Dead Ringer

Rating:
Summary: She Just Wouldn't Stay Dead
Review: 'Dead Ringer' is one of those thrillers you don't want to start unless you have a few hours on your hands with nothing to do, because once you pass the first page, where Horace Nighthyde, hit man with an attitude and a mama that would make any lad cringe, kills the wrong man in a SoCal convenience store, you're hooked.

As Nighthyde makes his getaway, he comes face to face with a young women who stares him down. Flustered, he leaves her alive, only later realizing he has to kill her.

Days later he runs into Maggie Nesbitt in the meat department of a Safeway Supermaket. His slow witted brother mistakes Maggie for the witness in the convenience store, who happens to be the twin sister Maggie thought had died just after birth. Maggie is pregnant and her philandering husband isn't the father. She'd been thinking about abortion, but the confrontation in the Safeway started her looking for her sister, who she finds, but not in time. The sister is killed, the body mistaken for Maggie and Maggie is devastated. Just when she'd thought she'd found her sister, she's taken from her.

However, she still has that pregnancy problem and once she finds out her sister had a little girl, who will have to go and live with her awful father, Maggie's mind is made up. She can save her sister's child and her own, by stepping into her sister's life.

Needless to say Mr. Nighthyde is none to pleased when he finds out the woman he so brutally murdered is still alive. It doesn't take him long to figure out just what happened, but he wants her dead just the same. And it doesn't take Maggie long to figure out that her sister's killer is going to come after her.

And there you have the beginning of a thriller that will have you talking about it long after you've finished. Like I said about five paragraphs ago, this is one of those books you don't want to start unless you have some time on your hands, because you won't be able to put it down. That's high praise and it's well deserved.

Rating:
Summary: He Killed Her, but She's Still Alive
Review: Horace Nighthyde is a small time crook who'd burgled one too many homes. Caught and afraid of jail, he cut a deal with the Devil, or rather with hero cop Lawrence Striker. Striker freed him, but bought his soul in the bargain. Throughout the remainder of Striker's career on the force, Nighthyde was snitch, but after Striker retired and went to work for a crooked congressman, Striker wanted more.

Murder, the ultimate demand, but heck he owed Striker, besides the man was paying him well and he needs the money for his mother's medical bills. So without a blink he walks into a convenience store in Long Beach, California with a sawed off. He sees the man he's supposed to take out, pulls the trigger, blows him away, but Margo Kenyan, a blonde too pretty to kill gets a good look at him. Horace flees.

When he tells Striker, the man orders Horace to take out the blonde and Horace does, only unknown to him, he kills the wrong woman. But how could he have known Margo had a twin that she'd been separated from in infancy? Only a day after the crime Margo's back, but she's different, odd. She acts like somebody else. By the time Horace figures it all out, the new Margo knows too much. She has to go.

DEAD RINGER is a fast read told from the viewpoint of both the killer and the intended victim. Douglas delves deep into his characters as he takes us on journey to the dark side of human nature, then delivers us back up into the light. I read the book in one sitting, loved every paragraph, every sentence, every word.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I bought "Dead Ringer" because of the reviews posted here. Actually I saw it in a So You'd Like to Guide with "Learning to Fly", by April Henry and I really liked that book, so I figured I'd give "Dead Ringer" a try, after I read the reviews. And I must say, I was not disappointed. Like the book by April Henry, "Dead Ringer" is about a woman taking over someone else's identity, only Ms. Henry's heroine steps into the life of a stranger. Mr. Douglas's heroine, Maggie, steps into the life of her twin sister, who has just been murdered and who she thought had died shortly after birth.

And then Maggie's life becomes turned upside down. The man who killed her sister, now wants to kill her. Meanwhile she now has to raise her sister's daughter, deal with her sister's fiancee and somehow integrate herself into her sister's life.

And of course there is the matter of the killer, who is on to her. The cops who wanna be on to her and a couple scary guys who live under the pier, who may be out to help her, or maybe not. And then there's the hero cop and the war hero congressman who want her dead. Maggie is running for her life, that is until she decides to take matters into her own hands.

I really, really liked this book. Would it be a cliche if I said that is was a wild thrill ride, or that I couldn't put it down, or that I was up all night biting my nails. Yes, I suppose so, but they are all true.

Rating:
Summary: Dead Book
Review: I just can't believe the previous aproving reviews of this book. I decided to read the book based on these opinions and found my self very disappointed. Once you read Grisham, Lescroart, Brown, Turrow, Connely, Margolin and others, it's impossible to give more than 1 star to a book like this, where the plot and the characters are so poorly described. At least it was a fast reading, resuming the frustration.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning Characters, Sad Bad Guys, Super Story
Review: I must admit that I'd never heard of Ken Douglas, that I only bought the book for my sister because of his name, That it was about twins, as my sister pointed out in her review, was a bonus. That it was a thriller, the kind of books I love to read, was a bonus too. But the biggest bonus of all was the fact that I couldn't but the book down. I want you all to know that because I enjoyed the book so much, I today ordered DESPERATION MOON and RUNNING SCARED and if they are anywhere near as good as DEAD RINGER, both my sister and I will be reviewing them here in the very near future.

The story starts out with a murder and ends with one too and the great middle of the book is full of tense, action packed, suspense filled pages. Maggie Nesbitt starts out in trouble and the troubles just seem to keep piling up, but she doesn't quit, doesn't give up. She's a fighter and though the circumstances just seem to get more and more dire, she keeps fighting.

To keep her baby, Maggie takes over the life of her murdered twin. However the killer, one Horace Nighthyde, is a fighter too, is also a man who doesn't quit. He'd killed a woman, now she's alive again, so he sets out to kill her again. Nighthyde is the true tragedy of this story. Life has dealt him bad cards and he only makes matters worse by raising the stakes when he should fold. He blunders through the story, wondering and wishing things could have been different and for some reason you can't help feeling sorry for him. Still, he's a contract killer, so maybe my sympathy was misplaced.

I loved this book. I loved Maggie. I loved Jasmine, the daughter she inherited when she took over her sister's life. I loved Gordon, the gay ex-FBI guy. I loved Gay, the ex-black activist turned hair dresser. And sadly I loved the brothers Nighthyde right up till their untimely ends.

Leeann Douglass

Rating:
Summary: Maggie is a girl in trouble!!
Review: I'm a kind of an the go, rock star wannabe girl. I read a lot, but usually only a couple chapters at a time, prefering to think about what I've read, rather than rushiing right through the book. Besides, I don't have the best attention span in the world. So when a book comes along and keeps me interested enough that I finish it in one weekend, that's saying something. I read the first half of Dead Ringer on a Friday night and the second half on a Saturday night. Usually I go out and try and catch a couple bands on Saturday, but I was so into the book that I decided to stay home.

So if you like to read, maybe you'll have fun with Maggie's story. She's a girl who pretends to be her twin sister after her sister is murdered. But her sister's killer is mighty upset when he sees the girl he killed is still alive. Now he has to kill her again and now Maggie is on the run. And that's what you should do, run down to your bookstore and get this book. You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: A Chance to Start all Over Again
Review: Maggie is in a bit of a jam. She's pregnant and her husband isn't the father. To make matters worse, he's had a vasectomy, because he doesn't want any kids. What is she to do? Then, by chance she discovers the twin sister she thought long dead, is in fact alive. Elated she rushes to see her, only to confuse a hit-man who had been hired to kill the sister. He does the job, but the body is mistaken for Maggie and with the world thinking her dead, she takes over her sister's life. But it's not all roses. Yes her sister had an adorable child and plenty of money, but she also has that killer on her trail and he wants to finish the job. I really liked this book. Who hasn't fantasized about leaving their life and maybe living another. A chance to start all over again, I'd go for it, wouldn't you. Dead Ringer gets five stars from me.

Rating:
Summary: She Inherited Her Sister's Killer!
Review: Maggie Nesbett is in a fix. She is pregnant, her famous anchorman husband isn't the father of her child, what's more, he's been fixed, so he can't have kids, so there will be no fooling him. Usually a good girl, she only strayed once, but once was all it took. She wants to keep the baby, but she's afraid abortion is her only way out.

