Editorial Content for Their Double Lives
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Jaime Lynn Hendricks knows how to construct a craveable thriller. THEIR DOUBLE LIVES provides a puzzle of a mystery involving multiple narratives, character perspectives and timelines.
Kim Valva is recovering from a broken relationship (her boyfriend cheated on her), and now the only thing in the world that matters to her --- her dog, Murphy --- requires life-saving surgery for which she cannot pay. This current mindset makes her the perfect candidate to be contacted by The Stranger, a mysterious figure who offers her $20,000 to kill a privileged and controversial member of the New Jersey country club where she works as a server.
"THEIR DOUBLE LIVES provides much to ponder for the reader and will confound those trying to figure out the connections between the characters, as well as the identity of The Stranger."
What makes the request so much more personal for Kim is that she knows the targeted individual from her days growing up in Brooklyn, when he was a small-time gangster named Tony Fiore. He now goes by Anthony Fuller, and has a fiancée and a successful (though mostly illegal) business. He also happens to be Kim’s ex-boyfriend from high school, which pushes her moral barometer to the limit when deciding just how badly she needs the money and at what cost it will come.
Kim makes her choice, and the deed will be done this very evening during dinner service when Anthony will be poisoned to death. But a major twist comes when, instead of Anthony dying, his fiancée, PJ Walsh, writhes in agony and quickly goes into a death rattle that marks the end of her life. The Stranger is not happy that Anthony did not die and indicates as much when he phones Kim. When she asks him if he had intended for both Anthony and PJ to die, he disconnects their call.
THEIR DOUBLE LIVES provides much to ponder for the reader and will confound those trying to figure out the connections between the characters, as well as the identity of The Stranger. This very well could be a one-sit read perfect for the beach.
Teaser
A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Her live-in boyfriend recently cheated on her, her social life is in shambles, and her dog needs a life-saving surgery that she can’t afford. Then a mysterious figure called The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink; when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life. Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore, Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is Tony’s gorgeous fiancée, PJ Walsh, who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends.
Promo
A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Her live-in boyfriend recently cheated on her, her social life is in shambles, and her dog needs a life-saving surgery that she can’t afford. Then a mysterious figure called The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink; when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life. Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore, Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is Tony’s gorgeous fiancée, PJ Walsh, who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends.
About the Book
Living a double life always comes with a cost.
A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Her live-in boyfriend recently cheated on her, her social life is in shambles, and her dog needs a life-saving surgery that she can’t afford. Then her luck seems to change when a mysterious figure identifying themself only as The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink; when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life.
Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore, Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Fifteen years have passed, and he now goes by Anthony Fuller. He’s cleaned up, made tens of millions, and his gorgeous fiancée, 22-year-old PJ Walsh, is on his arm.
PJ had her own agenda from the second she met Anthony. Find him, trick him, marry him, kill him. It was supposed to be easy, but she finds that while living her double life, the lines blur between who she is and who she’s pretending to be.
Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is PJ who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends. Was someone else at the club --- member or worker --- tasked with poisoning PJ just as she had been instructed to do to Tony? Who would want both of them dead? With no one to trust and The Stranger to answer to, Kim must peel back the layers of deceit to reveal a deeply buried truth, more shocking than she could ever imagine.
Audiobook available, read by Emma Love
