Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach, Feb. 2017
Dolan-Leach’s debut is a story about two estranged, identical 25 yr. old twins, Ava and Zelda, who have had a falling out two years previous over a young man. Ava, furious with her sister and her dysfunctional, alcoholic parents, leaves her family behind and takes off for Paris. Surprised by an overwrought email from her detached mother, Ava is informed that Zelda has perished in a fire. Or has she? Ava can’t quite feel that her twin is dead, plus shortly after her mother’s email, Ava begins receiving cryptic emails from her sister, goading her, and leading her on an alphabetical scavenger hunt of sorts which unleashes all kinds of family secrets. At center-stage throughout the novel are the circumstances leading up to the death (or disappearance of Zelda), and Ava’s subsequent quest to discover and decipher the clues Zelda has left behind for her twin. Dolan-Leach skillfully maintains the tension in this fast-paced psychological novel which will keep readers flipping pages as fast as they can.

An interesting mystery surrounding dis-functional family, twin relationships, the past and the present, dementia, and sisters whose identities are opposite sides of the coin.

Dead Letters is one of those rare mysteries that have you guessing what exactly happened until the end of the book. This book will suck you in while Ava goes on a scavenger hunt that was orchestrated by her twin sister, Zelda. What the scavenger hunt reveals and what it forces Ava to face is what makes this book so good.

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This isn’t one of those fun mysteries with likable characters and a happy ending. Not even close. This has to have been one of the saddest, complex books that I have read to date. Ava’s family has to be one of the more dysfunctional ones in all the books that I have read to date.



What I liked about this book was that it truly was a mystery and that the author had no qualms about throwing out red herrings left and right. Just when I thought I had the mystery of what happened to Zelda pegged, the book went in a totally different direction and totally screwed me up. This happened two times and both times, I had to put my Kindle Paperwhite down because the shock just got to me…both times. Well done, Caite, well done.

I was truly on the fence about liking Ava. She came across as so uncaring with her mother, father and grandmother (but she does have her reasons why) but when it comes to Zelda, the emotions just can’t stop. I do think that the scavenger hunt was maybe a little unfair to Ava but Zelda wanted to make a point. And oh boy, did she.

Marlon and Nadine were detestable as parents. Whenever Ava started to think about her past, all she could think about was how her father was checked out most of the time (and I mean checked out mentally) and how she had to walk on eggshells around her mother. No wonder the girls turned out the way they did.

I also should point out that the author did a great job portraying what living with an alcoholic is like and what growing up as a child of a functioning alcoholic is like and what it is like to be a caregiver to someone with dementia. Not easy subjects to talk or write about but she did it beautifully.

The end of a book was a huge surprise in two ways. Not going to ruin it for anyone but I had to get up and walk around after the 2nd surprise came around. Then I sat down and went “W.T.H.”

How many stars will I give Dead Letters: 4

Why: I really enjoyed reading this book. I couldn’t put it down. I had to find out about what happened to Zelda, why Ava was the way she was and everything else in the book. Truly captivating.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Language. Also scenes of verbal abuse (which could be triggers in some people), drug use and some mild sex scenes

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

3.5 stars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the onset I was intrigued by the story, but although it was an easy read, the story got a little thin. The family became somewhat cliche but if were laying on a beach this would be a great book. A fun, light read with nice language and style.

Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach is a boozy familial novel whose highlights include outstanding dysfunction, a family tradition of addictions and personal failings, and the duality of twin love and rivalry.

Ava and Zelda Antipova, twins borne to an alcoholic, unstable mother & a grandiose but disappointing father, grow up around the Finger Lakes of New York. Raised with few rules and fewer memories of happy parental units, Ava and Zelda rely on each other - and what happiness they glean from the family vineyard - as they grow up...

...until, of course, a betrayal drives Ava from home, all the way to Paris, France, where she is relieved to be free of her highly dysfunctional family. However, when her mother calls, with news that Zelda is dead, Ava returns home...only to find that Zelda may not be dead after all. Is Zelda playing one of her clever games to draw in Ava? As Ava seeks clues and answers to the riddles Zelda has apparently left behind, she also must finally confront her family's past, present and not so bright future in order to molt herself of her burdens.