Then a body found behind a gay bar is mistaken for her. It's the twin she'd thought had died when she was a child. Without thinking, Maggie takes her dead sister's place, only to find her twin had a daughter, an ex-husband and a god fearing fiancé who is only after her money. She also had a killer on her trail, who apparently had succeeded in killing her, only in his eyes now, she is not dead.

Horace Nighthyde is fit to be tied. He'd been paid to kill a witness to a murder, had done it, only now she's alive again. Not possible, he thinks, but it's a situation he vows to make right.

And there you have the genesis of a story that kept me awake into the wee hours of the morning. DEAD RINGER is about a woman on the run, but she fights back. She has friends, strong friends from both from her old life and her new, but ultimately it's Maggie who must stand against the killer and she does it in one of the best showdowns I have ever read. This is a book to die for, you simply must read it.

Rating:
Summary: Dead Ringer Really Rang My Bell
Review: Maggie Nesbitt encounters a dimwitted stranger in the supermarket who mistakes her for someone whose photo he'd seen in the local paper and she knows instinctively that her twin sister, who she'd thought had died when they were infants, is still alive. Searching through old newspapers, Maggie finds the story, sees the photo. Her sister really is alive and she doesn't live very far away. However, what Maggie doesn't know is that the there is a killer after her twin and by the time she gets to her sister's apartment, the killer has stuck, leaving her sister dead in a back alley.

Maggie, goes to her twin's apartment and is let in by her sister's daughter, who mistakes her for her mother. The daughter goes next door to play and Maggie flicks on the television to pass the time away and she sees on the news that she has been murdered. Apparently somebody has killed her sister and the body has been identified as Maggie. This is certainly sad news, but it presents Maggie with a rare opportunity. She is pregnant and had been thinking about abortion, because her famous husband isn't the baby's father. Plus, she learns right away that her sister had been divorced from a pretty lousy guy, who will get custody of her niece. So Maggie decides to let the world think she is dead and she takes over her sister's life, thus saving her baby and her sister's daughter.

But there is the little problem of that killer. It seems that Maggie's sister had witnessed a murder and was going to testify. Bad news for the killer, who figures out pretty quickly that he'd killed one of a pair of twins. But which one? He has to make sure and the only way to do that is to kill again. And there you have the set up of this non-stop thriller that I simply couldn't get enough of. A good story, great characters, lots of action all combined here to make a super novel that I simply loved.

A note here, I've purchased quite a few books because of the reviews I've read online, but this is the first book that got me excited enough to try my hand at writing one myself. I really liked this book, I can't say it enough. The way the writer kept sinking Maggie deeper and deeper into trouble, the way the odds kept piling up against her, just outstanding reading that kept me on the edge of my seat. I particularly liked the fact Maggie never gives up, no matter how tough things get.

Rating:
Summary: He Thought He'd Killer Her, but Now She's Alive Again
Review: Maggie Nesbitt is accosted in a Southern California supermarket by a big man who seems a little slow, but before she has time to worry, a weaselly looking guy apologizes for his brother's actions. Maggie sees a gun under his coat and assumes he's a cop, which couldn't be further from the truth. The man, Horace Nighthyde, has actually been contracted to kill Maggie's twin sister Margo. And since Maggie believes Margo had died when they were small children and nobody who knows Margo knows she has a twin, it's only natural that Nighthyde mistakes Maggie for her sister.

However, when he finally gets a chance to kill Margo, the body is mistaken for Maggie. And when she sees this on the news, Maggie has a decision to make. You see, she's pregnant and married to a famous anchorman, and her news hound husband isn't the father of her child. Maggie makes that decision and takes over her twin's life, only to find that, though her sister had been wealthy, she had plenty of problems of her own, the number one being that she'd witnessed a murder and the killer wants her dead. And now she's alive again!

I'm not the best writer in town, so the way I summarized the beginning of DEAD RINGER in the above two paragraphs may sound kind of convoluted. But it wasn't. Mr. Douglas writes with a flow that draws you right in, just as if you were floating down a river. Not a very peaceful river I might add. More like rushing rapids. Sometimes swirling, lookout, there's rocks ahead! Barely missed them. Oh no! Waterfalls dead ahead! Get the picture, lots of thrills, sometimes one right after another, but good characters too. People you like, people you feel like you've come to know. This is a good book, I can't say it any plainer than that.