner he wants. A perverted "father (always) knows best". The two sisters are devoted to one another. They have no choice because they have only known each other so it is a symbiotic bond that runs deep in order to keep their sanity with the chaos surrounding the diabolical father.
This is an issue that is current and real. Netflix shows such as the Trials of Gabriel Fernandez and news stories about children kept in abusive situations for years before discovery make a story like this all too real.
There is Scottish dialogue especially from the father, but I found it quite easy to read and not off putting, in fact it made the father even more alive to me and also very scary.
Well written and not easy to forget though some of the bloodier horror scenes can make some readers squeamish, I recommend this book to those who enjoy a page turner with shocking twists and ending.
Read
March 11, 2019zero stars
October 15, 2018
I am giving this a top star rating because it is engaging, well-composed and an undeniably excellent example of its type; and that’s the criteria I use for scoring good books. This review will make it pretty clear though that I don’t like the genre and would be much happier if I hadn’t read it. If you enjoy unapologetic horror of physicality and the mind, this has my full recommendation. If not, run.
I had to question why I was reading this novel as firstly I’m a sci-fi reviewer and this is very firmly at the sickening dead centre of the horror category and secondly I’ve never been able to fully recover from my own experience of being trapped in a room and hurt. Well, I know the answer to part one is that Sean-Paul Thomas’s last book (The Old Man and the Princess) had a science fiction metaphor element and got a good review from me, so when the author asked if I was interested in reading his latest work I said “sure, why not?” It wasn’t more of the same. I don’t feel content or even emotionally stable after finishing this. It is shocking horror, gruesome and uncharismatic to the level where two of the characters have diverged so far that they have no place in the human race.
It also has these moments where things are calm and people are civilised, then the next intention is revealed and something drops in the pit of your stomach like the floor’s been taken out from under you. These are the lead character’s little tests. To avoid spoilers, the analogy would be that scene in the Luc Besson film Nikita where the suave guy appears holding a cocktail dress, takes his trainee agent to a restaurant on her birthday, orders the meal, hands her a gift-wrapped present, she opens it with her big, starry eyes full of romantic possibilities and he tells her it’s a gun and to shoot the customer sitting behind him. That’s a film in which people’s demises are simple and clean. In this book, everything’s a bludgeoning struggle of incomprehension.
If you were in fear for your life, highly vulnerable and a policeman arrived, you’d be so thankful, wouldn’t you? Well, this book doesn’t work like that. The emotional pit-falls and wrenches that this author sets up are palpable, the sure sign of the writer being an expert at what he does. The ideas come from a very dark place though, a heady mix of grim and imaginative that makes you queasy like a dollop of blood ice-cream. The suggestion that this behaviour is multi-generational is even more horrifying, an echo of the real historical person Sawney Bean and his shocking family nest of cannibals.
This is dark stuff, trying and succeeding at being real, gritty and twisted. I hope the author is able to step back from this and leave it in the realm of imaginary fiction because if anyone reads his book and is tempted to play any of it out (like they did with The Diceman, by Luke Reinhart) then society has a problem. It brings a pressure on the psyche, not fear as such but a questioning of how something this awful could ever exist in our world – but of course we know monsters (all the real monsters are human) are out there and do get away with their unholy activities for decades. The murderous human mind is a difficult opponent because it can cover up, deceive and hide in plain sight. I’m unsure if it’s true but I heard somewhere that psychopaths have either very low IQs or exceptionally high IQs, both thinking humans are just moving objects, the more intelligent examples only being caught when they secretly want to be caught. Lovely.
Sean-Paul Thomas is clearly an impressive writer and I can see he has what it takes to become mainstream famous. He can write a story that manipulates the emotions and genuinely upsets in a realistic way, where the reader knows a lot of it is genuinely, dirty finger nails, possible (if rare, thankfully). Perhaps it wouldn’t all happen at once or come from the same source and the police would be down on it like a ton of bricks, but fiction does allow events to be concentrated for sustained impact.
