Publisher’s Description
A decade ago, Emily Carlino vanished after her car broke down on a California highway. She was presumed to be one of serial killer Ronny Lee Jessup’s victims whose remains were never found.
Writer David Thorne still hasn’t recovered from losing the love of his life, or from the guilt of not being there to save her. Since then, he’s sought closure any way he can. He even visits regularly with Jessup in prison, desperate for answers about Emily’s final hours so he may finally lay her body to rest. Then David meets Maddison Sutton, beguiling, playful, and keenly aware of all David has lost. But what really takes his breath away is that everything about Maddison, down to her kisses, is just like Emily. As the fantastic becomes credible, David’s obsession grows, Maddison’s mysterious past deepens—and terror escalates.
Is she Emily? Or an irresistible dead ringer? Either way, the ultimate question is the same: What game is she playing? Whatever the risk in finding out, David’s willing to take it for this precious second chance. It’s been ten years since he’s felt this inspired, this hopeful, this much in love…and he’s afraid.
Thrilling Reads Review
Dean Koontz is the master of genre mash-ups and he’s doing it again, superbly, as usual with his new book, THE OTHER EMILY.
It’s a mystery, a serial killer thriller, that diverges into science fiction and the supernatural. Oh, and a love story, too!
The main protagonist is David Thorne, who is a bestselling novelist. Ten years ago, the woman he loved, Emily, vanished. The authorities suspect murder, as does David. He even becomes the patron of an imprisoned serial killer who abducted, held captive, and then killed his victims. David believes Emily was one of his many victims, so he visits the killer in jail and pays him a monthly stipend into his commissary account in hopes to get him to confess that Emily was one of his victims. But the killer refuses.
David then meets a new woman who is Emily’s doppelgänger and not just in appearance. He falls for her, the mysterious woman. He hires a private investigator to figure out who the history of this woman but that only deepens the mystery.
THE OTHER EMILY is a page-turner that will keep you guessing and wondering what’s going on. Interesting characters. It shifts in tone and genres, so that might be a little jarring if you’re not used to Dean Koontz work and are expecting a by-the-book thriller. Dean Koontz is the master at delivering a great thriller that does not follow the “rules” of the genre.
Dean Koontz Interview
My interview with Dean Koontz for MEET THE THRILLER AUTHOR podcast. Stay tuned in March for my new interview with Dean Koontz about THE OTHER EMILY!
