Understandably, grief can cause even the most stable of people to lose it. Phoebe has worked hard to deal with her grief and try to put her life back together in some small way. But then her doppelgänger is found dead in her hometown and her fragile life begins to collapse. This is a very unique story and one that will keep you enthralled to the very end!

It was an interesting path for me when I read this book whose prime location is a mortuary as I had just finished a book about people planning a mass suicide. I didn't love this book. Halfway through I thought about putting it down as I just didn't care that much and some things did not make sense to me. It had an intriguing plot but it just didn't keep me engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

IN ANOTHER LIGHT by A. J. Banner is a fast-paced and gripping novel of suspense that grabbed my attention from the start and never let go. Phoebe Glassman’s perfect life came to a halt when she lost her husband in a tragic car accident three years prior. Still grieving, she has withdrawn from the world, except to do her job as a mortuary cosmetologist, where she restores the faces of the dead for viewing by their loved ones. When the body of a dead woman is brought to the mortuary, Phoebe is stunned to see she bears an uncanny resemblance to Phoebe and her arm bears a tattoo that is shockingly familiar. Phoebe feels compelled to learn more about the woman’s life and death. Soon her search uncovers surprising clues about the woman that link their pasts in unfathomable ways and cause her to wonder who around her she can really trust. This compelling and emotional story is filled with mystery and drama and kept me on the edge of my seat to the very end. I highly recommend it! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review and early copy.

"Three years ago mortuary cosmetologist Phoebe Glassman lost her husband in a tragic accident. No longer the hopeful wife and mother she once was, Phoebe is disappearing into her grief and into the quietude of her job—restoring to the dead the illusion of life. Then the body of a woman named Pauline Steele arrives in the mortuary, and for Phoebe, everything changes." - excerpt from GoodReads


This is definitely not my first novel by AJ Banner, and as per always, it will never be my last . I keep thinking there is no way these books can continue to exceed the one previous, but they do! Cheers to another five star read! I absolutely adore AJ Banner!

Phoebe has been working at a funeral home as a cosmetologist, when a body comes in that could pass for her twin , she is definitely blind sighted and caught off guard. Phoebe is still grieving the loss of both her husband and her daughter who died tragically in an accident but when Phoebe notices a tattoo on this mysterious woman she realizes she has in fact seen this tattoo before on her husbands phone. WHO is this woman? What is the connection between her husband and this woman? How well do you really know the ones you love?

Strap on your seat belts folks, you are in for one hell of a ride. This book is like nothing you have ever read before and an easy five star read! I absolutely loved it!

I was given a free copy by A.J. Banner and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much, this was a pleasure to read!

An artist-turned-mortuary cosmetologist, Phoebe Glassman, has been grieving the loss of her daughter and husband as well as the life she once lived for three years now. She gives new life to people who come into her mortuary, but is unable to do the same for herself and move past the guilt and sorrow she experiences day-to-day. One day, a woman arrives at the mortuary who looks exactly like her. What's more, this woman, Pauline Steele, has a picture of her in her possessions and there's a familiar tattoo on her body. Phoebe becomes obsessed with figuring out who this woman is and how their lives are connected. She embarks on a journey in which her relationships are put to the test and she's forced to question everything she knows about the life she's led thus far.

The beginning of this book didn’t immediately pull me in, but once we got into her backstory and pauline’s backstory and found out how their lives intersected, I couldn’t put it down. Even though the narrator was unreliable (and slightly unhinged), I felt that I understood her grief and motivations, so even though she was doing things that were objectively wrong, I still felt empathetic and found that I was rooting for her. This book explored ideas of deception, grief, guilt, and forgiveness and we were able to see clear character development, growth, and healing.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book.

In Another Light is about Phoebe grieving the loss of her husband and daughter in the years following their deaths in a car accident. She works in a mortuary, and one day a young deceased woman that looks exactly like her is brought to the mortuary. This sets her off on an investigation into the woman, what really happened to her husband and daughter, and the history of her own family.

The story seems at first like it will be an improbable thriller, but of course there are logical explanations for everything. It's about how crazy real life can be, and how much lies can hurt. I found the story interesting but I did not feel like we really got to know the characters, or why Phoebe feels the way she does about certain people. I thought some of the dialogue and prose flowed awkwardly and unnaturally, but I was ultimately rooting for things to work out for her

Compelling Drama of Grief. This is a very compelling drama/ mystery of a woman's struggles in the years following the death of her husband. The grief is all-encompassing, felt in nearly every letter on every page - which can make this book a bit dreary at times, but the mystery and mental struggles Phoebe faces are compelling enough and fast paced enough (in this short-ish, 252 page book) that the plot never really has the time to become *truly* overbearing in the grief. Revelations begin to stack up late, and much is made clear - to both Phoebe and the reader - even as the book chooses its path to be the less expected, more atypical one. Which I found quite remarkable, as this particular path allows Banner to plumb Phoebe's fragile psyche that much more and kept the overall tone of the book solidly in place. Truly an excellent work, and very much recommended.

