This book starts out with our main character (Sienna) coming back home to look after her ailing mother with the help of her two siblings only to be informed that the murder investigation that she ran away from years ago has been reopened. The more that Sienna in town the more that she digs into the murder investigation that is taking place. And the more coincidences seem to be popping up. Why did her and the deceased girl look so similar? Why were they in the same spot at the same time? Was she the real target? After our main character escapes a murderous attack years ago she starts taking a look at what happened and starts to become convinced that the madman is back to finish off what he started in the first place. This book was really intense but more of a suspense novel that leaves you guessing and on the edge of your seat the whole time. I found the characters in this book to be very interesting and well written and the plot just kept pulling me in deeper and deeper until I couldn't close the book even if I wanted to. There was so much going on in this book that it is hard to talk about in one review however all of it was amazing! It really pulled you in as a reader and when everything was finally laid out in the end it gave you a moments pause to go back and think about everything that led up to it and to see the clues with a new set of eyes. Very good book and I'm glad that I got the chance to check this one out. Not only was the story line something that ever thriller thrives to be but I found the characters to be amazing! Even the ones that I didn't like I found were well written and I loved to hate them. I can't say enough good things about this book! Everyone must read this one. It was like a roller coaster that I never wanted to get off of..

The look alike was an unexpected favorite! This psychological thriller will chill you to the core. A violent murder, a daughter who witnesses a violent crime, a mother with a psychiatric condition, a love affair with a handsome stranger and dysfunctional family dynamics. The twists and turns in the story will take you on a wild ride. The ending will make you scratch your head and rethink everything you’ve read. A great read. 4 stars.

The Look-Alike is a hard to put down and hard to forget novel. The story haunted me for days after I swiped the last page. Full of twists and turns, completely unpredictable. An amazing read!

Sienna Scott hasn't had an easy, carefree life. Her mother is mentally ill, suffering from paranoid delusions. Sienna is now attending college, and one night, she leaves her library study group later than her normal time, only to stumble across a dead body. The victim, a girl wearing an identical coat to Sienna. While Sienna wonders if she was the intended victim, she starts to doubt her sanity, wondering if she has inherited her mother's illness. Sienna's father decides to send her to London to live with her grandmother, and it will be ten years before she comes home.
Her mother is not taking her medication, her brother seems distracted and not very happy to hear that Sienna wants to stay and open a restaurant, and someone is making disturbing phone calls. Could Sienna have been right all those years ago? Was she the intended victim?
I enjoyed The Look-Alike because the author provided so many red herrings! After going back and forth, I settled on one suspect who I was sure was the killer. I was wrong but did manage to figure out several of the sub-plots, so I didn't fail in my attempts to determine whodunnit and why. The plot was fast-paced, there were plenty of suspects, and the reality of living with someone who is mentally ill was well written. I will look for Erica Spindler's books again.
I received a DRC from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

I just couldn't get into it. I read the entire book but just never felt connected and didn't have that "I can't stop reading this" feeling. I enjoyed the plot for what it was but for whatever reason, it didn't land with me. I'm not sure if it was because of the way it was written and I think the beginning really through me off as well.

Ten years after the still -unsolved murder of a college classmate and the possibility that she herself was the killer's intended target, Sienna Scott returns to the scene of the crime - the small midwestern city where she was raised and where her beloved stepbrother and her mentally ill mother still live. By now Sienna is a trained and experienced chef, and the inheritance her brother has been managing may make it possible for her to buy out the retiring couple who own the restaurant that could be the fulfillment of her professional dreams. Plus, there's the handsome stranger who's just moved into the house across the street. If not for her mother's paranoid delusions that both their lives are in danger, Sienna's would be close to perfect. But it isn't, and it's about to get a lot worse. Nicely drawn characters and expert pacing in a well-, plotted thriller.

The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler

First Sentence:

Sienna Scott nearly tripped over the body.

Set in Tranquility Bluffs, Wisconsin, college student Sienna Scott stumbles across a murdered girl on campus while walking home late from a study group. The initial investigation never produces the murderer. Strangely enough, Sienna was wearing the same coat on the same night as the girl who was murdered on campus, ten years prior. Coincidence? This is the start of a downward spiral which ultimately leads to Sienna finishing her studies in London. Sienna resembles her mother, who has a serious and debilitating mental illness and Sienna has always felt that people were waiting for her to inherit more than just her mother’s good looks. In fact, for a long time, Sienna was waiting, too.

Ten years later, Sienna returns to Tranquility Bluffs just as the chief of police is reopening the investigation of the murdered girl, Madison. There are several suspects, all of which I was certain were guilty at some point in the book but I have to say that I was pretty surprised when the murderer was revealed.

Sienna is a perfect protagonist for this psychological thriller, she is at times fragile, filled with self-doubt, and fighting against her experiences with growing up with a mentally ill mother but she also shows courage and intelligence in the face of adversity.

The plot is well thought out, traverses seamlessly between the past and the present, and progresses at a quick pace. This is the first book I’ve read by Erica Spindler; I’ll definitely be picking up more of her books.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What an ending... This was a truly good psychological thriller. Spindler wove a tapestry of past and present and had me captivated from page one.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. How does the old quote go? Something like, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you". That is the idea behind this book. Daughter moves back to town to help her sick mother just as the cold case she moved to get away from is being reopened. With lots of twists and turns this one keeps you guessing and reading until the very end. A great book to curl up with on a bad weather day.

