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Release date: September 20, 2016

Publisher: MIRA

Genre: Mystery/Psychological Thriller 

Goodreads blurb:

In this chilling psychological thriller, one woman’s dark past becomes another’s deadly future 

In 2003, sixteen-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared.  

She’d been enjoying her teenage summer break: working at a fast-food restaurant, crushing on an older boy and shoplifting with her best friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen—blood in the bed, periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched—though Bec remained oblivious of what was to come.  

Eleven years later she is replaced. 

A young woman, desperate after being arrested, claims to be the decade-missing Bec.  

Soon the imposter is living Bec’s life. Sleeping in her bed. Hugging her mother and father. Learning her best friends’ names. Playing with her twin brothers. 

But Bec’s welcoming family and enthusiastic friends are not quite as they seem. As the imposter dodges the detective investigating her case, she begins to delve into the life of the real Bec Winter—and soon realizes that whoever took Bec is still at large, and that she is in imminent danger. 

Review: 

I loved the premise of this book and thought it was a fairly original storyline, yes I’ve seen it done before but not exactly the same way. I enjoyed Good As Gone and had hoped this one would be similar as they seem to have quite a bit in common just based off the blurbs. Regrettably, this one missed the mark for me.

As I said previously, the basis for this book is fantastic! You have a decade long missing person, Bec who vanished without a trace. A young homeless woman who wants to avoid being arrested decides assuming Bec’s identity is her only way out of serving time in jail. The reader never does find out fake Bec’s real name which is one of several things that annoyed me, it’s irrelevant but still. So for clarification I’ll just say Fake Bec or Bec.

My first issue is the ease with which Fake Bec slips into Bec’s life. No one ever questions her enough to even find out where she’s been for the past ten years. Not even the police, much less her family. I hate when the cops are portrayed as incompetent fools and unfortunately that happens in this book. Fake Bec is never pushed into police questioning which is just far too unrealistic for me to let slide. Her family doesn’t ever ask where she’s been or what happened to her either. Everyone in this book is detached in a bothersome way.

I’ve said before how much I usually like flipping between past and present in thrillers. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I usually do with this one. I think it’s because both Bec and Fake Bec were both pretty flat and wooden characters for me. As much as I really wanted to sympathize with at least one of them, I just couldn’t. I should have been anxiously awaiting the inevitable moment where Fake Bec gets caught for impersonating Bec and I wasn’t at all. Overall excitement was lacking for me, which never happens to me when I’m reading a good thriller.

This had a plot with great potential that was untapped. I almost wish that someone else would take this premise and do more with it. There were aspects that could have been fantastic, especially when the twist is revealed. But it all felt very rushed in the end and instead of delving into more of the chilling psyche of the killer, things just…ended.

Overall rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to MIRA/Harlequin for my copy in exchange for an honest review.