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Duplicates
From the bestselling author of THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE.
"Neiderman's forte has always been his intricate, suspenseful stories." —BOOKLIST
A person’s true identity is never the truth.
Bob and Marion endured the worst tragedies of their life after their son, Joey disappeared while on a camping trip with his uncle, Marion’s brother. The heartbreak of losing their son has strained at their marriage and broken their hearts. Horror and hope go cheek-by-jowl, though, when Marion sees her supposedly missing brother in New York City. He denies her story, even denies his own identity, but Marion knows that it is him, and that he has the information she and her husband have yearned for since the more horrific day of their lives
Questioning her sanity, but still insisting that the man she encounters is truly her brother, Marion undertakes her own investigation.
"Neiderman's forte has always been his intricate, suspenseful stories." —BOOKLIST
A person’s true identity is never the truth.
Bob and Marion endured the worst tragedies of their life after their son, Joey disappeared while on a camping trip with his uncle, Marion’s brother. The heartbreak of losing their son has strained at their marriage and broken their hearts. Horror and hope go cheek-by-jowl, though, when Marion sees her supposedly missing brother in New York City. He denies her story, even denies his own identity, but Marion knows that it is him, and that he has the information she and her husband have yearned for since the more horrific day of their lives
Questioning her sanity, but still insisting that the man she encounters is truly her brother, Marion undertakes her own investigation.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1994
6 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Neiderman
73 books389 followersAndrew Neiderman is the author of over 44 thrillers, including six of which have been translated onto film, including the big hit, 'The Devil's Advocate', a story in which he also wrote a libretto for the music-stage adaptation. One of his novels, Tender Loving Care, has been adapted into a CD-Rom interactive movie.
Andrew Neiderman became the ghostwriter for V.C. Andrews following her death in 1986. He was the screenwriter for Rain, a film based on a series of books under Andrews name. Between the novels written under her name and his own, he has published over 100 novels.
Andrew Neiderman became the ghostwriter for V.C. Andrews following her death in 1986. He was the screenwriter for Rain, a film based on a series of books under Andrews name. Between the novels written under her name and his own, he has published over 100 novels.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 7, 2022
A medical/horror/thriller about evil lab rats that terrorize an entire town full of DUPLICATES.
What the hell, you ask?
Ok. Well, kinda.
I'm going to be honest, everything about this reads like one of those made for tv movies.
A beautiful young wife is depressed and has been disconnected from life ever since her brother and son disappeared on a camping trip about a year ago. Her handsome broad-shouldered husband struggles to hold their family together and still be there for their little girl.
BUT THEN!
They run into her brother in a hotel lobby and he acts like he doesn't know who they are.
Meanwhile.
In a seemingly unconnected event, a doctor decides he's had enough and leaves the shady company he's working for, only to be ambushed and thrown off a balcony to his DOOM!
But wait, there's more.
Because this is a love story. See, when the couple decides to track down her brother for answers as to what happened to their little boy, they become embroiled in a secret experiment that involves
Can true love survive?
Well, in this sort of fantasyland it certainly has a good chance!
"She was five feet ten with a sleek, model’s figure: perky firm breasts, a waist so narrow her husband could put his hands around it, and long, shapely legs."
Ok, Neiderman. You're trying to tell me a woman who has given birth not just once but twice, still has a waist that narrow?
HOW BIG ARE HIS FUCKING HANDS, SIR?
Oh! And this book has the honor of having the most unintentionally hilarious masturbation scenes I've ever read in a book.
The evil scientist gets turrrrrned on by listening to the recordings of what's happening in her test subject's house and...
" In her erotic imaginings, the tape recorder had suddenly become a penis. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only intensified the image and the sensation. Reluctantly, she began to surrender again, only this time she brought the tape recorder to her lips and kissed the smooth edge softly."
Another thing that made me laugh was Neiderman's obsession with this dessert in the book called Better Than Sex. Like, he could not stop referencing it. As though it was the most risque thing he'd ever heard or something!
“Should I put up some coffee?” Elaine asked. “Oh no. Remember, I promised to take you and Melissa for dessert. Better Than Sex,” he added, smiling."
“I’ll order the Better Than Sex,” Elaine said, “but I hope it’s not true.”
"The waitress interrupted them with the platter of Better Than Sex and Melissa’s pie à la mode."
“You might be right,” she said licentiously, “this might be better than sex.”
Alright. This was one of those books that we found because we read Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. And it was as deliciously campy as I was hoping it would be.
Would I recommend this to someone who was trying to find a great medical horror book?
No.
