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The Gemini Game
Susanna Kearsley
Hardcover: Dimensions (in inches): 8.00 x
0.75 x
5.75
Publisher: Avalon Books/Thomas Bouregy &
Company; (1994)
ISBN: 080349047X
Number of Pages: 183
Cover Illustration by Ernie Albanese
Cover Design by Gordon Haber
Out of print and extremely hard to find |
Cover Blurb:
"After the death of her
grandfather,
Karen Caldwell fled Seven Oaks, leaving
her family and its prestigious thoroughbred stables -- as well as the
bad
memories -- behind. She moved north to Pittsburgh, started a
successful
clothing business, and began a new life. Now, eight years later,
another death mysteriously summons her home.
"But her family is not pleased
by her
sudden reappearance, and no one
will admit to sending her the telegram informing her of her brother
Alec's
death. When Nick, Alec's twin, hints that the death was no
accident,
Karen's search to uncover the truth leads her deep into a web of deceit
and family secrets.
"To make matters worse, when Karen begins
to have "accidents" of her
own, she finds that the only person she can trust is the irritating but
seemingly honest stable manager, Greg Slater ..."
About the Author:
"Three years ago, at the age
of
twenty-five, Susanna Kearsley left her
job as curator of a museum village to devote more time to her
writing.
When she isn't travelling in search of new settings for her novels, she
lives quietly in the lakeside town of Port Elgin, Ontario, where she
spends
her spare time reading, gardening, and walking on the beach.
"The Gemini Game is Susanna's
second book for AVALON. Her
first was the recently-published Undertow."
Karen's Thoughts:
(May
Contain Spoilers)
March 15, 2008: I finished
re-reading The Gemini Game
late last night. It had been quite a while since I'd first read
it, so my memory was a bit hazy. (I'd even forgotten that the
protagonist's name was Karen!)
The Gemini Game
doesn't quite feel like a Susanna Kearsley novel. It's not simply
because Susanna's style and voice were still evolving -- it's because
there's a little more emphasis on the romance than in her later
books. I'm not "anti-romance" by any stretch of the imagination,
but it's like when you have a favourite recipe. If, when mixing
the ingredients, the proportions are different than you're used to, you
just won't like it as well, and in a romance novel, there are certain
elements of "boy meets girl -- boy and girl fight -- et cetera" that
have to be there. (I'll admit that I skimmed those parts so I
could get to 'whodunit' faster.)
Having said that, there were a lot of things about The Gemini Game that I did like! I don't want to
spoil the story for anyone who has not yet read it, but I think I can
share these things without giving too much away:
- When Karen returns to Seven Oaks, it is a dark and stormy
night. The mansion is described in such a way that you're
expecting howling wolves at any minute, and then you learn the aunt's
name: Lenore. I'm sure Poe would approve.
- Horses! I love horses and all things horsey. It's set on
a racehorse farm, so what's not to love?
- I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Eddie, and I was even starting
to fall a little for Greg (even if the drink thing felt a smidge rushed
and contrived).
- I thought that I'd figured something out and that disappointed me,
until I eventually learned Susanna had outsmarted me again, and that
was even more satisfying. I hope that makes sense, but I really
can't say anything more about it, for risk of ruining it.
The Gemini Game
isn't my favourite Susanna Kearsley novel, but it wouldn't really be
fair to judge it on the same level as the subsequent books. In
many ways, it's comparing apples and oranges. It's a decent,
entertaining read, and even if some of the prose is a little
over-the-top, it still has some great moments.
It's just not really a "Susanna Kearsley novel" as we've come to know
them.
Interesting Trivia
The Gemini Game
was actually
written after Mariana.
 
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