When you grow up with a mother suffering from a delusional disorder, you know what paranoia is.
When you’re walking home from your late night study group and come across a dead woman, you feel what fear is.
And when you realize that the dead woman was wearing a coat very like yours, walking on a path you take every week at that same time, then you start to experience that paranoia yourself.
Sienna Scott was in college when she came across that body. She left Wisconsin after that, moving to London to live with her grandmother. But now, it’s ten years later and Sienna wants to move back home. She moves back into her mother’s house to help take care of her, but since no one was ever arrested for the murder, her mother is also trying to look out for Sienna.
At first, being home seems great. Sienna sees old friends, helps stabilize her mother, and even starts thinking about opening up a restaurant in town. But then the phone calls start. Hang-ups, vague threats, and then a voice, clearly disguised, telling her that she was the one who was supposed to die.
She tells her concerns to police officer Randy Clark, the same man who, as a campus cop all those years ago, came to her rescue when she found the body. But she doesn’t know who else she can trust. Her mother, who already has her own issues? Her older brother Brad, who has been secretive ever since she came back to town? The police chief, who had been longtime friends with her father, and who might be covering for someone in her family? Jonathan Hart, who bought the house across the street to fix up and always seems to show up just when she needs someone the most?
As Sienna tries to unravel what happened all those years ago, as well as what’s been happening to her since moving back to town, she also has to figure out if her mother’s delusions have been passed down to her, making it twice as hard to figure out the truth.
The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler is a page-turner perfect for cold winter nights and stormy weekends. The twists will keep you guessing at the truth, thinking you know the answers and then having to rethink everything over and over.
I really enjoyed The Look-Alike. It was twisty without being too frightening, with well thought out characters and a lovely sense of place. A decidedly good psychological thriller.
Galleys for The Look-Alike were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.