The Switch

Brown, Sandra

ISBN 10: 074350514X ISBN 13: 9780743505147

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2000

Synopsis

It isn't the first time that identical twins Gillian and Melina Lloyd have switched identities. Melina, the more impetuous twin, proposes that her circumspect sister take her place as a media escort to NASA astronaut and national hero Colonel Christopher "Chief" Heart. Although it's an enticing offer, Gillian declines for a very personal reason. Besides, she warns Melina, such a switch could have unexpected consequences.

Media-savvy Chief turns out to be an easy assignment for Melina. But the following morning, police arrive at Melina's door with the worst possible news: her beloved twin has been murdered, and on the walls, scrawled in blood, are obscenities directed at Gillian, along with insults that indisputably link Chief to the crime.

Dissatisfied with the official police investigation, Chief and Melina form a grudging alliance. Striking out on their own, they uncover more questions than answers, and are eventually led to the threshold of an inner sanctum, where a megalomaniac lies in wait for Gillian's replacement, her identical twin -- Melina.

A story that reveals the powerful, almost mystical bond between twins -- bond that compels a woman to go to impossible lengths to avenge her sister, The Switch defies every prediction.

About this title

Review

Identical twins are fair game for a thriller writer, and in The Switch, queen of suspense Sandra Brown (The Alibi, Standoff, Fat Tuesday) makes the most of an intricate setup involving Gillian and Melina Lloyd, a pair of thirtysomething Dallas beauties. When Gillian hears her biological clock ticking, she puts herself in the hands of the world-famous Waters Clinic and is artificially inseminated (as described in a somewhat plodding first chapter that omits no detail of the procedure). The action picks up when Gillian switches places with her twin, a media escort, and chauffeurs sexy astronaut Chief Hart around town. It turns out to be a fatal attraction, and suspicion falls on Chief when Gillian's mutilated body is found the next day.

The dead woman's smarmy and enigmatic boyfriend, Jem Hennings, has a vested interest in focusing police efforts on Hart, but Melina has her own reasons for thinking him wrong. Jem's connection with a charismatic preacher known as Brother Gabriel is at the heart of this mildly creepy mystery, in which the plucky Melina tracks Brother Gabriel to his lair and uncovers his diabolical plot while simultaneously revealing her own dark secret. The ending is telegraphed well in advance, but that won't deter Brown's many fans from relishing the details, including some sex scenes that are spicier than most of the florid prose that usually turns up in romantic thrillers of this sort. But that may be why the author inevitably rockets to the top of the bestseller list, where The Switch is destined to land. --Jane Adams

From the Inside Flap

From Sandra Brown, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Alibi, comes another riveting novel of suspense, revenge, and illusion -- where a labyrinth of twists and turns culminates in a final, stunning revelation....

It isn't the first time that identical twins Gillian and Melina Lloyd have switched identities. Yet it's the first time as adults that they've even considered the childhood prank. Melina, the more impetuous twin, proposes that her circumspect sister take her place as a media escort to NASA astronaut and national hero Colonel Christopher "Chief" Hart.

Although it's an enticing offer, Gillian declines for a very personal reason -- she's preoccupied with whether or not the artificial insemination she underwent that day will be successful. Besides, she warns Melina, such a switch could have unexpected consequences.

Media-savvy Chief turns out to be an easy assignment for Melina -- in fact the evening with him is as much pleasure as business. But the following morning police arrive at Melina's door with the worst possible news: her beloved twin has been brutally murdered in her own bed. And on the walls, scrawled in blood, are obscenities directed at Gillian, along with insults toward Native Americans that indisputably link Chief to the crime.

Dissatisfied with the official police investigation, Chief and Melina form a grudging alliance, strike out on their own ... and find themselves uncovering more questions than answers. Mistrusting even the authorities claiming to protect them, on the run with their lives in danger, the two are soon following a crooked and bloody trail that inexplicably leads to Gillian's attempt to conceive a child... and to the threshold ofan inner sanctum, where a megalomaniac hatches horrific schemes and lies in wait for Gillian's replacement, her identical twin -- Melina.

A book that reveals the powerful, almost mystical bond between twins -- a bond that extends beyond the grave and compels a woman to go to almost impossible lengths to avenge her sister -- THE SWITCH defies every prediction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 074350514X
• ISBN 13: 9780743505147
• Binding: Audio Cassette