I like murder mysteries. I like women's self-discovery books. I like sci-fi. I don't like them all in one book

Jenny is a failed former actress, now scaping by as a fake psychic. She made one movie, The Divide, a couple of decades ago, and now the director, Serge, who went on to become famous and sought after, has been murdered. His ex-wife, Gena, has disappeared, and, oh, she happens to be an exact doppelganger for Jenny. And she has been telling people she starred in The Divide. So Jenny embarks on a mission to find out why Gena lied about being in the movie, and who killed Serge and why.

Here's where things get mushy. An Oscar winning actress, now successful cosmetics entrepreneur, hires Jenny to find out what happened to her friend/former lover Serge. Really? So not believable at all. Jenny is suddenly a trusted member of the inner circle of the rich and famous. Again, really?! She is not so concerned with finding out who killed Serge as she is obsessed with finding out why Gena lied about being in HER movie. This was the quasi-murder-mystery part of the story.

Next, she is told by the police that, although she and Gena are NOT the same person, as the police initially believed, their DNA is enough of a match that they are identical twins. So, Jenny heads home to Iowa to confront her Mother and her Aunt Connie for the truth. Her distant Mother is no help at all and Aunt Connie (who as it happens, really is a genuine psychic) doesn't know anything either. Jenny spends time rehashing her past as a teenager, comes to grips with misdeeds she both committed and suffered, and reflects on her life back then and the trajectory her life has taken thus far. Here we had the women's self-discovery portion of the novel.

Finally, returning to LA, she has a heart to heart with the surfer-boy/former-lover of Gena, touching on parallel universes and how we all have a counter-part that may or may not cross over into our universe. Thus concludes the sci-fi portion of the tale.

Of course, there is a lot of other stuff going on in between, but as a whole, I felt I was reading a book that didn't have any idea what it wanted to be when it grew up. The murder is solved, but the DNA match between Jenny and Gena isn't. Poor Serge's death is given pretty short shrift overall, and Gena's fate is more of a guess than a concrete ending. Any of these three fleshed out into a whole book of its own would have been great, but mixed up together in a kind of goulash, it just let me unsatisfied and hungry for dessert,

I love a gritty LA murder mystery and this one was pretty fun! Jenny St. John is barely making ends meet as a psychic (fraudulent by her own admission) when her life is upturned by a visit from Detective Toni Moreau. Twenty years ago, Jenny starred in an Indie film, The Divide, directed by Serge Grumet. This film should have catapulted Jenny’s acting career but the film never made it to the theaters and she never acted again. Detective Moreau is investigating Serge’s recent murder and is searching for his wife, Genevieve Santos, who is mysteriously missing. The detective is convinced that Jenny is actually Genevieve and Jenny has to prove that she, in fact, is not the painter known as Gena. Fortunately it is quick and easy for her to show the detective that she is Jenny and not Gena, and it is embarrassing for both of them albeit highly effective. But the fact that Jenny has a doppelgänger who may have some knowledge about Serge’s death and who is also claiming to have been the star of The Divide, causes her to immerse herself back into the dark side of Hollywood world to find answers. Unfortunately, this search also puts a bulls eye on her back with the killer who is still out there.

This slow burn mystery was well plotted with a captivating set of characters. The ending left a lot of loose ends, which usually is ok with me, but, in this story, left me wishing for more answers. All in all, this was a good story and I will be looking for more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 20, 2024

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the copy of The Divide by Morgan Richter.There were a few big issues that weren’t explained well or resolved at the end, so that was annoying. I liked Jenny and her explanation of her psychic abilities and how she used her abilities to help solve the mysteries. I love the description and plot of the book, but the execution fell short.The writing was uneven and there were times I was completely disengaged from the story and other times I was totally invested, but this ended up being a pretty good read.

This one was fun! I really enjoyed the mystery of why Jenny and Gena looked alike. The character all seemed a little suspicious. The story moved fast and kept me hooked the entire time. My only "issue" was I wanted more of a connection between Gena and Jenny. It felt like such a large part of the mystery, but not as delved into once everything was resolved.

A failed actress turned grifting psychic searches for her missing doppelgänger and is plunged into a web of murder and corruption among Hollywood A-listers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would rate it more as a 4.5.

Mystery, whodunnit vibes, LA setting, and some minor psychicness thrown in. It did feel a little slow at times, but I think that added to the plot/ambiance of the book.

Overall, this was a great read!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

This was an ok story. Nothing super original but sometimes that’s alright. We meet Jenny as an 18 year old aspiring starlet who gets her first big movie. When it tanks, she doesn’t get a second chance. Twenty years later she’s struggling in LA when the director of her only movie is found murdered. And it just so happens she resembles his wife a lot. Good solid mystery. Would read this author again.

If you believe that all your life is a connection of dots, chance meetings and possibly destiny…. This is your book. Could you have a doppelgänger out there who takes one of your biggest achievements and uses it as her own? But when she goes missing and you step in as a dysfunctional psychic to help find her…. The closer you look the more connections you find that she is more like you. Is she a relative you didn’t know…. Or is this all just a coincidence?

This was a good propulsive read . I enjoyed the setting and the characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review the book

I loved this book! It’s a gritty old school LA noir, full of Hollywood types, movie stars and money and restaurants and secrets and murders. Jenny is a down on her luck “clairvoyant” grifter who starred in exactly one movie and never ready made it in Hollywood. She turns into an amateur detective when she discovers that a missing artist, who just happens to be married to the guy who directed that one movie, is pretending to be the actress in that film. Throw in some faint whiffs of the supernatural that keep you guessing how much is real and how much is just coincidence, a complicated web of history and backstory, and some old fashioned deductive reasoning, and you get such a winner.

The Divide by Morgan Richter is a captivating neo-noir thriller that delves into the complexities of mistaken identity and the harsh realities of life and death in Los Angeles. This novel is both strange and incredibly addictive, making it a must-read for fans of the genre.

I love a whodunnit murder mystery novel! The FMC Jenny tried out an acting career and the director of her solo movie endeavor is murdered. Jenny gets a visit from the police and is told that someone looking a lot like her, living under her name had fled the scene. All in all the character of Jenny was likable and related while she went out to clear her name. Using some of her intuitive skill to solve the mystery. Worth the read for a thriller!

Propulsive thriller,
atmospheric and twisty,
fun protagonist.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I give haiku reviews but am happy to provide more feedback.

The Divide by Morgan Richter was a slow burn of a read. I was compelled by the concept of doppelgangers who are intertwined by a murderous plot. While the concept of the story pulled me in to read this, some of the executions didn't full work nor make a ton of sense. I did have a lot of fun reading this but it didn't really go the direction that I was hoping for. Overall, it was a good story but just a few plot holes that never truly got filled.

I absolutely loved the concept of The Divide. A failed actor turned pretend psychic Jenny St. John has a doppelganger, Gena Santos, who claimed to be the actor in the one film Jenny did (called The Divide), married the director of that film who apparently was unaware they were two different women, and is now missing following the director's murder. Naturally Jenny becomes a prime suspect although she does prove she is a different woman. Jenny finds herself moving through Gena's inner circle to get to the bottom of who committed this crime and why had Gena stolen her life.

This book had strong Lynchian undertones throughout the plot, not in a ripoff way, but in the sense that it had themes of the seediness and ugly side of Hollywood, mysterious doppelgangers, and questions that are never answered. The plot went along at a good pace and I was never bored at all while reading, however I did feel like there was something missing, like a major revelation or explanation that never showed up. Some books do work well with resolutions that are up to the reader to fill in the blanks, but in this instance it felt like there was a giant missing puzzle piece.

The missing piece felt like an elephant in the room because there was the straightforward mystery (the missing woman, the murdered director) and then an almost supernatural mystery (who was Gena? Why so many people Jenny knew think they were the same person? Why did Jenny have some memories of Gena's?) and every single time I felt there would be some kind of conclusion, there wasn't, and the mystery of these two women and who they were to each other was just left as it was. Some books do this well, such as In the Woods, by Tana French, but in this book it just seemed odd, like a chapter was missing.

Overall though it was a fascinating concept to think about and I enjoyed reading a mystery that was centered around a relatively strange concept. It left me wanting more of both the story and reading more of this author.

Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion

I requested to read and review this book for free from Alfred A. Knopf a division of Penguin Random House Publishing Company. This story line had so many twists and turns. It was great it kept you guessing until the very end. Just when you think you may know who did it a twist is introduced. This book had drama, suspense, mystery. What happens when the things you know is brought into question. Jenny and Gena have never meet each other or have they? What happens when money is involved? When the one thing you think has been the greatest accomplishment of your life is brought into question. Do you take that as the final answer or do you look for answers. Money can be a great thing and an evil thing. When we question ourselves do we make ourselves better or no? This book is for a mature reader and can be read anywhere!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

"The Divide" is a propulsive thriller about Jenny, a down and out, self-proclaimed psychic who becomes involved in solving the murder of the director of her only film and personal accomplishment 20 years ago. Shockingly, she discovers that the director's ex-wife, Gena, who is her doppelgänger, is now missing and had taken credit for the role Jenny was so proud of. Motivated by the need to understand why Gena lied, Jenny becomes deeply involved in solving the murder and finding Gena.

Overall, this was an entertaining and easy read. However, the plot point regarding Gena's identity wasn't sufficiently explained, though this might have been the author's intention.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Supposedly we all have a doppelgänger floating around somewhere. What if this person took over your life especially your only successful stint as an actor and these worlds collide?

The Divide was an Indy film starring the protagonist in the book. She has fallen on hard times making ends meet by being a psychic. Jenny’s current life collides with her past as she tries to find her “twin” as well as help solve the killing of rhe twin’s husband who was also director of the movie.

This is a good summer read. Fast paced and fairly good character development.

I thought the book was very well done! Kudos to the author and editor. I was not surprised by the “whodunnit”, but how the author arrived there was well done. The twist of the mythical element kept this from being another boring Hollywood mystery. When Jenny was on her investigative mission in LA, things got a little slow, but not to the point I could find fault. Overall a good read and I would recommend it to others.

Overall, a great book. The plot was different than most, and I truly enjoyed the uniqueness. Lots of mystery, drama, and of course a bit of psychic . This was a quick read, and worth your time.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Divide by Morgan Richter is a gripping thriller that navigates the murky waters of fame, identity, and deception in contemporary Los Angeles. Jenny St. John, a former indie film star turned struggling psychic life coach, finds herself thrust into a chilling mystery when her director from a failed film, Serge Grumet, is murdered. Mistaken for Serge's missing ex-wife Gena Santos due to their uncanny resemblance, Jenny delves into Gena's complex world of wealthy and eccentric friends, using her dubious psychic skills to unravel the truth. As Jenny peels back layers of secrets, both about Gena and her own past, Richter spins a tale that is as darkly captivating as it is unpredictable. With its deftly crafted plot and vivid characters, The Divide keeps readers on edge until its shocking conclusion, making it a must-read for fans of psychological suspense.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.