In F. Paul Wilson’s Double Threat, the main character, Stanka Daley, is a con artist who makes the fateful, life-changing decision to hide out in a desert cave while on the run from some angry housewives she scammed with a fake car contest.

While Daley, as she prefers to be known, hides in that cave, a strange slug-like creature drops on her head and knocks her out. When she comes to, she stumbles to the house of Juana, a local who watches over the cave and who informs her that surviving an interaction with the alaret, as the creature is known, is a vanishingly rare occurrence, and that she will now serve as Daley’s guide.

Daley isn’t sure what to think when Juana tells her that her life will change forever, but she soon finds out what she means when she starts seeing a man following her and hears his voice in her head. Is she going insane, or did something far stranger happen to her because of the alaret?

The man eventually resolves into Pard, a symbiotic entity now sharing space in Daley’s mind. At first, she wants to do anything she can to get him out of her head, assuming he is figment of her imagination, a symptom of insanity, but she eventually warms to his presence, especially after she learns about the abilities he has to heal herself and others.

Meanwhile, members of a cult who use their scrolls to predict good investment opportunities learn that “a pairing has occurred” and that the “duad” is on its way to ruin their plans. It isn’t long before Daley and Rhys, the son of the cult’s leader, are on a collision course in a small California desert town called Nespodee Springs.

This is the first F. Paul Wilson book I’ve read, although I’ve been interested in his work for a while, and have the first Repairman Jack book somewhere on my shelves. My impression of his work is that he has a lot of interlocking series that build to some kind of apocalyptic conclusion, sort of like how nearly all of Stephen King’s books tie back into the Dark Tower in some way but still work as standalone stories.

According to Wilson’s website, Double Threat is part of his overarching Secret History of the World, but it definitely works on its own without any knowledge of his other work. That said, this book is the first part of a duology, and it definitely ends with most of its major threads unresolved. I’ve waited long enough to read this first part that I was able to pick up the second, Double Dose, immediately after I finished, and I would argue that the two books feel more like one long novel split in two.

Double Threat is definitely an engaging read. It hits the ground running, throwing Daley in the middle of a bizarre situation while she is still trying to clean up the mess of her normal life. Daley is a sympathetic rascal, pulling petty scams just to get by without ever really harming anyone (or, at least, that’s how she justifies it to herself). Giving a con artist the ability to actually heal people is a fantastic hook, and the way she navigates her growing moral compass as the extent of Pard’s power reveals itself to her is incredibly compelling.

The book ends on a little bit of a cliffhanger, so it’s likely you’ll want to continue on to the next as soon as possible. Double Dose piles on more epic, not to mention cosmic, complications as Daley learns more about the true goals of the cult so obsessed with her existence as the “duad”. I will say that the second book didn’t quite stick the landing for me, but I’d happily read more books about Daley and Pard, and will definitely pick up more by F. Paul Wilson.

Overall, Double Threat feels like an excellent introduction to F. Paul Wilson without diving deep into his presumably more complex series. It has humor, fun characters, a little bit of romance, and some occasionally shocking moments of danger. I recommend checking it out, but only if you can pick up both books in the series at the same time to make sure you aren’t stuck on a cliffhanger ending.

Daley was raised by her family of grifters. She has broken away from them, but she still makes her living as a scam artist. While hiding out in a cave she is attacked by who knows what, but whatever it was it has left her with a voice in her head that will not go away. Only she can hear (and sometimes see) him. He is a symbiont who gives himself the name Pard. It turns out that Pard is able to cure certain ailments in Daley, and in people Daley touches. With the help of a Native American woman, Daley and Pard set up in a small town and go into the curing business. Unfortunately, the town is run by a very strange cult that isn’t happy to have her there.

