Brother/Sister is a tale about one messed-up sibling relationship. It's told in dual narrative with Will and Asheley taking it in turns to narrate a chapter each. The whole thing is told as if the reader is a police officer the characters are directly speaking to, a style which compliments the whole 'unreliable narrator' vibe of the book perfectly. Short chapters give the story a sense of urgency and this is one of the reasons I got so sucked into the book that I read it all in one sitting. It builds slowly at first but things switch suddenly, and after that I was compelled to keep reading to find out what happened next.
I already liked the book a lot before I was even halfway through, mainly due to how down-to-earth and realistic the characters seemed. Then the plot got good and I liked it even more, and then I reached the last line.
I genuinely thought about two-thirds of the way through that I knew how it was going to end. Nope. Not even close. Never have I experienced such a chill when reading the end of a book before. I had to read the last line twice before I actually processed it and then my instant thought was 'Wow'. Trust me when I say the ending changes everything and in the most brilliant way possible. Everything you thought you knew about the characters is instantly tinged with doubt. I normally don't worry about spoilers in these reviews but really, this is something you have to experience yourself first-hand. But kudos to the writer for pulling it off so brilliantly.
One thing I do think it's important to address is the whole 'incest' thing. Let me be clear-there's no graphic portrayal of incest in this book. For the large majority of it, Will and Ash's relationship is unhealthy but basically innocent, with only vague hints to suggest there might be something untoward about it. Towards the end however, it does skew towards the more uncomfortable end of the spectrum and there is a lot of creepy emotions going on. If incest bothers you then I would probably suggest not reading this book but it is definitely not a book about incest in itself.
Ultimately, I adored this book. It has a compelling yet fairly straightforward plot, a narrative style which keeps to the point yet still manages to build atmosphere and characters whose POV is fascinating to read from. The ending, like I said, is truly haunting and I can guarantee that you will be thinking about this book for a while after you've finished it.
Overall Score:
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