I'm conflicted on how to rate this story. On one hand, it delivers a fairly decent family drama, which i usually appreciate in general. Ava is decently characterized, as is Zelda, and their back story is interesting, albeit not altogether original. However, its core is too unpolished for it to stand alone as a family drama, but nor does it fully developed as a suspense sort of book...Zelda's game go round and round in a rather dull circle, with the conclusion neither surprising or all that clever. However, Ava as the narrator is just self destructive & flawed enough to the pages turning...so a weak 3/5 stars overall.

Verdict: While the book description has the potential reader imagining a more suspenseful novel, Dead Letters falls short of a good thrill.

I have to tell you that this was pretty depressing - it's a family with a multitude of secrets, all of whom are also alcoholics. When her twin is presumed dead, Ava descends back on the family home to complete chaos -- her absent father has shown up along with her ever critical grandmother and her mother has spiraled even further into dementia. No one in this family is helping each other and no one seems very concerned about her sister's death. I just felt like the interactions were very unusual as well as the responses to events. I had a hard time connecting with this or suspending my disbelief for the events that occur. There is an underlying thriller aspect to this, which I did like but definitely a hard read.

Dead Letters comes out later this month on February 21, 2017, and you can purchase HERE.

Burned alive on the summer solstice. With the charred remnants in plain sight of half the windows in the house, where my mother can't help being reminded of Zelda, even with her brain half rotted and her liver more than half pickled. My sister couldn't have contrived a more appropriate death if she planned it herself. Indeed.

I am rather torn in my review for this debut novelist (thank you Net Galley). On the one hand, Dolan-Leach has created a creative and intriguing plot line. Identical twin sisters, estranged for two years, are brought back 'together' through the seeming death of the eldest one, Zelda. Ava, the younger twin, is led on an alphabetical chase through her past, attempting to uncover what happened to Zelda, while at the same time trying to draw some conclusions about her own life and past decisions. Dolan-Leach segues through time, jumping around a bit much, as she tries to draw the strings together. The characters are not wholly sympathetic, which is not a prerequisite for me, yet I would have liked to see more depth with not only the two girls, but also some of the peripheral characters. Although the voice of the girls was sassy and appealing, I felt no connection to either, thus prohibiting me from cheering on either one of them. The ultra-long paragraphs hurt my high-school teacher's heart; it was at times like reading a student's essay and wanting to put the paragraph editing symbol in to remind her to create more of those little beauties. I was ultimately disappointed in what I saw as a rather cliche ending, but I do have hope for the second of this author's book as I see great potential in her creative plot development.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was a nice departure from murder and crime that I am used to reading. It was an interesting story, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

My only complaint is that the chapters felt LONG.. it was an okay read in the end.

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

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

Soon after Ava’s return, she begins to receive emails and letters from her supposedly dead twin. Zelda has created a game for Ava to play, slowly feeding her pieces that relate to each letter of the alphabet from A(Ava) to Z (Zelda). As the mystery unfolds, more and more comes to light about self righteous Ava and her extremely dysfunctional family.

I almost gave up on this one in the beginning because I hated the characters. However, the more I read, the more I got sucked into their twisted world. I began to better understand who Ava and Zelda were and what made them into what they had become. While the mystery gets a bit outlandish, it held my attention and even though I suspected the outcome, it was still rather jarring and surprisingly emotional.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DEAD LETTERS was supposed to be the story of a dysfunctional family focusing primarily on the relationship between twin sisters and their parents, all of whom are alcoholics engaged in the one- upsmanship of silly mind games, disparaging commentary, and dark family secrets. Their family owned winery has fallen on hard times, the family has splintered and now a death has occurred. All these disastrous events were predictable considering the mindset of this group.

The novel is partially epistolary as one sister, Zelda, attempts to get Ava to return to the old family homestead from Paris where she has been for two years following a rift. Eva does return following a catastrophic event and begins her journey of discovery into what has happened during her absence.

