The Midnight Twins

July 14, 2008
Experimenting with genre, Mitchard (The Deep End of the
Ocean; All We Know of Heaven
, Reviews, May 26) proffers the first of a projected trilogy about identical twins Mallory and Meredith, born two minutes apart—one on New Year's Eve, the other on New Year's Day. The two are perfect opposites, mirrors of each other; they share each other's dreams and feel each other's thoughts—until their 13th birthday, when they nearly die in a terrible fire that has been deliberately set. The fire leaves one of them scarred—they are no longer physically identical—and both of them endowed with psychic powers: one can see the future, the other far into the past. However familiar some of these elements, Mitchard uses them to conjure genuine horror in the form of a villain who begins by torturing neighborhood pets and graduates to murdering young women. The plot moves quickly, propelled by the mysteries of the sisters' relationship. Members of the target audience will be particularly vulnerable to the twins' heightened intimacy and extra-sensitive to any possibility of rupture; the girls' supernatural knowledge is a delicious bonus. Ages 12–up.

October 1, 2008
Gr 6-9-A riveting peek into the lives of twins who have an unusual ability. Born on different sides of midnight on New Year's Eve, Merry and Mally Brynn have always shared a secret language and telepathy. Though they have dissimilar personalities, they tend to think, feel, and do things in sync. However, after a bizarre fire on their 13th birthday almost kills the girls, the thread between them ravels. Suddenly, they begin to have visions about other people. Mally can see events before they occur, and Merry can see them after they have concluded. Putting the pieces together gives the girls a startling picture of some disturbing incidents occurring nearby: Mally has visions of a friend's older brother hurting animals and violently attacking young women. Though it's hard for the sisters to believe it's true, they are determined to stop him, no matter the personal cost. Mitchard does an excellent job of portraying the girls' close bond and unique personas. The importance of the twin legacy in the Brynn family and the vital role the girls' relatives play in their well-being are also wonderfully evoked. The clearly depicted settinga tight-knit small-town communitymakes an excellent environment for the tale's action and suspense. This involving mystery will have wide appeal and makes a solid first entry in a planned trilogy."Emily Garrett Cassady, North Garland High School, Garland, TX"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Identical twins and second sight go together in Meredith and Mallory's family. Mitchard pits the twins' talents against a high-school sociopath secretly lynching puppies and stalking cheerleaders. Though formulaic, the narrative builds suspense as the girls work to discern whether the boy really is the monster they suspect he is, and whether their visions are more of a gift or a curse.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2008
Identical twins and second sight go together in Meredith and Mallory's family, so these thirteen-year-old twin sisters -- one born a minute before midnight on New Year's Eve, one born a minute after -- are predestined to know things they don't want to know. This first installment in a planned trilogy is most effective when mapping out the girls' unique bond: the invented language and mental telepathy with which they sometimes communicate. Unfortunately, Mitchard pits their special talents against a garden-variety sociopath -- a high-school golden boy secretly out lynching puppies and stalking cheerleaders. Still, though formulaic and jumbled with surplus minor characters, the narrative builds suspense as the girls work to discern whether this handsome son of their mother's best friend really is the monster they suspect he is, and whether their visions are more of a gift or a curse. Either way, as their grandmother, a twin herself, tells them, "You'll comfort each other. No matter how many miles there are between you, you'll never be farther apart than you are right now."

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
Meredith and Mallory are identical twins with different birthdays. They even have different birth years, since they were each born on opposite sides of midnight on New Years Eve. Coming from a family with a lineage of telepathic twins, these two have an extraordinary bond that includes having identical dreams. Just before the girls 13th birthdays, Mallory dreams about dying in a house firea vision her sister doesnt share. The girls do survive a mysterious blaze, though, and Mallory continues to envision future traumatic events, while Meredith places Mallorys dreams in time. A few elements of the story are more reminiscent of a teen horror flick than a carefully developed psychological drama, particularly a subplot about a friends brother, who turns out to kill animals and attack girls. Although the characters often act and speak as plot devices rather than as real people, foreshadowing keeps the pages turning, and a closing speech from the girls grandma indicates that their extraordinary talents will be showcased in future volumes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)