Her Perfect Twin
Written by Sarah Bonner
Review written by Amy Myers
Amy Myers is known for her short stories and historical novels featuring Victorian chef Auguste Didier and chimney sweep Tom Wasp. Her contemporary series features classic car detective Jack Colby, and she is currently working on a new 1920s mystery series featuring Nell Drury, chef at Kent's Wychbourne Court.
Hodder Studio
Her Perfect Twin is Sarah Bonner's first novel, and it most certainly won't be her last. Her publishers acclaim her as an exciting new British voice in psychological thriller fiction – and they're right. It's well written and, my goodness, it thrills.
Megan and Leah Patterson are identical twins. The difference between them is that one of them is married to Christopher Hardcastle. We're introduced to their wobbly marriage and to the background of her relationship with her perfect twin, Leah, from whom she is estranged. Both of them have high ranking jobs, but Leah outstrips Megan in fame and riches. When Megan finds photographs of Leah on Chris's phone, she decides the time has come to act and storms off to confront her. But one of them ends up dead. Murdered.
There is only one way out if her crime is to be concealed: Megan has to be seen to live Leah's glamorous life as well as her own. But there are problems galore as she sets off on this perilous path, especially as lockdown comes into force meaning that she and Chris are constantly together. And then there is Tom ...
The amount of sex and profanity in the novel might be off-putting to some readers, but just as I was beginning to blink a little, the plot took such a massive and unexpected twist that I was hooked for the rest of the novel.
And it wasn't the last such twist.
They kept on coming.
The pace and strength of Her Perfect Twin are extraordinary.