Setting this tale in Scotland and drawing upon the glorifying mythos of bone-skulled Glaswegian fighting men is another master-stroke because, again, it’s one place on Earth where the mutilating barbaric attitude would not be out of kilter. I’m not sure that nutters like this exist in Scotland now, but they certainly did in the last century. The huge lesson for me is, in future, I must check the synopsis before I accept any more books for review. The cover image should pretty quickly sort out the kind of people who will like this story versus the wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous wee beasties like me. I found the story unsettling, I was shocked at times and felt anxiety throughout. As imparting those emotions is the entire point of a horror novel, I can’t see anything incorrect to criticise in this, so have been cornered by my own stupid rulebook.
I had to question why I was reading this novel as firstly I’m a sci-fi reviewer and this is very firmly at the sickening dead centre of the horror category and secondly I’ve never been able to fully recover from my own experience of being trapped in a room and hurt. Well, I know the answer to part one is that Sean-Paul Thomas’s last book (The Old Man and the Princess) had a science fiction metaphor element and got a good review from me, so when the author asked if I was interested in reading his latest work I said “sure, why not?” It wasn’t more of the same. I don’t feel content or even emotionally stable after finishing this. It is shocking horror, gruesome and uncharismatic to the level where two of the characters have diverged so far that they have no place in the human race.
It also has these moments where things are calm and people are civilised, then the next intention is revealed and something drops in the pit of your stomach like the floor’s been taken out from under you. These are the lead character’s little tests. To avoid spoilers, the analogy would be that scene in the Luc Besson film Nikita where the suave guy appears holding a cocktail dress, takes his trainee agent to a restaurant on her birthday, orders the meal, hands her a gift-wrapped present, she opens it with her big, starry eyes full of romantic possibilities and he tells her it’s a gun and to shoot the customer sitting behind him. That’s a film in which people’s demises are simple and clean. In this book, everything’s a bludgeoning struggle of incomprehension.
If you were in fear for your life, highly vulnerable and a policeman arrived, you’d be so thankful, wouldn’t you? Well, this book doesn’t work like that. The emotional pit-falls and wrenches that this author sets up are palpable, the sure sign of the writer being an expert at what he does. The ideas come from a very dark place though, a heady mix of grim and imaginative that makes you queasy like a dollop of blood ice-cream. The suggestion that this behaviour is multi-generational is even more horrifying, an echo of the real historical person Sawney Bean and his shocking family nest of cannibals.
This is dark stuff, trying and succeeding at being real, gritty and twisted. I hope the author is able to step back from this and leave it in the realm of imaginary fiction because if anyone reads his book and is tempted to play any of it out (like they did with The Diceman, by Luke Reinhart) then society has a problem. It brings a pressure on the psyche, not fear as such but a questioning of how something this awful could ever exist in our world – but of course we know monsters (all the real monsters are human) are out there and do get away with their unholy activities for decades. The murderous human mind is a difficult opponent because it can cover up, deceive and hide in plain sight. I’m unsure if it’s true but I heard somewhere that psychopaths have either very low IQs or exceptionally high IQs, both thinking humans are just moving objects, the more intelligent examples only being caught when they secretly want to be caught. Lovely.
Sean-Paul Thomas is clearly an impressive writer and I can see he has what it takes to become mainstream famous. He can write a story that manipulates the emotions and genuinely upsets in a realistic way, where the reader knows a lot of it is genuinely, dirty finger nails, possible (if rare, thankfully). Perhaps it wouldn’t all happen at once or come from the same source and the police would be down on it like a ton of bricks, but fiction does allow events to be concentrated for sustained impact.
Setting this tale in Scotland and drawing upon the glorifying mythos of bone-skulled Glaswegian fighting men is another master-stroke because, again, it’s one place on Earth where the mutilating barbaric attitude would not be out of kilter. I’m not sure that nutters like this exist in Scotland now, but they certainly did in the last century. The huge lesson for me is, in future, I must check the synopsis before I accept any more books for review. The cover image should pretty quickly sort out the kind of people who will like this story versus the wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous wee beasties like me. I found the story unsettling, I was shocked at times and felt anxiety throughout. As imparting those emotions is the entire point of a horror novel, I can’t see anything incorrect to criticise in this, so have been cornered by my own stupid rulebook.
