Brother/Sister
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Product Description
Product Description
WILL
How many times do I have to say it? Yes, I see the picture. It's a body, obviously. It's a dead body.
ASHELEY
You have to understand, I love my brother. I'm scared of him too, but . . . regardless of what he has or hasn't done, I feel for him, you know.
WILL
I don't care what happens to me, really, I don't. But Asheley . . . she had nothing to do with any of this.
ASHELEY
It's not like it sounds. He had a good heart. He trusted me. And I always did the best I could to help him.
WILL
It's not her fault. None of it. Okay then. The guy in the photo. I killed him . . . but I had to. I had no choice. Why? That's complicated. That'll take a while.
About the Author
Sean Olin was born and raised in Wisconsin, where he grew up listening to blues records with his dad, and reading detective novels. He started writing when he was a kid - his first story was about dinosaurs, but these days his material is a little darker.
When he's not exploring the nightmarish side of teenage life, he's riding his bike or watching film noir. These days Sean is either trying to invent new ways to excite lovers of suspense and thrillers, or he's wandering around New York, waiting for adventure.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
A very easy read with short chapters, I liked the fact that the characters & there are only two wrote a chapter each which made it good because thet were both very different versions, it was a good read and a good ending, would recommend.
Format:Paperback
Will and Ashley are a brother and sister who live in California with their alcoholic mother. Their father moved away when they were very young and while Will knows that he was no better than their mother, Ashley has a more idealised opinion and dreams of getting back in touch with him. Will is protective of his younger sister - almost overly protective at times - and the two have a close relationship but whereas Ashley's always tried to fit in with people - playing in the school softball team and dating Craig, a popular school jock - Will keeps to himself and has few interests outside golf.
When their mother goes into rehab for the umpteenth time, Ashley agrees to host a party at their house as a way of getting back at Craig when he makes out with another girl. But when Craig shows up wanting to talk to her, events rapidly spiral out of control and it isn't long before the siblings are on the run for murder ...
Sean Olin has produced an interesting YA thriller, narrated by each of Will and Ashley who together recount to the police the events that led to a murder being committed. Olin does an excellent job of giving each character a distinctive voice, particularly the isolated and confused Will whose need to feel responsible and wanted was spawned by his childhood and whose feelings for his sister are too intense for either of them. Ashley is equally well depicted - aware of her brother's feelings for her, intelligent and desperate to both fit in and get away - she is the unwitting and unwilling instigator of the book's events. If I have one criticism, it's that at times Will's feelings for Ashley and the way he acts upon them touches a little too close to soap opera, especially a scene towards the end which I didn't work for me in terms of the emotions.
There is a steady build-up of tension as the book's events unfurl, each sibling giving their own take on what has happened and why it occurred. I won't give away the final twist, but I thought it was neatly done and it did make me re-read the book to see what I'd missed the first time.
All in all, it's an intelligent, interesting read and I look forward to seeing what Olin writes next.
When their mother goes into rehab for the umpteenth time, Ashley agrees to host a party at their house as a way of getting back at Craig when he makes out with another girl. But when Craig shows up wanting to talk to her, events rapidly spiral out of control and it isn't long before the siblings are on the run for murder ...
Sean Olin has produced an interesting YA thriller, narrated by each of Will and Ashley who together recount to the police the events that led to a murder being committed. Olin does an excellent job of giving each character a distinctive voice, particularly the isolated and confused Will whose need to feel responsible and wanted was spawned by his childhood and whose feelings for his sister are too intense for either of them. Ashley is equally well depicted - aware of her brother's feelings for her, intelligent and desperate to both fit in and get away - she is the unwitting and unwilling instigator of the book's events. If I have one criticism, it's that at times Will's feelings for Ashley and the way he acts upon them touches a little too close to soap opera, especially a scene towards the end which I didn't work for me in terms of the emotions.
There is a steady build-up of tension as the book's events unfurl, each sibling giving their own take on what has happened and why it occurred. I won't give away the final twist, but I thought it was neatly done and it did make me re-read the book to see what I'd missed the first time.
All in all, it's an intelligent, interesting read and I look forward to seeing what Olin writes next.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Heart Breaking, Scary Unbelievable
11 Jun 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brother Sister is a deeply disturbing, dark story about a brother and sister who raised themselves while their mother was in and out of rehab for alcohol addiction. Dad left when Will, the brother, was six and mom put the terrible burden of being "the man of the house" on his shoulders and told him " if anything happened" it would be his fault. An awful lot for a six year old to bear on top of being deserted by his father, though there are hints that this his leaving may not be a bad thing.