But if you're in the market for a silly throwback to those horror novels you used to be able to buy on a grocery store spinner? Well, you could do worse.
This buddy read was foisted on me by DownloadedMyBrainIntoACat
What the hell, you ask?
Ok. Well, kinda.
I'm going to be honest, everything about this reads like one of those made for tv movies.
A beautiful young wife is depressed and has been disconnected from life ever since her brother and son disappeared on a camping trip about a year ago. Her handsome broad-shouldered husband struggles to hold their family together and still be there for their little girl.
BUT THEN!
They run into her brother in a hotel lobby and he acts like he doesn't know who they are.
Meanwhile.
In a seemingly unconnected event, a doctor decides he's had enough and leaves the shady company he's working for, only to be ambushed and thrown off a balcony to his DOOM!
But wait, there's more.
Because this is a love story. See, when the couple decides to track down her brother for answers as to what happened to their little boy, they become embroiled in a secret experiment that involves
Can true love survive?
Well, in this sort of fantasyland it certainly has a good chance!
"She was five feet ten with a sleek, model’s figure: perky firm breasts, a waist so narrow her husband could put his hands around it, and long, shapely legs."
Ok, Neiderman. You're trying to tell me a woman who has given birth not just once but twice, still has a waist that narrow?
HOW BIG ARE HIS FUCKING HANDS, SIR?
Oh! And this book has the honor of having the most unintentionally hilarious masturbation scenes I've ever read in a book.
The evil scientist gets turrrrrned on by listening to the recordings of what's happening in her test subject's house and...
" In her erotic imaginings, the tape recorder had suddenly become a penis. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only intensified the image and the sensation. Reluctantly, she began to surrender again, only this time she brought the tape recorder to her lips and kissed the smooth edge softly."
Another thing that made me laugh was Neiderman's obsession with this dessert in the book called Better Than Sex. Like, he could not stop referencing it. As though it was the most risque thing he'd ever heard or something!
“Should I put up some coffee?” Elaine asked. “Oh no. Remember, I promised to take you and Melissa for dessert. Better Than Sex,” he added, smiling."
“I’ll order the Better Than Sex,” Elaine said, “but I hope it’s not true.”
"The waitress interrupted them with the platter of Better Than Sex and Melissa’s pie à la mode."
“You might be right,” she said licentiously, “this might be better than sex.”
Alright. This was one of those books that we found because we read Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. And it was as deliciously campy as I was hoping it would be.
Would I recommend this to someone who was trying to find a great medical horror book?
No.
But if you're in the market for a silly throwback to those horror novels you used to be able to buy on a grocery store spinner? Well, you could do worse.
This buddy read was foisted on me by DownloadedMyBrainIntoACat
August 26, 2022
This book feels like two thrillers smushed together, and the result is that neither story gets the attention it deserves. About halfway through, the book severely dips in quality. It feels as if Neiderman had a looming deadline, or he just lost interest in his own high concept book. The writing becomes very rote, the dialogue exceedingly cheesy (which is funny to read, at least), lots of plot short cuts are taken.
Up to about 60% of the book, you have yourself quite an intertaining little thriller. And then Neiderman drops the ball(s). And it's a shame! The concept of the book invites some fantastic opportunities.
Neiderman doesn't do anything fun with it. It's a shame, because I've read other Neiderman books that show he can do much better.
Buddy read this tawdry little thriller with Anne, who is Better Than Sex.
Up to about 60% of the book, you have yourself quite an intertaining little thriller. And then Neiderman drops the ball(s). And it's a shame! The concept of the book invites some fantastic opportunities.
Neiderman doesn't do anything fun with it. It's a shame, because I've read other Neiderman books that show he can do much better.
Buddy read this tawdry little thriller with Anne, who is Better Than Sex.
February 9, 2013
Bizarre story in the same vein as The Manchurian Candidate, but the HEA made it enjoyable.
July 14, 2015
I had been wanting to read this because it had all the makings of a good book, but it wasn't a good book at all. The premise was interesting but the execution failed to excite me.
April 3, 2023
“Was your experiment, your project, worth all this?”