The blurb for this book says that it is a standalone. That is not exactly true. This book ends with a giant cliffhanger and there are many unanswered questions. Daley still has to deal with the cult, her family who won’t let her go, a spreading illness and possibly a new boyfriend. It is obviously the first book of at least a duology and maybe a series. I definitely want to read whatever comes next. The plot is original, the writing is fast paced and both Daley and Pard are fun characters - intelligent, witty and sarcastic. I listened to the audiobook which has three narrators. All of them are good, but the man who voiced Pard was exceptional. His was the perfect voice to have in one’s head. 4.5 stars

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

Fun book. Hate the way it ended though. Narrators were good. The one who did Pard was fun, had good deadpan comedic timing. I want to know what happens, but I don't if I trust myself to look for the next book in the series.

Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson
Narrated by Michael Crouch, Stephanie Willing, Rupert Degas
Publication Date: July 1, 2021
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | Sci Fi & Fantasy

Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson is a standalone (according to the description) mystery/sci-fi novel. This is the first book I've read by the author and I really enjoyed it!

This book was amazing! The story was fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat! I didn't want the book to end, but I needed to know what would happen next!

The characters were interesting and the dialogue was great!

The narration by Michael Crouch, Stephanie Willing & Rupert Degas was incredible! It was like listening to radio-theatre!

The only thing that is killing me is the ending. There is such a giant cliff-hanger and I can't find anything about another book! I need to know what will happen next and this is allegedly a standalone book.

Read this book! It is truly amazing!

I'm so grateful to F. Paul Wilson, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I felt that the writing was a little juvenile and that Daley felt like something out of a YA novel and there were quips and terms that caught her up that really shouldn't have and didn't need to be accentuated. There was an impossible sense of 'she'll always know about everything' because of Pard's 'learning and at points that became a bit too frequent. The point where Pard asks Daley 'How do you know about Amsterdam?' was strange because Pard knows all that Daley knows.

Anyway i felt like the love interest and the 'omg eww someone's in my head got a little played out.
This isn't my most coherent review but i felt like this fell on the wrong side of the juvenile spectrum and i was really waiting for the story to pick up and then it was over.

Great story and great characters. I can't wait to read another book by this author. Only negative is the cliffhanger issue, I always need to have an ending or the rest of the story readily available.

Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson
A grifter and a con artist, Daley is minding her own business hiding out from some angry folks she conned when BAM! She gets hit by some alien magic and suddenly has an alien consciousness in her head. It’s hard to explain, you just have to read it.

Turns out this alien can sniff out ailments in humans and cure them. One thing leads to another and the two set up shop in the desert as healers. The town is run by a cult who has some weird stuff of their own going on that may or may not have something to do with the alien in Daley’s head.

It all sounds a bit weird and far-fetched but that’s why it’s sci-fi. And the characters are interesting and endearing so they make it easy to just go with it and enjoy the ride. I got to listen to an advance copy of the audiobook, narrated by Michael Crouch, Stephanie Willing, and Rupert Degas, and they did an excellent job. Highly entertaining for sure! I can’t wait for the sequel.

Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for the advance copy of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson / Pages: 384 / Genre: Sci-Fi / Narrators: Michael Crouch, Stephanie Willing, Rupert Degas

Another great read from F Paul Wilson. HIs stories always mix mystery, horror, and science fiction so well. The narration was also excellent, and the multiple readers were perfect. Especially the dialog between Daley and Pard. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a series. #DoubleThreat #NetGalley

Okay this one was weird, even for F Paul Wilson. That's not a bad thing, as his books always have an element of the highly unusual to them - and that is usually one of the things I like best about them. He has to be one of the most imaginative writers I've come across. This one really held me in the beginning, but about 45% in I started to get a little lost. There was a little too much going on even for me...

The narration is excellent, and this is one of the only books in which I think multiple narrators were used to perfection as opposed to distraction. I found the back and forth between Pard and Daley fascinating, even when it felt a little forced into a "one girl vs. The World" paradigm. On the whole I liked the story, even after it started to get a little too weird, but it didn't have the resonance of the Repairman Jack books or the Adversary Cycle for me.

I received an audiobook of Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson for review provided by NetGalley. 3.75⭐️

This is a combo of my two favorite genres; Sci-Fi and Thriller. Wilson really does a great job of meshing these two genres together. I really loved the relationship between Daley & Pard. There is a lot going on in this book but it’s easy to keep up and I was engaged the entire time. This book ends on a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next one!!

In the southwestern desert, a mysterious cult prays for the return of the Visitors.
Only one creature can derail that grand and glorious event: An evil entity, known as the Duad, can keep the Visitors from arriving and prevent the transfiguration to come.
Daley, who lives nearby, has a far more serious problem: an alien consciousness that has taken up residence in her head. Medical tests turn up nothing, but still, she knows it’s there. Among other things, the strange being’s voice...won’t stop talking!
And then Daley discovers she has the gift of healing. She can cure anything and anyone - the halt, the lame, the blind. Despite living in a small town, Daley had hoped to conceal her new ability, but the cult discovers her gift. The belief that Daley is the hated Duad leads to a series of bizarre attempts on her life.
Daley tries desperately to figure out what is really going on - is the voice in her head the devil, the Duad, a wise friend who wants to help her...or the first sign of mental illness?

Things to Know:
-Cult
-Multiple Viewpoints
The multiple viewpoints in the story really add an extra layer to the story. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrators did a wonderful job. They used multiple voice actors for the different viewpoints and this gave it a movie-like dimension to the book.

I found it odd that Daley didn’t find it weird or unnerving that the town she moved to was run by a cult. I don’t know much about California… but if I moved somewhere and they had referred to the different families as clans and ran those families as part of a cult, I would be freaked out. Daley just acted like this was normal of small towns which I found weird.

The character development was wonderful. Daley started out very selfish and “I look out for only me, myself, and I” and really learned from there.

You should read this book because it is so unique! I enjoyed every minute of the audiobook. I would watch the movie if one came out. I found it wonderful and refreshingly original.

I really really loved this book, but unfortunately it felt unfinished. I understand the need to write books with a sequel or trilogy in mind, but each book should also be able to stand-alone and the ending here felt like it just dropped off rather than satisfyingly wrapping anything up. There are SO MANY unanswered questions, which bothered me, but I can’t say I’m not excited about the next installment (whenever that will be).

TW: this book contains depictions of sexual assault

F. Paul Wilson’s “Double Threat” is a sci-fi adventure for fans of interdimensional beings and mind controlling slugs a la Futurama. As I am a fan of both of those things, you’d think that I too enjoyed this book—you’d be wrong. I am not a person who generally stops experiencing a book when I realize I don’t like it, but will rather finish it partly out of the hope that it’ll get better and mostly out of spite.

“Double Threat” introduces us to Daley, a woman in her mid twenties who survives by the art of a scam. Scamming and gritting are her bread and butter, a seemingly unbreakable habit forged by living with her dead father’s swindling family. On the run from a group of Coachella goers who grew wise to her tricks, Daley finds herself in a desert cave only to be taken by surprise when something gross lands on her scalp and freaks her out. Welcome to the show, Pard.

An indigenous woman living in the desert helps her get rid of the creature but the damage is already done. Hair falling out, Daley begins experiencing weird stuff, hearing a voice and seeing—initially—a naked man wherever she turns. Pard—short for “partner”—tries in vain to convince her of his realness despite the fact that she is the only one who can see or hear him.

This on its own would’ve been a fine plot, but we are given the suggestion of a celestial cult, a clan of about five menaninte families who believe in The Visitors. These mysterious beings are rarely spoken about directly and that’s because only the clan elders are on a need to know basis. The head of the clan is neurotic, misogynistic and arrogant. His son, Rhys, is basically his errand boy and in terms of Daley, his pawn. Rhys is set to become the next head of the clan, but he knows next to nothing about what the elders and not only does that frustrate him, it irritates me as the audience.

I kept hoping that crumbs of information could allow the audience something to hold onto, but so little was given about anything at all that I would easily lose interest in whatever was happening at the time. The setup of the chapters—“Date x, chapter x”—was really strange for me. Wilson essentially took days and then gave three different POVs of how the day went. Each new day began as chapter one, which I never got comfortable with, it continuously threw me off. The book took place over a period of maybe 2-3 weeks but with multiple POVs of the same days the story just dragged.

It felt like simultaneously too much and not enough was happening for me to really enjoy the book. I wished it kept my attention more than it did. The chapter from Karma’s POV in which he fantasizes of what he and his buddy would do to Daley before killing her absolutely disgusted me. I don’t care that his character was written in a way that he would enjoy raping a woman; I’ve never enjoyed books containing characters like him.

<b>Double Threat</b> follows Daley, a con artist whose life gets thrown upside down after she meets a mysterious symbiont. Initially she has trouble believing that she isn’t crazy as she is hearing voices. However, once she accepts that she isn’t alone anymore she jumps at the chance to start off fresh in a small town. This town isn’t all that it appears as there is mysteries aplenty with a weird family nearby.

I’d like to start off this review by stating that I loved this novel. I’ve read a few novels before by Wilson and this novel, like the others, didn’t disappoint.

The plot was great with plenty of suspense and mystery. Daley trying to uncover the truth behind the symbiont and its purpose was great with a few questions unanswered (for book two I’m assuming). The investigation into the weird family/cult was my favorite part as they were so creepy I kept waiting for things to jump out of the shadows whenever they were mentioned. Hints about their past was mentioned but not fully, which also leads me to believe there will be another book or two in the series.

The characters were great with Daley being awesome. She wasn’t your typical hero or antihero, she was a very flawed human being. Daley had done bad things in her past but she decided to start a new life so it was easy to root for her. I found Wilson tried to make her a little too likeable by having her cons seem less scrupulous. For example, she would only con big companies that was implied could handle the loss of money, but not little old ladies who live on a pension. I think I would have enjoyed her fully had she been more flawed and a little more heartless (aka if sue conned anyone).

I loved the small town location as I’ve always found small towns creeper than big cities.

The pacing was a little off as some parts felt a little longer than necessary.

Overall this was a great thriller novel featuring cults, mysterious symbionts, and the end of the world. I would strongly suggest it to any thriller fans. My one main complaint was it felt more like book one in a series and not a standalone (as advertised) as the novel ended on a string cliffhanger. I
Iistened to the audiobook and it was excellent, I loved the three voice actors as it gave each MC a distinct voice with their own infliction and accent.

Thank you to Dreamscape Audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really really really enjoyed this book! It did a great job at keeping you wanting more. I can't wait for the next one. (Please tell me there will be a next one after that ending?)

Well this was a wild and fun ride. I don’t remember the last time I actually laughed out loud reading a science fiction novel but I did with this one. The character of Pard, as he navigates humanisms is downright hilarious and charming. The story itself is completely different from almost anything I’ve read and I’m dying to read the next book (warning: there’s a cliffhanger!) I love the character of Daly and her interactions with Pard. I need more of this duo immediately! And I need to know what is going to happen as they learn more about the “duad” in the tribe. What a great book. Listening to the audiobook with the multiple narrators added to this experience significantly. The voice actor for Pard was perfect and the other two were a great fit as well. Highly recommend.

Double Threat has everything. It has a cult who worship "the Visitors", a con artist named Daley who collects an alien consciousness along the way, and a terrible phenomenon sweeping the world called the Horrors.

I want to start by saying I hate/love that this ended in a cliffhanger! I need to know what's going on! I really liked the dual minds in one body, especially with how snarky they both are. Something that I thought was super cool was that I noticed the general vocabulary increased after some studying by one of the characters which was a really nice touch. There is a lot going on in this book and I did wish there was at least some form of resolution, but it does make me want a second one badly. I'm interested to see what happens to each of the brothers. Daley is such a fun character to read about, her life just seems like endless craziness and yet she just rolls with the punches. And from the very beginning of their relationship, Pard was absolute perfection and I wish I had a symbiote like him.

If you like scifi, cults that might not be entirely full of crap, lizard men, and a loveable symbiote, then this book is for you.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were so amazing! I loved how they really made the banter between Daley and Pard come life. I would honestly listen to anything with the three of them.

I received a copy of this audiobook free from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.