By Karen M. McManus
4 Stars
The Cousins by Karen McManus is the perfect book if you are looking for a clever mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The book presents a slowly progressing mystery which reveals itself bit by bit as the story moves on. The story follows three cousins - Milly, Aubrey and Jonah - as they uncover the twisted secrets their family has buried in the past.
The book is set in the small-town-island called the “Gull-Cove” off the shore of New England, where the protagonists’ parents spent their teenage years before they were disinherited and forced to leave through an ambiguous note from their mother’s lawyer for seemingly no reason. Milly, Aubrey and Jonah find themselves spending the summer at Gull- Cove, rather reluctantly, for a volunteering gig. Before they know it, they are uncovering the long-buried secrets of their mysterious family, especially their grandmother - Mildred Story - and why she abandoned her three young children with no explanation or financial support.
As the story progresses, we get flashbacks of when the parents still resided on the island in 1996, and more questions pop up. Why were the three family heirs abandoned? And why does no one want to talk about the past? What started as a simple summer to get to know their grandmother turns into an investigation of the messy past that includes betrayal, lies, deception and even murder.
Apart from the mystery itself, this story is very wholesome and empowering. All three of our protagonists have their own struggles, and it is amazing that they get over their own personal problems with each other’s help.
The messy story will keep you on your toes, and the final twist will leave you speechless. Reading this story was such an amazing experience as I slowly connected the dots, and the whole picture came together. The book also features a very satisfying ending, answering all the questions and serving all the antagonists with what they deserve. I highly recommend reading this!
Reviewed by Avni
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