This story follows Phoebe, an artists who works in a funeral home, making up the faces of those who have died.

One day, phoebe is confronted with a corpse that looks exactly like her, and worse still, the corpse has a tattoo that she has seen on her husbands phone.

What follows is sad, emotional tail of Pheobes past and her quest to find out who her doppelganger is.

The story is interesting with the main character phoebe likeable and someone who the reader can feel sympathetic towards.

An enjoyable read.

Author A. J. Banner's, In Another Light, is a thrilling and suspenseful read! Former artist and sculptor, Phoebe Glassman works at Fair Winds Funeral Home as a cosmetologist. Having lost her husband, Logan and baby daughter, three years ago, in an accident, Phoebe no longer finds any joy in living. When a transfer from the coroner's office is coming in, removal technician Mike warns Phoebe that she needs to avoid the corpse. When her best friend, Renee texts for her to come to the prep room, Phoebe cannot imagine what all the secrecy is about until she finds herself staring at a younger version of herself. After overcoming the shocking moment, Phoebe recognizes a tattoo, on the corpse, that she saw on her late husband's phone. Who is this woman and what does she have to do with Logan? Was Logan having an affair or were there more sinister motives at play? Phoebe's suspicions begin to spiral out of place after she begins searching out everything that she can find out about the deceased young woman, Pauline. She begins to see a conspiracy around every corner in regards to her late husband and her daughter, Ava. Will Phoebe's friends be able to help her come to terms with the truth, as she see's it, or will it be discovered that the ones who cared for her the most were only lying to her the entire time! Author A.J. Banner has written an "edge of your seat" masterpiece! I was hooked from page one and could not stop until I read the ending. I can't wait to see what this amazing author will come out with next!

This is one of those books that entertains, teaches a life lesson (or several of them) and makes me think, all at the same time. Phoebe is a widow who also lost her young daughter in a horrible car accident. Still having difficulty dealing with her loss, she is startled by the appearance of Pauline Steele at the mortuary where she works, especially because Pauline is like a mirror image of herself. Thus her quest for the truth begins, taking her along a path that she never wanted to travel and one which will take her to the brink of insanity. Along the way, Phoebe is pulled back from the edge by friends like Renee and Mike, but she is also determined to find out the truth about her husband Logan and his possible relationship with Pauline. This book, with all of its complexities and hidden truths, was an engrossing read, one that I had to pause as I read in order to think about applications to my own life and the things that we take for granted. I enjoyed discovering about Phoebe’s strengths and weaknesses just as she was discovering them herself. My favorite parts of the book were her realization about the truth and the ending, a very satisfactory one, I might add. This is a book that should be savored, just as you savor a fine wine or a good meal. It sits there with you for a while, you think about it and then you move on to the next part of the story. The action was somewhat slow-paced, but I found that this technique worked for me with this book because I needed the pauses in order to reflect on what was really happening. The reality is there, just hidden beneath layers of self-deception and a psychosis that can destroy if not handled well. Fans of domestic drama with some suspense added in will enjoy this book and look forward to more from this author.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

What a beautiful, sad, and completely engrossing book this was – A.J. Banner’s In Another Light is certainly a suspenseful thriller, but also a completely engrossing portrayal of long-term grief.

Phoebe McCleary is the kind of protagonist the reader wants to protect. Over the last few years, we quickly learn, she’s been living a waking nightmare; her husband, dead to a car accident, her father dead to a heart attack, and her mother slowly fading away before Phoebe’s eyes as she succumbs to dementia in a nearby nursing home. Somehow she’s made it through – but when her work at the mortuary suddenly brings her face to face with her own dead double, Phoebe finds herself with questions she can’t leave unanswered.

I was glued to the page right from the jump with In Another Light. It’s not just that Phoebe is an excellent character – the book was just so intriguing from the opening lines. The grief that she carried felt real, and was written heart-breakingly; at the same time, you want to root for this character, to see her find the answers to the questions that she so urgently wants to investigate. There’s an ease to the interactions that she has with other characters that felt very natural, too – I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a good thriller, but there’s a growing number that ask a lot from the reader in service of the story. Not here though; people react with a realistic mix of compassion and concern, and have their own stories going on in the background.

