You Can't Stay Away From These Van Apfel Sisters |Book review|

 

|They will hook you and keep you up till you're sure your nose tickled right|

It was a gloomy dripping day in post-monsoon August, 2019. I had just finished reading another romance novel. “Three down!” I told myself, smiling victoriously. I had set my reading mile to complete atleast ten novels in that month. I was happy with my progress but not content to choose a book from my open, sturdy and heavy acacia wood bookshelf. I hadn’t decided what next I would be reading but I was sure I wouldn’t be picking another romance scilicet. I was filled with enough love. Enough drooling after fit, lean, boyish men. Creatures who made me cheer for them. Siblings and couples who made me cry. I was up for something – different. A mystery, that would soak me in like Gone Girl. As I was in my wanderlust, the pretty cover yanked me down. I hadn’t noticed until my eyes fell on the peach spine. I said, “Oh, I didn’t see you,” I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to read then. I was thinking about some other book. But this one, this book made me stare and said, “For the love of God! Take me now, you oaf!” I grabbed without another word.

Felicity McLean’s The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a mystery fiction set in Australia where Tikka, an assistant lab technician, recounts the memories of babysitting the three young suburban Van Apfel sisters – Ruth, Hannah and Cordelia. Sharing, laughing and whispering rumours with her eccentric neighbour, Tikka thought she knew everything about them. But how wrong could she be, when the Van Apfel sisters disappear suddenly by the river during their school’s Showstopper concert at an outdoor amphitheatre in summer of 1992. She recollects the events with her older sister, Laura. The days they spent listening to their baffling personal thoughts, especially Cordelia, who kept getting scandalous attention from everyone and witnessed disturbing situations inside the Van Apfel’s home. Still, they continued their friendship. Tikka thought she was their only trusted ally. But seems she wasn’t the only one. Tikka ventures into the moment, the night, all three of them vanished. Unsettled, Tikka is determined she can solve this case.

Title: The Van Apfel Girls are Gone

Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense, Fiction

Author: Felicity McLean

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Publication date: January 1, 2019

Where you can buy? Click here

I was blown away by the prologue. It gave me goosebumps, a thrill that was yet to take place. It wasn’t possible for me to savor slow. I paced in a curiosity from then on. Narration in Tikka’s voice, is absolutely endearing. It felt as if I was walking behind her, following the clues the Van Apfel sisters left to pick up from. The flow waves in expressions like they are used to hype a reader’s imagination, giving a vibe you would know how the atmosphere amplifies as scenarios intensify. It was easy to read. But, sometimes, had to bounce back to the lines I didn’t get. The dialogues are dark, funny and edgy, which makes it more interesting to linger on. The plot gets better as scenes suggestively shrill. Characters are superbly written. In a created close community, they are given personalities which would make you think each of them maybe is a suspect. Someone is hiding a secret. Someone knows something about the sisters but stays in shadow. They will hook you and keep you up till you’re sure your nose tickled right. I kept on reading through, pointing fingers at potential suspects. As much fun it was racking up the clues, I was inherent to reach the ending, eagerly wanting to know what the trio was planning.

Coming to my favourite characters, Cordelia takes the spot. She reminded me a lot like Alison DiLaurentis from the drama sitcom, Pretty Little Liars. Care-free, brash, nonchalant and a rule-breaker, she enchants and dominates over the rest that makes a reason to stick on. I loved the younger one, Ruth. She is cute, too curious and funny at times that I couldn’t help but love her. Tikka definitely makes it interesting as she throws herself in the case. She is a serious heroine, resonating almost like Debra Morgan from psychological thriller TV series, Dexter . My favourite scene was the birthday party where Hannah, Ruth, Tikka, Laura and other girls awkwardly watch Cordelia dancing seductively. Here’s a passage that reads,

“Cordie dance towards it in the dark and positioned herself under its spotlight. She began to dance with more purpose, more intensity than before.”

I really felt my hair standing up at the back of my neck, curiously waiting to know what was going to happen when one of the girls alarmed somewhere outside, a light beamed on her direction as if someone was, surreptitiously, watching her dance.

All in all, I finished reading this mind-boggling fiction in four days. What? You don’t believe me? Here’s my proof.

Image credit: Priyanka Patra for Priyanka's Book Gallery

Felicity McLean has mould ‘surprise’ in a different shape. She doesn’t spare original charades but has rather redefined 'mystery'. The author will make you gorge in a drama that normally isn’t what you have always been familiar with. This novel is fresh, eccentric and engrossing that will make you question more and speculate theories until the end (and the sisters) waits for you with a shocking revelation.

Priyanka Patra is a self-published writer of Upon Me. She lives in Odisha, India with her family in a small town. She has done her MBA in Marketing & HR from Birla Global University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. She is aiming to write more books especially in fiction genre.