The Look-Alike

In this serviceable romantic thriller from bestseller Spindler (The Other Girl), 29-year-old chef Sienna Scott comes to believe returning to her hometown of Tranquility Bluffs, Wis., might just be the worst move she ever made. Though Sienna has matured immensely during the decade since her now-deceased father packed her off to London to protect her from the toxic combination of her mother Viv’s paranoid delusions and the probe into the murder of a fellow student, Madison Robie, whose body Sienna discovered, nothing could properly prepare her for the nightmare that awaits her in Tranquility Bluffs. Not only has Viv’s mental illness worsened significantly but the Robie investigation has just been reopened—and Sienna starts getting menacing calls that rekindle her fears that she might have been the killer’s original target. Unexpected passion with the hunky house-flipper who recently moved in across the street from Sienna’s family home adds romantic heat en route to the contrived conclusion. Spindler smoothly blends all the plot ingredients, but she leaves the reader hungry for something more satisfying. [em]Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Jan.) [/em]