The Other You - blog tour

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The Other You, J.S. Monroe

About the book

Kate used to be good at recognising people. So good, she worked for the police, identifying criminals in crowds of thousands. But six months ago, a devastating car accident led to a brain injury. Now the woman who never forgot a face can barely recognise herself in the mirror.

At least she has Rob. Young, rich, handsome and successful, Rob runs a tech company on the idyllic Cornish coast. Kate met him just after her accident, and he nursed her back to health. When she's with him, in his luxury modernist house, the nightmares of the accident fade, and she feels safe and loved.

Until, one day, she looks at Rob anew. And knows, with absolute certainty, that the man before her has been replaced by an impostor.

Is Rob who he says he is? Or is it all in Kate's damaged mind?

EXTRACT

‘Hospitals,’ she says, shuddering at the memory. She has tried so hard to forget the tubes, the breathing apparatus, the sense of helplessness after the accident, when she was lying in intensive care.

‘Hey, it’s where we met.’ He smiles.

‘That was different. I was on a ward by then.’ And he was on a tour of the hospital, encouraging patients to visit an exhibition he’d organised in the main reception area.

‘And you? Are you scared by anything?’ she asks, doubting that he’s troubled by much in life. It’s her he worries about not himself. She used to think he was nervous when she first met him, but it’s just his energy. Rob’s protean brain never stops; it whirrs like a supercomputer. He’s an Irish geek. His phrase, not hers.

It’s a while before he answers.

‘When I was a teenager,’ he begins, ‘I was terrified of meeting my doppelgänger.’

She glances up at him, surprised. ‘It’s supposed to be a bad omen if you see one,’ he continues, looking out to sea. Rob’s never struck her as a superstitious person. Far from it. His life is ruled by modern technology, not by fanciful myths. She doodles a pattern in the soft sand, hoping that he will continue. They don’t often talk in this way, not about him, his fears. It’s always about her.

‘Are you still frightened?’ she prompts.

‘And now everyone’s into posting selfies on social media,’ he says, ignoring her question, ‘it’s well within the bounds of probability for all of us to be found by someone with an exact physical likeness.’  

She feels a pang of disappointment. He’s reverted to work speak just when she thought he was opening up. Returned to safer ground.

‘There are several billion faces online, waiting to be matched. Believe me, I’ve done the maths, crunched the numbers.’

Of course he has. But she’s taken aback by what he says next.

‘We’ve all got a double out there somewhere, watching, waiting. Shadowless.’ He looks around the cove, up at the clifftop behind them. The man with the binoculars has gone. ‘And I’ve already met mine, a long time ago.’

‘When?’ she asks. He doesn’t answer.

‘They say it’s bad enough to see your double once, but it’s meant to be much worse if you meet them a second time.’ He pauses. ‘The day I see him again will be my last. He’ll take over my life, me, you, the house, my company, all that I’ve achieved, everything that’s precious to me.’

He pauses, eyes welling as the Cornish sun disappears behind a solitary cloud, casting the beach into sudden shade. ‘He’ll steal my soul.’

About the Author

J.S. Monroe read English at Cambridge, worked as a foreign correspondent in Delhi, and was Weekend editor of the Daily Telegraph in London before becoming a full-time writer. Monroe is the author of six novels, including the international bestseller, Find Me.

Buy links:

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GooglePlay: https://bit.ly/2OAI0x7

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