I received this e-book from NetGalley and Full Fathom Five Digital in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: From the moment Laura Rivers steps foot into Englewood High, she notices the stares–and they aren’t the typical once-overs every pretty new girl endures. The students seem confused and …spooked. Whispers echoing through the halls confirm that something is seriously off. “That new girl looks just like her”, they say.
It turns out that Laura has a doppelganger, and it isn’t just anyone–it’s Sarah Castro-Tanner, the girl who killed herself by jumping into the Navasink River one year ago.
Laura is determined not to let the gossip ruin her chances of making a fresh start. Thanks to her charming personality and California tan, she captures the eye of Englewood’s undisputed golden boy, Charlie Sanders, and it’s only a matter of time before they make their relationship official.
But something is making Charlie and his friends paranoid–and Laura soon discovers it has to do with Sarah Castro-Tanner.
What really happened to Sarah? Why is Charlie unraveling? And how does Laura Rivers fit into it all?
After all, she’s the dead ringer for a dead girl.
This is one of those books that while I had a couple of issues with it I think teens will absolutely love it.
One of those issues concerns the characters which in the beginning seem pretty one-dimensional and stereotypical. You’ve got the mean girl, her bestie/follower, the golden boy who everyone worships, and his best friend/jock, and the mysterious new girl whose arrival throws everyone into a tizzy. When I first started reading I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish.I kept plodding along though and after reading the first few chapters I had one of those “Aha!” moments as I began to see what the author was trying to accomplish. Because the book is told from three different perspectives you get much more insight into what makes them tick, and you discover there’s more to them than what meets the eye. This also allows you to connect with them in a way you didn’t think you would at the beginning.
If I was going to pick a central theme for this book it would be deception. Just about everyone is hiding secrets which all come back to the main mystery: What really happened the night Sarah died? The answer is oh so slowly revealed, but not in a bad way. This is a mystery that isn’t quick to give you the answer. It teasingly drops clues like breadcrumbs and drags out the suspense until its cliffhanger ending which for me was the biggest surprise of all. Usually books like this are standalone ones that tie things up in a neat little package. By the end of the story, while the central mystery is solved, there’s a whole new host of problems in store for the characters.
Dead Ringer is a combination of Pretty Little Liars and the tv series Revenge, with a sprinkle of Veronica Mars, which are all guilty pleasures of mine. A tad melodramatic at times, it’s still a fun sudsy story which I think will have many readers clamoring for more.
By Hook Or By Book 
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