While you wait for Beautiful Ugly
In Alice Fenney’s most recent novel, Beautiful Ugly, Grady Green’s life is turned upside down when his wife, Abby, disappears mid-phone call. He later finds Abby’s car hanging off a cliff’s edge and her phone in the car.
A year later Grady is no closer to knowing what happened to Abby and is still grieving the loss. Desperate to move forward, he visits a remote Scottish island to work on his latest novel. On the island Grady grows more wary. The locals are unusual and Grady believes he has seen a his missing wife, Abby. Unsure of what is happening, he falls deeper into a sense of despair.
While you wait for a copy of this suspenseful story check out these other reads about doppelgangers who throw unexpected twists in the lives of already troubled characters.
Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling
A city is sinking around lead researcher Dr. Tasmin Rivers who has been assigned to figure out why. However, Tasmin's own highly secretive experiment may be the cause of the city sinking. More strangely her basement at home seems to be sinking even faster than the rest of the city. One night a door appears beneath her stairs and a carbon copy of Tasmin walks out.
Tasmin hides away in her home to seek out a solution while her doppelganger, Prime, lives in the outside world. Soon Tasmin realizes she’s losing her memories while Prime seems to be growing into herself and taking on the life Tasmin once led.
A mix of horror and psychological fiction, this story will keep you on your toes wondering if you can even trust yourself anymore.
The Other Emily by Dean Koontz
From prolific thriller writer Dean Koontz comes a suspenseful story of a lost love whose life was taken by a serial killer, at least that’s what the police say.
When Emily Carlino vanishes from California one day, the police link her disappearance to serial killer Ronny Jessup. A decade later Ronny is in prison and David Thorne, the man who can’t get over Emily, decides to visit Ronny to find out if he really was Emily’s killer.
Soon after visiting prison David meets Maddison Sutton. She looks uncannily like Emily but her demeanor could not be more different. Is Maddison who she says she is or is she Emily returning as a new woman? David isn’t sure but he’s determined to figure it out.
The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen
What would you do if you encountered someone who seemed to be a replica of the younger version of yourself?
Shelley Stone is a mother of two and the CEO of a successful tech company selling wearable personal assistants. Twenty years ago she miraculously survived a lightning strike. Since then she has led a successful life, believing the lightning strike was the reason for the women she became.
Things are about to change. First the media is covering a story about a man who ended his life because of the wearable personal assistant Shelley’s company sells. Then Shelley’s daughter, Nova, disappears. Miraculously a stranger calls saying they found Nova. A few weeks later, Shelley meets a woman who looks like her younger self, scars and all.
As the unusual events add up, Shelley begins to wonder whether she’s being blackmailed or if she’s having a mental break. Even more curiously, she wonders if the life she's been living is truly the one she wants.
August Blue by Deborah Levy
Elsa Anderson, a former child prodigy and piano virtuoso, walks off the stage during a disastrous performance. Leaving behind the horrible experience, she travels across Europe teaching music along the way. Through her travels another person seems to linger around her, always just a step behind, a woman who could pass as Elsa’s doppelganger. This woman also seems to be the voice inside Elsa’s thoughts, telling Elsa she is running from her own life.
“Levy’s newest addition to her strange, enigmatic collection of fiction is a hazy mystery, interspersed with details that play with form that makes Levy one of the most exciting writers today. Elsa’s story is one of identity, past selves, alter egos and shadows that haunt us all.” ―Sam Franzini, Spectrum Culture
