Mind Games by Kiersten White

Published: February 19th, 2013

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 256

Copy: Publisher via Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

The title of this story is so totally apt - the whole book is one mind game after another - that I can't imagine why the Brits changed the title to 'Sister Assassin'.  Well, I guess it makes sense too, but I don't like it as much.  Just saying ....

Anyway, with that out of the way, I can tell you that Mind Games was incredibly clever, fast-paced and intriguing. There is an amazing display of sibling loyalty between Fia and Annie.  Both are constantly manipulated and used against each other, but they stay true in their own ways.  The strange myterious 'bad' guy - Mr Keane - makes you extremely unsure of just exactly whose side James is on.  Is he good, or bad?  At the end of the book I still wasn't sure.

I did find myself getting a bit annoyed with the constant repetition of words, but I fully understand that they are used to highlight the confusion and instability of Fia's mind, and as such it was very successful.  I'm sure that it won't bother younger readers nearly as much as it did me.  For those of you who read and loved the Paranormalcy series, Mind Games is absolutely nothing like it at all.  It's faster paced, edgier, grittier and altogether more disturbing.  I loved it!

Btw, which cover/title do you prefer: