Adrianne Byrd Deadly Double

Deadly Double

Adrianne Byrd

HarperTorch, Jun 2005, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 006056539X

In the Atlanta area, Josephine "Josie" Ferrell has lived a good life as the only child of nurturing affectionate parents. However, her world turns upside down when she meets her twin sister Michele Andrews as she had no idea her sibling existed. Josie welcomes Michele into her life.

However, one day Josie awakens to find herself inside Keystone Mental institution with everyone calling her Michele although she insists she is Josie. The only one who believes her is Dr. William Hayes who fell in love with Josie years ago and though he has not seen her in sixteen years he recognized the effect she has on him and knows he is not that shallow to allow two identically looking females to do that to him. Risking arrest William abducts Josie from the mental institution to hide her in safety until they can stop the real Michele pretending to be Josie before something worse happens to the real article.

Readers will want to write off this novel as the home environment turns separated sisters into good twin bad twin has been done a zillion times including stealing identities. However, that would be a shame for suspense fans as Adrianne Byrd provides a tense action-packed thriller that starts with the escape and never slows down even when looking back to the first meeting and the switch. Josie is a beleaguered lead character with only William believing her because he uses loves to delineate between the siblings. Though a solid pair, the plot belongs to the diabolical ingenious Michele who makes this twin thriller worth the read.

Harriet Klausner