Beside Myself – Ann Morgan

(4 / 5)

I have a feeling that 2016 is going to be the year of the psychological thriller! I can only hope so, Its my favourite genre! Thankfully I managed to score an advanced copy of this little beauty Beside Myself, and I loved it!

Helen and Ellie are identical twins. There was a complication at birth and the cord was wrapped around Ellie’s neck for an extended period of time and because of this she wasn’t quite right. Sickly, and mentally slow compared to her sister, Ellie lived in Helens shadow. One day they decided to play a trick on everyone and swapped places. After managing to fool everybody, even their mother, Helen wanted to swap back. However Ellie refused, SHE was Helen now. After nobody believes her, and after encountering a lot of bad luck, Helen (Now Ellie…. Or is she??) has to live her life as someone she isn’t. And things don’t go well for her. Now after many years, her sister is in a coma following an accident. Will she wake up? Will Helen ever get her real life back? Or is it even hers?

The premise of this book was what grabbed me, that and the spooky cover. Twins are always interesting to read about. Being an only child myself I can only imagine what it would be like to have a sibling who is so physically similar to you. It was interesting to read about their connection.

I’m not sure if I would say this book is particularly thrilling as such, but the thrills come from reading about life from Ellies perspective. Her mental illness comes through so strongly in the writing of this book, it is really well done. The dark mood is also another thing that grabbed me about Beside Myself. You quickly get caught up in the depressing state that Ellie’s life is now in, and get totally captivated with reading how she got to this point and what happens next.

I thought the ending was fantastic. There was a revelation that I was not expecting. However the book itself was quite slow moving in places. I understand a bit of a slower pace was needed to set the scene, however it almost got to dragging point for a little while about 60% in. But then it started to pick up again, and I devoured the rest.

I have a thing about medical inaccuracies in novels. It drives me nuts. And there were a few scenes in the hospital that I picked up on. Especially the one where Helen was speaking with a breathing tube in which is impossible and a common medical mistake in a few novels I have read, however I also noticed that because of the tone of that scene it could be argued that Ellie was imagining it.  Which makes it alright I guess. Didn’t stop me from enjoying it overall though!

It was written really well, and I loved all the characters. Ellie (or Helen… Or is it Ellie?) was such a great leading character. Such an interesting story. It jumped back and forth in time with each chapter, which confused me at the beginning but I quickly got used to it.

Would I recommend Beside Myself?

Yes, for any psychological thriller fan!

Thanks to author Ann Morgan and the publisher Bloomsbury via NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

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