Bob and Marion Boxletter along with daughter Sherri will discover first hand just how important memories are, and how easily a conscious and thoughts can be reprogrammed. Suffering for over a year from the disappearance of her brother Brian and their son Joey on a camping trip, nobody could console her. As the two seemed to vanish into thin air, no amount of leads or therapy could cure the pain Marion was facing as she refused to accept the possibility they could simply be gone forever. On a chance encounter while visiting New York, they were shocked to see the identical twin of Brian, who played the role of Sam Keller who had no knowledge or memory for the strange couple following him. Complete with a new life and identity, Sam was married with two children as Marion claimed it was only a year ago he was camping with her son Joey. Convinced they were stalking him, he had a nervous breakdown while at work triggering doctors Lila Randolph and Nelson Comgemi to the first of many falters to the experiment. Carrying out exclusive experiments of people, the two scientists were creating the ability to reprogram humans and change their very identities, thoughts and experiences. Deleting the people they were prior to being selected, they were then loaded with a nice identity with a fresh memory with no traces of who they were before. Believing they were these new identities, it was crucial they never left the small town of Sandburg, in fear someone from the past could recognize them.
Remember, I love you. It’s something that goes deeper than names and memories. Anything that strong has got to prevail.
When Marion and Bob begin interfering with the study after spotting their son Joey at the local diner with another family, they were to become part of those who were altered. With a target over their heads, Marion, Bob and Sherri were kidnapped and restrained before being loaded with a new set of identities. Waking up dazed and confused Bob (Charles Corbin) as well as Marion (Elaine Stratton) and Sherri (Melissa Stratton) seemed to pick life back up right where it was left in their predestined memories. After a chance encounter, the love the two felt couldn't be contained as they quickly took to one another all over again. With the faintest twinges if previous memories and emotions filtering through, Bob made one choice that would alter their lives forever. He wanted their original memories back, all the pain, the fear the love and family he was remembering. As the story came closer to the end, they kidnapped Joey and together held the scientists as fun point while they waited to be sent back to normal. As Marion's brother Brian laid in his gurneyz his mind was reset into that if a cold and calculating killer. Murdering Doctor Randolph, Bob finished the loose ends by changing Pyle and Congemi's memories to new people. As the family is reunited and still with a horrible nightmare left to face, they began the journey home.
“Why should there be this…fear in us?” she wondered. “Why shouldn’t we simply love each other purely?”
Bob and Marion Boxletter along with daughter Sherri will discover first hand just how important memories are, and how easily a conscious and thoughts can be reprogrammed. Suffering for over a year from the disappearance of her brother Brian and their son Joey on a camping trip, nobody could console her. As the two seemed to vanish into thin air, no amount of leads or therapy could cure the pain Marion was facing as she refused to accept the possibility they could simply be gone forever. On a chance encounter while visiting New York, they were shocked to see the identical twin of Brian, who played the role of Sam Keller who had no knowledge or memory for the strange couple following him. Complete with a new life and identity, Sam was married with two children as Marion claimed it was only a year ago he was camping with her son Joey. Convinced they were stalking him, he had a nervous breakdown while at work triggering doctors Lila Randolph and Nelson Comgemi to the first of many falters to the experiment. Carrying out exclusive experiments of people, the two scientists were creating the ability to reprogram humans and change their very identities, thoughts and experiences. Deleting the people they were prior to being selected, they were then loaded with a nice identity with a fresh memory with no traces of who they were before. Believing they were these new identities, it was crucial they never left the small town of Sandburg, in fear someone from the past could recognize them.
Remember, I love you. It’s something that goes deeper than names and memories. Anything that strong has got to prevail.
When Marion and Bob begin interfering with the study after spotting their son Joey at the local diner with another family, they were to become part of those who were altered. With a target over their heads, Marion, Bob and Sherri were kidnapped and restrained before being loaded with a new set of identities. Waking up dazed and confused Bob (Charles Corbin) as well as Marion (Elaine Stratton) and Sherri (Melissa Stratton) seemed to pick life back up right where it was left in their predestined memories. After a chance encounter, the love the two felt couldn't be contained as they quickly took to one another all over again. With the faintest twinges if previous memories and emotions filtering through, Bob made one choice that would alter their lives forever. He wanted their original memories back, all the pain, the fear the love and family he was remembering. As the story came closer to the end, they kidnapped Joey and together held the scientists as fun point while they waited to be sent back to normal. As Marion's brother Brian laid in his gurneyz his mind was reset into that if a cold and calculating killer. Murdering Doctor Randolph, Bob finished the loose ends by changing Pyle and Congemi's memories to new people. As the family is reunited and still with a horrible nightmare left to face, they began the journey home.
“Why should there be this…fear in us?” she wondered. “Why shouldn’t we simply love each other purely?”
September 15, 2022
I love reading Neiderman’s books. Yet another good suspense novel
December 28, 2024
One of the worst books I've read this year. Poorly written, weird casual racism, too many generic names without sufficient character descriptions so I kept confusing the characters.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews