Review: Dead Ringers by Christopher Golden

Author: Christopher Golden
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date of publication: November 2015

When Tess Devlin runs into her ex-husband Nick on a Boston sidewalk, she's furious at him for pretending he doesn't know her. She calls his cell to have it out with him, only to discover that he's in New Hampshire with his current girlfriend. But if Nick's in New Hampshire...who did she encounter on the street?

Frank Lindbergh's dreams have fallen apart. He wanted to get out of the grim neighborhood where he'd grown up and out of the shadow of his alcoholic father. Now both his parents are dead and he's back in his childhood home, drinking too much himself. As he sets in motion his plans for the future, he's assaulted by an intruder in his living room...an intruder who could be his twin.

In an elegant hotel, Tess will find mystery and terror in her own reflection. Outside a famed mansion on Beacon Hill, people are infected with a diabolical malice...while on the streets, an eyeless man, dressed in rags, searches for a woman who wears Tess's face.

Dead Ringers was an unexpected surprise for my Halloween season reading.  It follows a group of people who realize that there are people in the city with their own faces.  These strangers are almost better and more perfect versions of themselves.  The story is told through a few different characters' perspectives. Even thought there were multiple characters, each one had a unique voice, so it wasn't hard to keep them straight.  It is set in Boston and it was fun to read a book set in a city I know well.

I found this to be a unique take on the doppelganger story-line.   I thought this story was going to go one way, but it ended up down a different path.  While I wouldn't say it was a horror book or very scary in that sense, it was definitely creepy.   It's a hard book to talk plot without giving anything away.  I did ended up getting sucked into the book right way and wanted to race to the finish.  There was a nice little twist at the end that added to the creep factor and I loved it.  I definitely recommend this one.  I would love to see this made into a movie.