One cold winter evening after Sienna Scott leaves her college library , she walks her usual shortcut to her dorm room that’s when she finds a dead girl in a white parka and blood everywhere in the white snow. The campus cop escorts her to the police car and that’s where she learns the dead girl is another student named Madison Robie and she was wearing the same coat as Siennas. Maybe it was Sienna that was supposed to die? Fast forward ten years and never getting over the murder she stumbled on Sienna has been living in England. She decides to move back home to Tranquility Bluffs and help her mother who suffers from a mental illness. Vivienne Scott suffers from persecutory delusional disorder she sees the word as everyone is dangerous. Now back home Sienna begins to wonder if she suffers from the same illness after constantly worrying if it was suppose to be her murdered that cold night. She soon hears the police are reopening Madison’s cold case. Sienna decides to do her own investigating. Her delusional mothers keeps telling her a white van keeps driving by and soon Sienna sees the white van but is she falling for her mother’s delusions? But when the phone calls start with a voice telling her that she was supposed to die that night she gets scared. Sienna wonders if the murderer is someone she knows or is watching her? Is it the new neighbor across the street he keeps watching her from his window, or the white van that her mother claims driving by or is it someone she’s known her whole life? This book kept me guessing I give it four stars!

I wanted to like this book but it was poorly written. A lot of telling and not showing. I couldn't connect with it at all.

This book is about Sienna Scott, a young woman who returns to her hometown in Wisconsin after living in London for ten years. She left after a woman was murdered on her college campus. Sienna has always been sure that it was a case of mistaken identity, that she was the one who was meant to be murdered. As Sienna reconnects and connects with the locals, everyone is shady. This is a good book and a page turner. Recommended.

The Look-Alike is a fantastic thriller that has a few good twists and turns. The writing is wonderful and the characters are well developed. A good book to finish out the year.

A well-crafted mystery with romantic threads that furthered the tension - as it was unclear who was the murderer.

Excellent read. Erica Spindler tells a story that flows easily and keeps you interested. After discovering a body of a girl dressed in the same type coat as hers and on a path she travel often after her late class. Sienna is wondering if it was she the killer was after? She is bonding with the much older security officer who heard her screams and came to her aid. Her father feeling it's not appropriate sends her away. She is also too focused on the horrible image of the dead girl she literally tripped over. She returns to her home town ten years later to find the same questions once again raised in her mind. Was the killer after her? They had never found the killer and now the.person in charge of the cold case is none other than the very officer who worked for the campus where it all happened and came to her aid that awful night. He now is an officer in the police department. Sienna moves into her family home to take care of her mother who has battled mental health issues since the birth of Sienna. Her father passed away and her only other living relative is her brother. A married but recently separated successful land developer. The new neighbor across the street from her home has caught her eye. He is a handsome carpenter who bought the house to fix and flip. She soon begins a friendship she hopes will grow. Things start to go wrong when threatening phone calls start, white van drive-bys are reported by her unbalanced mother. Are these just symptoms of her illness or is someone after Sienna. I recommend this book. It has drama, deception, beginning love, murder and keeps a good pace. Thank you NetGalley, Erica Spindler and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book. This is my honest opinion.

I was absolutely hooked in right from the start and it kept getting better with the development of other characters in the plot. I liked how Jonathan’s characters played out in the whole plot and also as a boyfriend/suspect, I kept looking for clues. The clues to the murderer were available as bread-crumbs in earlier portions of the book but it was interesting as everything comes together only at the end. I did feel Sienna made quite a few stupid choices but her difficult circumstances can be considered as a justification

I read this one in two sittings so I can assure it kept up the intrigue level for me. The whole angle of - whether Sienna inherited her mother’s mental illness brought in lot of twists and confusion to keep the reader guessing on how far was Sienna and her family was involved in the murder.

It is a great fast-paced whodunnit mystery with good plot-twists and a little romance!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced copy!⁣

I enjoyed this thriller. My first book by this author. I thought i had it all figured out but no, It kept me guessing till the end. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All opinions are my own.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book. This is my first time reading anything by Erica Spindler. I enjoyed her style of writing, and had to know what happened next. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a curveball threw me off again. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC!

In The Look-Alike, we first meet Sienna Scott after she discovers the body of Madison Robie, brutally murdered after a snowstorm. After realizing that Madison was wearing the same coat she was, and on the same path that she takes, Sienna starts to think that she was supposed to die. After living in London for ten years, Sienna comes back to Tranquility Bluffs to take care of her mother. Upon learning that the murder case had been reopened, she begins to search for the truth.

This book was one of the most intense psychological thrillers I’ve ever read. I couldn’t predict who Madison’s killer was, and it felt like the twists just kept coming. It was very interesting to see a mother-daughter relationship revolving around a mental illness, even though some parts were very disturbing. I would’ve liked to see Sienna explore her mental health more, especially as the plot begins to thicken and we learn more about her family and friends.

If you enjoy a suspenseful thriller, The Look-Alike is for you. Check this book out in January 2020 - you won’t want to miss it!

Ack! What a fast-paced ride in Tranquility Bluffs! An easy and enjoyable read with a questionable cast of characters, any one of whom could be Madison Robie's killer. Looking back I would have liked more character development for some of the peripheral characters (and even Jonathan). The epilogue, while satisfactory, left me with a couple questions about Sienna's family. Guess you should bring her back in a future novel! Thanks to #Netgalley for the opportunity to preview #TheLookAlike by @EricaSpindler