My dear troubletwisters, The cats have been very restless, So I expect that I will see you soon. With love, Grandma X.

This is the letter that changes the lives of Jack and Jaide Shield. Shortly after they read it their house explodes and the twins are packed off to stay with their grandmother, who wears silver-tipped cowboy boots, talks to her cats, and is possibly a witch.

She isn’t. Grandma X is a Warden, a Gifted woman who helps defend the world against The Evil. What is The Evil? We’re never sure: it is intangible, telepathic, and likes to manifest its presence in hordes of white-eyed ants, flies, cockroaches, spiders, rats, seagulls, dogs - whatever unfortunate creatures happen to be around. ‘Unfortunate creatures’ would include Jack and Jaide, whose powers The Evil seeks to absorb in its quest for world domination. Why is The Evil after the twins? Because they are Troubletwisters, apprentice Wardens with uncontrollable Gifts that cause trouble wherever they go.

Much trouble occurs, of course, and it is Jack and Jaide who must stop The Evil.

I really wanted to like this book. There are things to like: storm-surfing and shadow-walking; an impossible house with a curiously inaccurate weather vane; and Rennie, The Evil’s grotesque human puppet. But the twins themselves stumble from one crisis to another. They are predictably opposite (Jaide’s abilities are of the sun and air, while Jack’s are of the night and darkness), which would have been fine, if only they were developed more as individuals. Grandma X is at times less mysterious than glaringly obstructive.

I did, however, love the book’s cats (“The words just and cat were never meant to go together”), and also (somewhat nonsensically) the sheepish little black cloud that heralds the arrival of the twins’ father.

Troubletwisters does have elements in its favour: lots of running, some truly creepy crawlies, and a handful of intriguing loose ends. I just hope that, with a series incoming, Jack and Jaide will develop into more engaging heroes, and become more troublesome than trouble-stricken.

-Amy Stevenson

Troubletwisters is out now through Allen & Unwin for $15.99