by Tarryn Fisher
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia, 2024
Publisher’s blurb
Iris Walsh saw her twin sister, Piper, get kidnapped – so why does no one believe her?
Iris narrowly escaped her pretty, popular twin sister’s fate as a teen – vanished long before the cops agreed to investigate. With no evidence to go on but a few fractured memories, the case quickly went cold.
Now an adult, Iris wants one thing – proof. And if the police still won’t help, she’ll just have to find it her own way; by interning at the isolated Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane, where secrets lurk in the shadows and are kept under lock and key.
But Iris soon realises that something even more sinister is simmering beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients aren’t the only ones being observed…
Review
by Robyn Pryor
Tarryn Fisher’s novel Good Half Gone, is an exciting story set in Seattle. It begins with Iris, the protagonist, meeting with her new therapist and relating the events of the day her twin sister, Piper, disappeared. It’s a clever way for the reader to discover what the story is about.
When Iris was a teenager, she witnessed Piper’s abduction. At first, the police refused to help find Piper, treating her as a runaway. With little evidence, apart from Iris’s recount, the incident soon became a cold case.
Iris refused to give up on Piper. Throughout their childhood, Piper had been her rock, her comfort. To lose her was bad enough, but not to know what happened, and to imagine the worst, was torture. I felt for Iris and her grief and wanted her to succeed in uncovering Piper’s fate, not just for own her mental wellbeing, but for her grandma and Cal as well. Iris was a brave woman who would do anything to find her twin. I loved the way she accepted whatever came her way and remained focussed on her mission.
I enjoyed reading about the other characters as well. The twins’ grandma, Betty, was a fabulous character, also courageous. She took Iris and Piper away from a horrid life of neglect and did all she could to make their lives feel normal. Her colourful background, with roles as mother, grandmother, great grandmother, churchgoer and stripper, made her three dimensional and put me in her corner. Cal was a treasure, Iris and Grandma’s saviour, a shining light in a brutal world.
My favourite lines were “our Mother who art in prison” and “we made ourselves as small as she needed us to be.” They described the twins’ mother perfectly, a self-centred bully who was too busy scoffing down as many drugs as she could find to bother taking care of her children.
Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane took me back to the days in Australia when there were mental asylums on islands, and I was taught to be wary of them. I remember always feeling scared of the people there, but also frightened for them and their plights. Horror rumours floated around about the residents, therapists, and other staff, especially security. Tarryn brought this horror to life when Iris began to work at the hospital to follow a lead and find proof of what happened to Piper. As a psychologist, the island setting fascinated me.
The more I read, the more I was pulled into the vortex, wanting as desperately as Iris, to know what happened all those years ago. Anyone who likes a good mystery will enjoy this book.