Kate used to work as a super recogniser for the police. She can pick any face out of a crowd after only seeing it once. It's a rare gift. But Kate had a car accident and it's done some serious damage to the part of her brain that's responsible for recognising people.
She's recovering nicely though. She's moved into her new, extremely rich and successful, beau's house down in Cornwall. She's taking time out down there whilst she gets better, with boyfriend Rob working in London in the week and coming back down to Cornwall at the weekend.
As you do in new relationships, they are talking late one night about their deepest fears. Rob confides in Kate that his greatest fear is his doppelgänger. He met his double in Thailand when he was 21 and believes that if he meets him again, he'll take over his life and everything he holds dear to him. He'll take over his soul.
Understandably, Kate is a bit freaked out by this and can't really stop thinking about it. He returns the following week and it's like her super recogniser skills kick back into action. She's pretty sure that Rob, isn't Rob.
Is her mind playing tricks on her? Or has Rob's deepest fear been realised?
What I loved
Wow! This book drew me in right from the word go. You get thrown straight into the story - there's no messing about with scene setting or anything else. The chapters are short and sweet and each chapter is told from the point of view of three or four key characters as we meet them throughout. It switches between them effortlessly which is a huge thing for me as I've read books before where I haven't got a clue who's viewpoint I'm reading from. The development of the characters was a huge part of this book and made me feel invested in all of them from early on.
The plot itself is really original and has twists and turns at every corner. Just as you think you've worked out exactly what's going on, you find out new information which shifts the landscape completely. It's actually a really creepy concept and had me feeling a bit weird about it all for quite a bit of the book. It kept me guessing to the end, and even now, I'm still wondering, what happened? What was it all about?!
Technology is a theme in this book - it's Rob's business. And actually, at first I thought the ending was a bit of a far reach, but to be honest, the way technology is going these days, nothing surprises me anymore.
I'm usually quite daunted by books of this length. I seem to have a natural preference for books closer to 380 pages (which feels very specific). This book was different though. If anything, I felt like I could have devoured another 100 pages!
What I didn't love
When I started to write this review, I thought I was going to say "the ending". I always say The Ending can be the thing that makes a 5* read a 1* read for me. I toyed between 4 and 5, because as I said above, the ending is a little far out, but it's not as far removed as I initially felt.
My only other thing is, that just as you think it's all wrapped up nicely, one last person throws in an alternative (and extremely plausible) theory. And then it ends. So I'm lacking a little bit of closure. But, that's just a personal thing and absolutely not bothering me enough to warrant giving this awesome book anything other than 5*s.
She's recovering nicely though. She's moved into her new, extremely rich and successful, beau's house down in Cornwall. She's taking time out down there whilst she gets better, with boyfriend Rob working in London in the week and coming back down to Cornwall at the weekend.
As you do in new relationships, they are talking late one night about their deepest fears. Rob confides in Kate that his greatest fear is his doppelgänger. He met his double in Thailand when he was 21 and believes that if he meets him again, he'll take over his life and everything he holds dear to him. He'll take over his soul.
Understandably, Kate is a bit freaked out by this and can't really stop thinking about it. He returns the following week and it's like her super recogniser skills kick back into action. She's pretty sure that Rob, isn't Rob.
Is her mind playing tricks on her? Or has Rob's deepest fear been realised?
What I loved
Wow! This book drew me in right from the word go. You get thrown straight into the story - there's no messing about with scene setting or anything else. The chapters are short and sweet and each chapter is told from the point of view of three or four key characters as we meet them throughout. It switches between them effortlessly which is a huge thing for me as I've read books before where I haven't got a clue who's viewpoint I'm reading from. The development of the characters was a huge part of this book and made me feel invested in all of them from early on.
The plot itself is really original and has twists and turns at every corner. Just as you think you've worked out exactly what's going on, you find out new information which shifts the landscape completely. It's actually a really creepy concept and had me feeling a bit weird about it all for quite a bit of the book. It kept me guessing to the end, and even now, I'm still wondering, what happened? What was it all about?!
Technology is a theme in this book - it's Rob's business. And actually, at first I thought the ending was a bit of a far reach, but to be honest, the way technology is going these days, nothing surprises me anymore.
I'm usually quite daunted by books of this length. I seem to have a natural preference for books closer to 380 pages (which feels very specific). This book was different though. If anything, I felt like I could have devoured another 100 pages!
What I didn't love
When I started to write this review, I thought I was going to say "the ending". I always say The Ending can be the thing that makes a 5* read a 1* read for me. I toyed between 4 and 5, because as I said above, the ending is a little far out, but it's not as far removed as I initially felt.
My only other thing is, that just as you think it's all wrapped up nicely, one last person throws in an alternative (and extremely plausible) theory. And then it ends. So I'm lacking a little bit of closure. But, that's just a personal thing and absolutely not bothering me enough to warrant giving this awesome book anything other than 5*s.