While the narrative itself is convincing and a relatively compelling read, I could have done without all the political commentary. It was easy to ascertain in which political camp this author has set up her tent. With comments that do nothing to advance the story line such as: “I manage pointing at the high school track sweatshirt and I know the back of the shirt will say “Darling” in white letters and the front will have “Senecas” the name of the team, scrawled across it. There is a RACIST drawing of a Native American in the headdress beneath the letters” (and exactly how is that is relevant to the story and when did we begin to see everything – even a school sweatshirt as being racially motivated?) OR “It’s still warm: summers have been getting hotter and hotter here, though many of our die-hard Republican neighbors still refuse to comment on why this might be” (global warming - - - oops I mean climate change anyone?) OR “I chose Josefina, who was a recent addition to the American Girl family of dolls -a gesture of racial diversity after the dazzling whiteness of Kirsten, Samantha and Molly - - amazing how “vaguely Slavic” and “Mexican” look the same in the American Girl universe”). Well you get the picture. Why oh why do authors feel the need to advance their politically motivated agendas in novels, especially when they have nothing at all to do with the story?

I read “novels” for pleasure. If I want to be apprised of someone’s political stance I will CHOOSE to read non-fiction.

I received this advanced reader copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Very rarely a book comes along that lives up to its promise. This book is a thriller. In every sense of the word. In the end, though, for people like me, who have in some way or another, lived parts of a story of codependent alcoholism, the thrill ride has overtones of sad melancholy and maybe, wisdom, as well.

I applaud Caite Dolan-Leach. For a first novel, this book was absolutely incredibly intelligent. At first, it put on pretentious airs and I thought it was going to be one of those haute literary things I hate. But as soon as you brought that city girl Ava back to the country, to her roots, to where everything begins and unravels at the same time, she quickly devolved into who she fled, back to those old codependent coping mechanisms that keep you alive while draining the life and soul out of you.

<i>You know, you can start all kinds of relationships in your life. . .But you only start life once. And you start it with a limited number of people. Those people, they do something to you.</i>

For those who think you know "family", think again. And as soon as it hits shelves, pick this book up. This one is well worth it.

Thank you to Caite Dolan-Leach, Random House and NetGalley for giving me the privilege to read it pre-publication. I am honored.

I don't really know what to say about this one. It wasn't really all that suspenseful, which is strange because the idea was fantastic. What really made it a struggle for me is the fact that I couldn't stand ANY of the characters, especially Ava, the protagonist... Really disappointing. And that's all I have to say about that.

This was an exciting read. I was on the edge of my seat while reading this. I have never read a book like this.

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

Then she receives the news that her twin sister, Zelda, is dead and she must return to upstate New York. Her sister has burned to death in the family barn. Or did she. Ava starts getting e-mails from her sister which starts her on a scavenger hunt forcing her to relive their twisted history. She knows Zelda is just capable of doing this.

This story of an alcoholic family and all their faults provides a great backdrop for the twistedness of these two sisters. It is impeccably written and one that I found I could not put down. It had me going back and forth. Was Zelda dead or wasn't she? The fact that the chains were locked on the door when the barn burned down were proof she was in there, or was it her? The e-mails and the letters left by her were proof she was alive. And, why was she doing this to her sister? Why did she go to Paris? There were so many questions going through my head while I was reading this. A wonderfully entertaining and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Random House for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really intriguing psychological thriller, and it kept me reading to the last page. I had some idea of what was coming, but not the whole answer. For that, I give full credit to the author. My only problem with this book is that I really didn't like any of the characters much--not even the main character. I read on because I wanted to find out what happened (and because I wanted to be able to write a review), but I am not sure that I cared or enjoyed it all that much.

A middling mystery riding the current wave of female-centered books. Twins, dysfunctional families, alcoholism, plus a healthy dose of French stereotypes because why not? It doesn't offend, but it doesn't defend its own existence either.

Thanks Random House Publishing Group - Random House and netgalley for this ARC.

Mistaken identity, family drama, and intrigue all rolled around in wine and Paris- what more can you ask for?

Great debut thriller involving twin sisters Ava and Zelda. The narrator Ava lives and is studying in Paris until she is called home by her mother with the news that her twin sister has been killed in a fire. The twins had been estranged for a few years due to a betrayal by Zelda. Shortly after returning home Ava starts getting text message clues from her purportedly dead sister-each clue a letter of the alphabet from a-z.. Her family's dysfunctionality is highlighted given that her father left a long time ago and her mother suffers from dementia but still is able to cause trouble. Ava believes (being a twin) that she would have known if her sister is dead. The mystery of Zelda's supposed death is both dark and mysterious and may well have something to do with the issues surrounding the family. A great page turner.

Twisted story. I was left guessing until the last page.