The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler
Expected Publication Date: January 28th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Women’s Fiction
Format: e-ARC
Source: NetGalley

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Summary (from NetGalley): Sienna Scott grew up in the dark shadow of her mother’s paranoid delusions. Now, she’s returned home to confront her past and the unsolved murder that altered the course of her life.

In her mother’s shuttered house, an old fear that has haunted Sienna for years rears its ugly head—that it was she who had been the killer’s target that night. And now, with it, a new fear—that the killer not only intended to remedy his past mistake—he’s already begun. But are these fears any different from the ones that torment her mother?

As the walls close in, the line between truth and lie, reality and delusion disintegrate. Has Sienna’s worst nightmare come true? Or will she unmask a killer and finally prove she may be her mother’s look-alike, but she’s not her clone?

Review: The Look-Alike, takes place in Tranquility Bluffs, Wisconsin with Sienna returning 10 years later after witnessing the murdered body of a fellow classmate. Sienna’s mother suffers from paranoid delusions that makes her think that someone is out to get her and/or her daughter. This began shortly after giving birth to Sienna and just got worse throughout the years. After the murder of the girl on campus and Sienna stumbling upon the body it made her mother’s delusions increase / made her father fear that Sienna would start to suffer from the same delusions so he ships her off to his parents house in London, UK.

Upon her return, Sienna learns that the case into the killer just got re-opened.

What I liked about this is I don’t think I’ve read a book with a side character suffering from paranoid thoughts. It made you question if what the character was saying was fact or conjured up. Throughout the story I had a lot of theories about who I thought was the killer and if the killer meant to kill Madi or Sienna that night. As certain points and characters were revealed it had you thinking that maybe your guess was going in the wrong direction. Normally I try to trust my gut instinct but I couldn’t help but change my thinking.

Some things that I didn’t like in this was:
– The line “I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding” is featured in many books once and makes me grimace. This line made an appearance three times.
– Insta-love. I’m used to this in young adult novels but the instantaneous romance in this wasn’t that great. I would have been nice to see the two of them start a friendship between them before going straight to “I love you” / “I’m falling in love with you” after a week.
– The beginning of the book everything felt a little too convenient but as the story progressed I could see how that ground work was needed to get all the plot lines rolling

This was a good read and I enjoyed myself as I was reading it. The plot twists and the final reveal wasn’t too shocking and some plot points dragged a bit. A good first read from the author.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Rating:

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