The Look-Alike

The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Other Girl and Justice for Sara comes a thrilling psychological drama about a woman who believes she escaped a brutal murder years ago—but does anyone else believe her?

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?

First Sentence:

Sienna Scott nearly tripped over the body

Set in Tranquility Bluffs, Wisconsin, college student Sienna Scott stumbles across a murdered girl on campus while walking home late from a study group. The initial investigation never produces the murderer. Strangely enough, Sienna was wearing the same coat on the same night as the girl who was murdered on campus, ten years prior. Coincidence? This is the start of a downward spiral which ultimately leads to Sienna finishing her studies in London. Sienna resembles her mother, who has a serious and debilitating mental illness and Sienna has always felt that people were waiting for her to inherit more than just her mother’s good looks. In fact, for a long time, Sienna was waiting, too.

Ten years later, Sienna returns to Tranquility Bluffs just as the chief of police is reopening the investigation of the murdered girl, Madison. There are several suspects, all of which I was certain were guilty at some point in the book but I have to say that I was pretty surprised when the murderer was revealed.

Sienna is a perfect protagonist for this psychological thriller, she is at times fragile, filled with self-doubt, and fighting against her experiences with growing up with a mentally ill mother but she also shows courage and intelligence in the face of adversity.

The plot is well thought out, traverses seamlessly between the past and the present, and progresses at a quick pace. This is the first book I’ve read by Erica Spindler; I’ll definitely be picking up more of her books.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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