November 24, 2018
Jeezo, I love a bit of dark depravity fiction, but this was absolutely merciless.
Imagine one of those mental guys you meet in the pub, the ones with the unsettling glint in their eye that tells you they would have absolutely no problem taking you outside and stabbing you for a laugh. Imagine that guy colder, lonelier, more sadistic, less human. Imagine that guy with two twin girls he’s training up to become just like him. You just wouldn’t want to, but Thomas will make you.
The narrative here is what gets me the most. Written in first person, from the perspective of the gentler twin, it’s all thoughts and descriptions, with a lack of dialogue. This made the unfolding of the plot all the more terrifying; being unable to tell how the more violent sister was going to react next was utterly disquieting.
There’s a particularly fast pace here, which was excellent. The girls are no sooner released from some form of ‘survival training’ nightmare before being plunged into their next woeful task. The appearances of the clearly mentally ill father are sporadic, frightful, and completely concerning. His beliefs, his upbringing, and his treatment of his daughters, all point towards something we hope we’ll never encounter in our own lifetimes.
It says a lot about our parents, and the people they bring us up to be - that age old nature vs. nurture debate which is destined never to be solved. Thomas hints subtly that we are all products of our parents’ design, but that outside factors can intervene, and in each of us is a true sense of right and wrong, regardless of what we’ve been taught.
Thomas also forces us to consider the lengths we would go to to survive. He gives the girls impossible situations to escape from, and it’s with shame I admit I simply wouldn’t make it. Thank god my da is the type who will wash my car every weekend and tap me money, instead of sending me out into the wilderness to fend for myself.
My only criticism would be that I felt the finale was rounded up far too quickly, with some loose ends in there I wanted tied up (I won’t go into detail as that will mean spoilers). Or maybe I just wanted it to last longer.
You don’t get many horror novels set in the Scottish Highlands, and this one from Thomas was perfect. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this.
Imagine one of those mental guys you meet in the pub, the ones with the unsettling glint in their eye that tells you they would have absolutely no problem taking you outside and stabbing you for a laugh. Imagine that guy colder, lonelier, more sadistic, less human. Imagine that guy with two twin girls he’s training up to become just like him. You just wouldn’t want to, but Thomas will make you.
The narrative here is what gets me the most. Written in first person, from the perspective of the gentler twin, it’s all thoughts and descriptions, with a lack of dialogue. This made the unfolding of the plot all the more terrifying; being unable to tell how the more violent sister was going to react next was utterly disquieting.
There’s a particularly fast pace here, which was excellent. The girls are no sooner released from some form of ‘survival training’ nightmare before being plunged into their next woeful task. The appearances of the clearly mentally ill father are sporadic, frightful, and completely concerning. His beliefs, his upbringing, and his treatment of his daughters, all point towards something we hope we’ll never encounter in our own lifetimes.
It says a lot about our parents, and the people they bring us up to be - that age old nature vs. nurture debate which is destined never to be solved. Thomas hints subtly that we are all products of our parents’ design, but that outside factors can intervene, and in each of us is a true sense of right and wrong, regardless of what we’ve been taught.
Thomas also forces us to consider the lengths we would go to to survive. He gives the girls impossible situations to escape from, and it’s with shame I admit I simply wouldn’t make it. Thank god my da is the type who will wash my car every weekend and tap me money, instead of sending me out into the wilderness to fend for myself.
My only criticism would be that I felt the finale was rounded up far too quickly, with some loose ends in there I wanted tied up (I won’t go into detail as that will mean spoilers). Or maybe I just wanted it to last longer.
You don’t get many horror novels set in the Scottish Highlands, and this one from Thomas was perfect. Thank you so much for allowing me to read this.
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