Seeing Double - A Look At The Doppelganger by P. Wish.

Having completed work on my own psychological thriller and engaging in discussion with other authors who have written in the genre, I am discovering some really unique and exciting stories emerging in this space. 

One such author, Manchester based, P. Wish and I found one another recently through a great discussion on book trailers and I quickly found myself drawn to her own exciting project which will launch world wide this week. 

The Doppelganger, a psychological thriller set in Chicago, promises all the great hallmarks of genre fiction, featuring, among other things, a strong but flawed female protagonist. 

Doppelganger (image credit: P. Wish).

From the liner notes;

‘They say when you meet somebody that looks just like you, you die.’

Darcy Godfrey lives a seemingly normal life as a librarian in Chicago. One day, she comes across a blog that is filled with accounts of her past. The blogger, known as 'D', seems to know everything about her life- even things that Darcy cannot remember. 

Things begin to go wrong when her nemesis is murdered, making her a suspect. Now, Darcy must find the person behind the blog before it's too late."

From the early reading I've been lucky enough to do on this book, The Doppelganger promises to be a tense and exciting thriller - and, if I may be so bold, it kinda feels like a spiritual sister to The Recipient.

Darcy Godfrey is an enticing character, replete with a tragic backstory that informs much of her presence in the novel. She is subsequently flawed and functions better as a loner - a'la Jessica Jones, which I think is really appealing. She also promises to be resourceful in the face of a terrifying antagonist who will push her to her limit. Wish's writing style is immediate and she instantly draws you into a dense and fully realized Chicago. In the exclusive excerpt for The Doppelganger (re-printed here with kind permission from the author) mood and tension are introduced from the get go - a great hook for this kind of genre fiction - and they lay the foundations for what promises to be a cracking ride.

I think it is our time. The psychological thriller feels as though it is emerging from out of the *cough* Twilight *cough* shadows as *the* next big thing in publishing and I am excited by voices like P. Wish who are bringing freshness to the genre. 

Author P. Wish (image credit: P. Wish).

P. Wish is an author of psychological thrillers and mysteries. She is a Law graduate from the University of Manchester, UK. The Doppelganger is her debut novel.

Excerpt: The Doppelganger by P. Wish.

Darcy’s eyes hung over the blog post. Her larynx felt like a thorn in her throat. She could barely breathe. Her heartbeat took over her ears. She teared up. She caught them before they fell on the keyboard. 

It was not a mere blog post. It was her story. 

Who the hell was this woman? 

Darcy clicked on ‘About’. The screen refreshed. A white image floated up the screen. It was a caricature. No photo. No name. No explanation. Just one useless cartoon of something that looked like a woman- from an angle. 

She scrolled down for the author bio. 

‘D is a thirty-something who lives in the city. She enjoys reading and writing about her life, especially her childhood.’ 

No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram. No expanded bio. Nothing. 

Just those two sentences. 

Darcy’s mind reeled. She clicked on the ‘contact’ page. At least, the blog had one. 

At the end of the page was an inconspicuous ‘Contact me’ icon. Darcy clicked on it. A contact form appeared. Blank white spaces, contrasting against the black background, haunted her. 

Her fingers drummed violently against the keypad. She re-read the e-mail. How was she supposed to ask the writer about her past? Maybe she wasn’t alone in this. There was someone else who had experienced something similar. The realization filled Darcy with hope. After all these years, she found a ray of hope. She couldn’t let it slip away. 

She quickly typed out an e-mail. She didn’t send it. 

She decided to wait for the next blog post. She deleted the e-mail and turned on the television. Her fingers restlessly traced patterns on the couch. She fidgeted with her phone. 

Curiosity nibbled at her. 

The final draft was only one sentence long. She read the words on the page. 

Who are you? 

The Doppelganger is out internationally on March 24th 2016.

Pre-order The Doppelganger here.

Visit P. Wish here. 

Connect with P. Wish here. 

Tweet with P. Wish here. 

Goodreads with P. Wish here. 

DFA.