The Doppelganger by Cole Baxter
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 11th March 2023
Published: 5th March 2023
★★ 2 stars
DESCRIPTION:
He looks just like her husband. But who is he really? And what is he planning to do with her?
Emmeline Hopkins-Keller is in paradise, sharing a luxurious holiday on a tropical island with her husband Jeffrey and his family. But it’s hard to relax and enjoy it when she knows her marriage is in deep trouble.
One fateful night, a cataclysmic argument between Emmeline and Jeffrey sends him fleeing into the deep, dark forest. A day later he is still missing, leaving everyone shocked and bewildered.
Then, a miracle. Jeffrey turns up unharmed and wants to reconcile. But something is horribly wrong. He looks and sounds like Jeffrey, but Emmeline is 100% sure he's not the man she married. Even if everyone in his family is welcoming this stranger with open arms.
Which leaves her wondering, who exactly is this imposter? And how can he deceive everyone around him? And most of all – what are his plans for Emmeline?
Struggling to believe that everyone around her is lying, Emmeline begins to doubt herself, to lose her grip on reality. Only one thing is certain – when she finally uncovers the terrifying truth, her life will be changed forever.
Dripping with intrigue, The Doppelganger is an enthralling psychological thriller that will surprise you at every turn.
MY THOUGHTS:
Rich family. Rich husband. A whole island to themselves. What more could one want?
Emmeline Hopkins-Keller (maybe the double-barrel name makes her seem posher) is off on holiday with her gorgeous husband Jeffrey to a luxurious tropical island his family owns. Yep, an entire island aptly named Paradise Island. They are the last to arrive with the family having already settled in. But Emmeline finds it hard to relax and enjoy herself when she knows her marriage is in trouble. And her husband watching her every move.
It seems she cannot escape his watchful eye as she flirts with young Patrick whom the family have employed to keep them all in the lap of luxury they have come to expect. But she's only having a bit of fun. Isn't a girl allowed to do that every so often? It's harmless. After all, she always goes back to Jeffrey. So what's the problem?
Then one night, after a doozy of an argument regarding her faithfulness (of course), Jeffrey slams the door of their cabin and flees into the deep dark forest. Emmeline, not wanting her husband to have the last word, chases after him. But hours later she returns, dirty and muddied, having not found her husband.
The following day, Jeffrey still hasn't returned and Emmeline begins to worry. Has he fallen foul in the dark forest? Is he laying somewhere injured? Or maybe he's been abducted? All of these fears go unfounded when a day later, Jeffrey turns up unharmed enjoying breakfast with his family. Emmeline runs to greet him but stops short.
He looks like Jeffrey. He sounds like Jeffrey. But he isn't Jeffrey. Of that, she is sure.
No one is more surprised than Emmeline when he apologises for their fight and claims he wants to reconcile. But she is speechless. She cannot reconcile with this man...this man who isn't her husband, despite him saying that's exactly who he is. Something has happened to Jeffrey and this stranger, this imposter, has turned up in his place. But no matter how much she tries to prove otherwise, nobody believes her. And the more she tries, the more unstable she makes herself look and the crazier she sounds.
And then strange things begin to happen, nightmares about chasing Jeffrey or being chased by his imposter, to revelations of him possibly being a Doppelganger. The more she reads about Doppelgangers, the more frightened she becomes and her nightmares only increase. Despite this, Emmeline continues to insist that fake-Jeffrey is not real-Jeffrey and nothing she does seems to help her cause. She only seems to be digging herself in deeper and deeper, as the storyline just gets even messier and delusional...much like our main character.
So what would you if you were Emmeline? Continue to protest the imposter's identity? Probably. Particularly if you were so sure he was in fact an imposter. Which begs the question, why is she so sure he isn't Jeffrey? She gives no valid explanation. Just a few vague reasons about his height, the colour of his hair, his muscular physique and a mole that he may or may not have had on his nose. But everything about him oozed Jeffrey. He even knew every private and intimate detail about them and their marriage. And yet, no matter what was thrown at her, Emmeline was so sure he wasn't Jeffrey. There are two logical explanations as to why she was so adamant - but which one is the truth?
It was so hard to sympathise with Emmeline because she was such a self-absorbed entitled manipulative gold digger, but funnily enough I did sympathise with her...to a point. But she just grates on your nerves. And everything, and I mean everything, is just so damn repetitive. There was no real plot surrounding this supposed switch from real-Jeffrey to fake-Jeffrey...just repetitive dialogues of "you aren't my husband" to "Of course I am" over and over. Where's the building tension? Give us a reason to believe like an accident and amnesia to other potential red herrings. And please, give readers something to like about the main character! How on earth are we to sympathise with someone so self-absorbed? Here we have a silly young woman carrying on like they've been married for thirty years citing "after all I've put up with this past year". A year, that's it. And then the whole doppelganger arc was a real let down, I thought. In fact the whole book was. When it could have been so much more.
This book had such potential. It really did. The concept itself was so unique. But what the hell happened? I should have known as I have read two thrillers by Cole Baxter previously and they left something of the same after taste as well. There is just something about his style I don't get. But why? THE DOPPELGANGER could have been so good. It could have been so much better. Instead it felt like I'd taken then Tardis to an episode of "Death in Paradise".
I really struggled with this book. I didn't like one single character. I couldn't form much of an impression of Jeffrey because who were we actually presented with? A real-Jeffrey or a fake-Jeffrey? I couldn't be sure. But even so, I didn't really like the one we were presented with. And no one else was remotely likable either.
Overall, THE DOPPELGANGER had a unique concept, the story so much potential, but it all just fell flat. What ensued was 366 pages of repetitive nonsense to the bitter end and final reveal which really, wasn't worth sticking at it for.
I would like to thank #ColeBaxter, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #TheDoppelganger in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
He grew up in New York, where there crime was all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction.
His stories will have you reading through the night—they are very addictive!
The Perfect Suitor is his first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.
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