It’s a heavy hitter, this book, and one you shouldn’t expect to come out of unaffected. It’s not all doom and gloom; far from it, the heavier moments are interspersed with some gorgeous interludes of beautifully-written moments of normal life. Even those good moments, though, affected me emotionally; this is a book that it’s easy to connect to. A.J. Banner has written something very special here.

Based on previous experiences reading Banner’s books I knew I wanted to read her newest upcoming release. There was plenty of page turning action and wanting to know more of the story during the first part of the book. Then the atmosphere shifted and the ending was mediocre at best.

Rating: 3,5/5 stars

"Grief can play with the mind…”


An intriguing mystery gives way to a heartfelt emotional journey about grief and loss in the latest novel by thriller-author A.J. Banner.

In Another Light starts off with a hook that always manages to grab my attention from the start. We follow Phoebe Glassman, a woman in the depth of grief over the loss of her husband and daughter in a tragic car accident, a little under 3 years ago. A ghost of her former ambitious and creative self, she now spends her days working as a mortuary-cosmetologist, tending to the bodies of the deceased. Her escape into work is uprooted one day when she discovers a mysterious woman on her table, who appears to be her mirror image. The identity of this woman leads Phoebe down an path that eerily crosses her own, and stirs up memories and grief that she thought she’d buried.
Although it’s primarily shelved as a mystery/thriller, In Another Light is a bit of a genre-bender that blends together mystery fiction with contemporary drama. And it does so with great success, managing to synergize the two together into more than the sum of its parts. Rather than focussing on a murder-mystery plot like many mysteries with the “Doppelganger-trope” do, we delve deep into the deceased woman’s life, instead of her death. It makes for a more emotional and personal story, which was a welcome addition to the mystery-elements.

That being said, emotional stories stand or fall with their characters to me, and unfortunately I didn’t relate to Phoebe the way I wanted to. Something about her characterization felt distant and it made it hard for me to fully invest myself into her as a character, especially when she makes some irrational and emotionally-driven decisions as the story progresses. What did come across strongly was Phoebe’s desire to uncover the truth, no matter the cost. It made the novel into quite the page-turner, that had me burning midnight oil.

Overall: a very enjoyable thriller, with surprising emotional depth that makes up for some more predictable and cliché parts and an ending that wasn’t 100% satisfying to me. If, amidst your Halloween-thrillers you’re looking for just that, I recommend you give this novel a try.

Many thanks to the publisher Lake Union for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Phoebe’s story grabbed me from the beginning and I could barely stop reading. Then everything came to a halt and Phoebe‘s story slowed down to a heartwarming and gentle ending.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

There were some pretty gasp-worthy twists in this thriller/drama. It revolves around two women that have a striking resemblance. One of them is dead. Would definitely recommend!!

This was an ok book for me, it had a good plot but a meh execution. It is a good quick read. Author’s writing style is great, I just feel it fell a little flat towards the end.

3.5 the book had a strong premise but it got lost by too many details and too many storylines. it veered off into the direction of mental health issues but not sure why when that was not what was going on and then wrapped up everything in a nice bow. so while it was a quick read and somewhat interesting, it didn't work overall for me

In Another Light by A.J. Banner starts out so dang strong. I had some really high hopes for this story based on the synopsis and previous books I had read and loved by the same author. Phoebe has such a tragic story that I wanted so bad to like her but this is the second book of Banner's that I just felt the characters weren't as well written. The character interactions felt very flat and generic to me.

Had this book gone the direction it led you to believe it was going I am sure it would have ended with a bang but mid book we completely do a 180 and start going a different direction and it just wasn't as thrilling as the other option of what could be happening.

🌟🌟🌟 I gave In Another Light a 3 out of 5 star rating. It is worth the read for the twists but if you really enjoy in depth character development and relatability this may not be the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Phoebe Glassman is a cosmetologist/artist at a funeral home. She restores the dead to make them look like they did when they were living. She is still grieving after losing her husband and daughter in an accident 3 years ago. She now busies herself in her work. One day a woman, Pauline, is brought in. Phoebe is astounded when she notices this woman is a mirror image of herself. She also discovers a photo of herself Paulines belongings, and recognizes a tattoo Pauline has that was on Phoebes husbands phone. What you get after this point is phenomenal. Phoebe is on a mission to figure out what is going on. Phoebe follows the clues, and you will need to know what secrets are going to be exposed. Very suspenseful and I loved every minute. A definite page turner!

In Another Light is a fascinating and emotional page turner with an intriguing premise. Great character development that leads the reader to sympathise with main character Phoebe and plenty of twists to keep you guessing. An enjoyable 4 star read.