Dear Stephanie Black,

Can I please be you?

Love, Jordan

Stephanie Black is awesome. She’s another wonderful author I got to meet at the LDStorymakers conference in April, and she was super nice (of course). When we were introducing ourselves, several other ladies at our table regaled me with stories of how wonderful Stephanie’s books were. Her latest novel, Fool Me Twice, was nominated for a Whitney Award in both Novel of the Year and Best Mystery/Suspense.

And let me tell you, after reading Fool Me Twice, it’s little wonder that it won Best Mystery/Suspense, despite stiff competition. The basic plot is that Megan’s identical twin sister, Kristen, convinces Megan to trade places for a share in an inheritance. But that’s just the beginning of the evil twin’s machinations—and even Kristen doesn’t know who’s ultimately pulling the strings, and how far her puppeteer will take them all.

I can’t praise it highly enough (without sounding ridiculous). I think the thing I liked the most about it was the in-depth view of each character’s motivation. In a mystery, you have so many characters that do things beyond the pale, or who do things that might seem stupid without a good, believable motivation. But Stephanie built each character’s motivation and story arc throughout the story so that even the most unwise decision (like running into the house of a woman who you think is a dangerous con) made sense for that character at that moment.

I also really enjoyed the complexity of the plot. (If you’ve ever read what I write, I err on the side of convoluted, so that’s what I love to read!) I loved how slowly each step was revealed—just enough for me to guess one more piece at a time, to see the next step—and one of my favorite hobbies is watching “murder shows” (Law & Order, The Closer, etc.) and guessing the murderer in the first quarter of the show. While the reader knows the bad guy from the beginning, the full extent of the evil plot is revealed . . . perfectly.

Sigh. It’s enough to give somebody an inferiority complex. 😉

I always point out one or two things that I thought could be stronger in a book, but . . . I’m really struggling here. The only thing I can come up with is that a minor character, Alex, is very flat. On the other hand, characterizing him more might have been just a little too much, crowding the book.

Stephanie’s next book, Methods to Madness, will be out in August—and I’ll beat a path to the nearest bookstore to pick up my copy as fast as my little tires will carry me. And if I can get her to consent to trade lives, woot! 😉