Will was picked on, teased, bullied, humiliated- I've run out of words to describe the horrors he survived growing up, yet inside, he told himself it didn't matter as long as Asheley, his sister was protected. Asheley, for her part, remembered her dad as a good man, she was three when he left. She is a tad more social than her brother, she even has a boyfriend. She plays a team sport and after a spectacular game, finally feels like she's part of the group. But her boyfriend ruins it. Going home she finds her mother, after four months of sobriety being carted off to rehab again.
Will is inside the house having suffered the worst bullying of all-his mother beating him with the trophy he just won for being the best golfer in the county. She hit him so hard the golfer fell off the top of his trophy. Asheley comforts hims as always, holding him from behind rocking him back and forth. And the two realize, the summer is spread out before them with no parents. But what starts out as a fun summer of playing grown up, turns into a twisted nightmare.
The bullying Will suffered throughout his life has warped his mind until his only thought is to protect Asheley. He sees threats everywhere-even when there are none. He devolves into a manic mess that even Asheley is afraid of, playing along only because she's afraid for her life.
The novel is told in alternating points of view- one chapter Will, the next chapter Asheley. The story is being told it seems like at a police station. Will's deteriorating frame of mind is like watching a train wreck, you can't look away. As his mind sees threats everywhere you can't help but wonder even after reading the story, was it the bullying, the burden of being the man of the house, the desertion of his father, the behavior of his father, his mother's alcoholism or maybe a mental illness that caused Will's behavior. And why did Asheley go along with it? Or was she a part of it? The last line of the book was chilling and left me to look at the novel through a different set of eyes. Had it not been three am., I would have read it again.
This book is chilling, haunting, heart breaking, achingly sad, manipulative and horrifying. It will make you think and rethink and re-examine everything you read. It will make you want to hug the little boy that was Will who stopped being a child at six and became a man. He took the bullying and internalized it. It will show you how bullying can make a person shut off their feelings. I think that's what made Will who he was. He never had a chance - his dad, his mom, kids at school, others- they all bullied him. If he became mentally ill from that, its not surprising.
This isn't a happy book, but it is well worth reading. It's well written. The characters are well written and their motivations are understood. The story is unbelievable as it spirals out of control. And the way the author wrote it, telling it from the two characters points of view in hindsight, but in great detail, was perfect. Asheley never claimed involvement, Will took all the blame. But you do have to wonder if she could have stopped what was happening. This is a truly compelling story, never slowing down even for a second. This is a must read-I don't know for who-bullies maybe-people that want to see the end result of bullying-perhaps. But I know if it was a bullying story. That part was so underplayed. Yet it affected him so much. I do know, I'll never forget it-especially the last line. And I'll be reading it again!
Will was picked on, teased, bullied, humiliated- I've run out of words to describe the horrors he survived growing up, yet inside, he told himself it didn't matter as long as Asheley, his sister was protected. Asheley, for her part, remembered her dad as a good man, she was three when he left. She is a tad more social than her brother, she even has a boyfriend. She plays a team sport and after a spectacular game, finally feels like she's part of the group. But her boyfriend ruins it. Going home she finds her mother, after four months of sobriety being carted off to rehab again.
Will is inside the house having suffered the worst bullying of all-his mother beating him with the trophy he just won for being the best golfer in the county. She hit him so hard the golfer fell off the top of his trophy. Asheley comforts hims as always, holding him from behind rocking him back and forth. And the two realize, the summer is spread out before them with no parents. But what starts out as a fun summer of playing grown up, turns into a twisted nightmare.
The bullying Will suffered throughout his life has warped his mind until his only thought is to protect Asheley. He sees threats everywhere-even when there are none. He devolves into a manic mess that even Asheley is afraid of, playing along only because she's afraid for her life.
The novel is told in alternating points of view- one chapter Will, the next chapter Asheley. The story is being told it seems like at a police station. Will's deteriorating frame of mind is like watching a train wreck, you can't look away. As his mind sees threats everywhere you can't help but wonder even after reading the story, was it the bullying, the burden of being the man of the house, the desertion of his father, the behavior of his father, his mother's alcoholism or maybe a mental illness that caused Will's behavior. And why did Asheley go along with it? Or was she a part of it? The last line of the book was chilling and left me to look at the novel through a different set of eyes. Had it not been three am., I would have read it again.
