ARC Review--White Fox by Sara Faring

After their world-famous actor mother disappeared under mysterious circumstances, Manon and Thaïs left their remote Mediterranean island home—sent away by their pharma-tech tycoon father. Opposites in every way, the sisters drifted apart in their grief. Yet their mother's unfinished story still haunts them both, and they can't put to rest the possibility that she is still alive.

Lured home a decade later, Manon and Thaïs discover their mother’s legendary last work, long thought lost: White Fox, a screenplay filled with enigmatic metaphors. The clues in this dark fairytale draw them deep into the island's surreal society, into the twisted secrets hidden by their glittering family, to reveal the truth about their mother—and themselves.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


Sara Faring's newest release, White Fox, is a decade long mystery itching to be solved by two sisters who long to know what happened to their mother all those years ago. It's a strange and twisted tale, not unlike her first novel was, and it's one that will keep your head spinning.

When the tenth anniversary of their mother's disappearance approaches, Tai convinces her sister Manon that they ought to return to their childhood home for a ceremony that is being held in her honor. Tai and Manon are different as night and day, but one thing they both share is longing to know what happened to their mother.

Tai and Manon's mom was a famous actress and her disappearance took the world at large by surprise. Everyone in their hometown knew of her and they know of the girls. While staying in their old family home, Tai finds their mother's last piece of work. She had been writing a screenplay that never got to see the light of day but everyone who knew of their mother, knew of this secret script. Tai believes all the answers to their mother's whereabouts can be found within this script.

I have to say that despite an intriguing premise, I just could not get into this one. I think it might have been the pacing. There was a lot of drawing things out and of course, with mysteries, when you draw things out you're left with contemporary settings and doings and whatnot. It's pretty much an average day for Tai and Manon.

What did help to shake things up a bit were the chapters alternating between Tai and Manon, then there were also times we got to read the elusive screenplay aptly titled White Fox, and we got excerpts from a mysterious "boy" who writes articles about the famous missing actress and further commentary on Tai and Manon. It was a bit chilling at times too.

Sadly, the draw lost its effect on me. By the time I reached the last quarter of the book, I was skimming the pages waiting for the big reveal. There were still moments of eeriness, not quite the creep factor I experienced from Sara's first book. Which shockingly enough, gets a bit of a head nod in this one! I found that part positively delightful!

I guess I had been hoping for a creepy and suspenseful mystery much like Sara's first book was. Instead what we got was just a mystery, if a bit drawn out. There were still some moments I felt were left unexplained, but that helps to add to the mysteriousness of the whole story and I quite liked that part. I was just hoping there would be a bit more chills in this one instead of your basic decade long whodunit. 

I would still recommend this one if you like mysteries with a bit of eeriness on the side and of course, a book with a great sibling duo!




Overall Rating 3/5 stars



White Fox releases September 22, 2020