This book is chilling, haunting, heart breaking, achingly sad, manipulative and horrifying. It will make you think and rethink and re-examine everything you read. It will make you want to hug the little boy that was Will who stopped being a child at six and became a man. He took the bullying and internalized it. It will show you how bullying can make a person shut off their feelings. I think that's what made Will who he was. He never had a chance - his dad, his mom, kids at school, others- they all bullied him. If he became mentally ill from that, its not surprising.
This isn't a happy book, but it is well worth reading. It's well written. The characters are well written and their motivations are understood. The story is unbelievable as it spirals out of control. And the way the author wrote it, telling it from the two characters points of view in hindsight, but in great detail, was perfect. Asheley never claimed involvement, Will took all the blame. But you do have to wonder if she could have stopped what was happening. This is a truly compelling story, never slowing down even for a second. This is a must read-I don't know for who-bullies maybe-people that want to see the end result of bullying-perhaps. But I know if it was a bullying story. That part was so underplayed. Yet it affected him so much. I do know, I'll never forget it-especially the last line. And I'll be reading it again!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Juicy and fascinating
2 Sep 2011
Format:Hardcover
Will and Asheley are siblings and best friends. They've grown up being the odd ones out, with no one to rely on except each other, since their dad left when they were young and their mom is the town drunk. Now, with summer approaching, things are starting to look up. Their mother has been sober for a few months for a change, Asheley has started to make friends with the other girls on her softball team, and Will is starting to relax. But of course, in Will's and Asheley's lives, things don't stay good for long. First their mom gets carted off to rehab--again--and then things progress steadily downhill. How did their lives get so out of control? And what can they do to fix things--or can they?
Brother/Sister is one of those "read to find out!" books. Readers pick up books like these because their teased with a synopsis so tantalizing and juicy that it's impossible to not want to know more. I'm not ashamed to say that this was initially the only reason I wanted to read Brother/Sister. I just wanted to know what happened. Once I found out midway through the book, I thought that I had seen it all and mentally prepared myself for a slow and boring descent into the consequences. Instead, the plot becomes steadily creepier and more twisted than I ever would have thought. What's really fascinating about this book is that the reader gets two somewhat contrasting perspectives on the worsening situation and can see every detail that's misread and blown out of proportion, leading to disastrous results. Brother/Sister is a book that is definitely very hard to put down, but I'm still not sure whether the story is completely satisfying or not. There's one thing I can say, and that is that the ending will leave you still wondering what's really going on.
Brother/Sister appeals to readers who liked Liar by Justine Larbalestier, The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer, and Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser.
Brother/Sister is one of those "read to find out!" books. Readers pick up books like these because their teased with a synopsis so tantalizing and juicy that it's impossible to not want to know more. I'm not ashamed to say that this was initially the only reason I wanted to read Brother/Sister. I just wanted to know what happened. Once I found out midway through the book, I thought that I had seen it all and mentally prepared myself for a slow and boring descent into the consequences. Instead, the plot becomes steadily creepier and more twisted than I ever would have thought. What's really fascinating about this book is that the reader gets two somewhat contrasting perspectives on the worsening situation and can see every detail that's misread and blown out of proportion, leading to disastrous results. Brother/Sister is a book that is definitely very hard to put down, but I'm still not sure whether the story is completely satisfying or not. There's one thing I can say, and that is that the ending will leave you still wondering what's really going on.
Brother/Sister appeals to readers who liked Liar by Justine Larbalestier, The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer, and Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Crazy, Twisted & Not What I Was Expecting
24 July 2011
Format:Hardcover
Reviewed for MM's by Cynthia:
Brother/Sister was crazy twisted, I was not expecting it to mess with my head as much as it did. It left me thinking about it way after I was done with it, I was trying to make dinner and kept itching to go back and read the last few pages again.
The synopsis doesn't give much away and there's a reason for that, I won't say much about what really goes on in the story so I won't spoil it for you, just know that there's a lot of things that you just don't see coming and it begins to turn darker as the story goes along. Also if you're afraid of it being about incest don't worry, it's not. The book is told from the point of view of both Will and Asheley, they seemed to be in police custody and narrating their story about what happened from the beginning, before their alcoholic mother got taken to rehab and they were left alone. Will and Asheley have pretty much fend for themselves since their father left them after the divorce with their mother. Will has some serious issues, he's got a crazy temper and just snaps at people all of a sudden, he's a loner, his peers make fun of him and he's very antisocial, like seriously the scary type. He also feels that he's the only one that can protect his little sister from everyone that tries to get too close to her, he thinks everyone is after her and he soon begins to take that to the a whole new level thinking that he needs to get rid of whoever might be a threat to her. This crazy thoughts of his start a whole chain of events that just keeps escalating and Will can't seem to be able to stop. His narration of what happened and his thoughts begin to seem exaggerated and insane. While you're reading the story you are thinking that he's definitely gone crazy, he's taking it way too far and is losing control fast, the only one that seems to be able to help him is Asheley, but she soon becomes afraid of him too and has no idea how to stop it.
I wanted to feel sorry for Will and Asheley because they had horrible parents and their childhood wasn't great, but I just couldn't. I knew that Will was damaged and Asheley was all he had since he was a kid, he felt the need to be the man and protect her but he kept making so many mistakes, and pushing everyone out, even after she kept trying to get him to become a bit more normal, that I just didn't feel anything for him. This book was definitely captivating, in its own twisted way. I found it really hard to put down, there's just things that you never see coming and I just needed to know how it was all going to end because it just gets so out of control that you have no idea what will happen to these two and how they end up getting caught. The ending was insane! I was left with my mouth open screaming "WHAT?!!!" and flipping the pages back and forth. I felt a little too wired by that ending and couldn't stop thinking about the whole book and what I had just read, it was great how the author messes with your head like he was playing some sort of prank on you. I love books that make me shriek the "EEKS!" and "WTHs" all the way through and leave me thinking about them long after reading them. Be warned that there is a lot of language and plenty of f-bombs through the whole novel. There also won't be any romance in this one, but you definitely don't miss it, it's a bit more of a psychological thriller that's so engrossing you won't want to put down.
Brother/Sister was crazy twisted, I was not expecting it to mess with my head as much as it did. It left me thinking about it way after I was done with it, I was trying to make dinner and kept itching to go back and read the last few pages again.
The synopsis doesn't give much away and there's a reason for that, I won't say much about what really goes on in the story so I won't spoil it for you, just know that there's a lot of things that you just don't see coming and it begins to turn darker as the story goes along. Also if you're afraid of it being about incest don't worry, it's not. The book is told from the point of view of both Will and Asheley, they seemed to be in police custody and narrating their story about what happened from the beginning, before their alcoholic mother got taken to rehab and they were left alone. Will and Asheley have pretty much fend for themselves since their father left them after the divorce with their mother. Will has some serious issues, he's got a crazy temper and just snaps at people all of a sudden, he's a loner, his peers make fun of him and he's very antisocial, like seriously the scary type. He also feels that he's the only one that can protect his little sister from everyone that tries to get too close to her, he thinks everyone is after her and he soon begins to take that to the a whole new level thinking that he needs to get rid of whoever might be a threat to her. This crazy thoughts of his start a whole chain of events that just keeps escalating and Will can't seem to be able to stop. His narration of what happened and his thoughts begin to seem exaggerated and insane. While you're reading the story you are thinking that he's definitely gone crazy, he's taking it way too far and is losing control fast, the only one that seems to be able to help him is Asheley, but she soon becomes afraid of him too and has no idea how to stop it.
I wanted to feel sorry for Will and Asheley because they had horrible parents and their childhood wasn't great, but I just couldn't. I knew that Will was damaged and Asheley was all he had since he was a kid, he felt the need to be the man and protect her but he kept making so many mistakes, and pushing everyone out, even after she kept trying to get him to become a bit more normal, that I just didn't feel anything for him. This book was definitely captivating, in its own twisted way. I found it really hard to put down, there's just things that you never see coming and I just needed to know how it was all going to end because it just gets so out of control that you have no idea what will happen to these two and how they end up getting caught. The ending was insane! I was left with my mouth open screaming "WHAT?!!!" and flipping the pages back and forth. I felt a little too wired by that ending and couldn't stop thinking about the whole book and what I had just read, it was great how the author messes with your head like he was playing some sort of prank on you. I love books that make me shriek the "EEKS!" and "WTHs" all the way through and leave me thinking about them long after reading them. Be warned that there is a lot of language and plenty of f-bombs through the whole novel. There also won't be any romance in this one, but you definitely don't miss it, it's a bit more of a psychological thriller that's so engrossing you won't want to put down.
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