Exposing the Past, Alice Zogg, Aventine Press, 2020, 223 pp
Have you ever come across a stranger who looked just like you? I once did many years ago. I saw "myself" across a crowded ballroom. It was extremely disorienting. Was I where I was standing or was I on the other side of the room? I never saw her again. I was not sure I wanted to. I hoped I had imagined the whole thing.
Not so for two of the main characters in Alice Zogg's latest stand alone mystery. Sherry Rinaldi saw her Doppelgänger in the mirror next to her in the ladies room while on vacation on Maui, Hawaii. The two women spoke, joking about being twins. They exchanged first names, discovered they both lived in California; Sherri in Pasadena and Kirsten in San Diego. Then they went their separate ways.
Sherri could not let it go though and despite her husband's strongly worded advice, she pursued the connection. She tracked Kirsten down and eventually they learn the truth but not until another woman dies.
Exposing the Past is an expertly plotted mystery, very up-to-date with DNA testing, cell phone texting and much driving up and down the Interstate 5 freeway. The two women found their answers back in the 1970s.
Alice Zogg is my friend. We met shortly after she had self-published her second book. I reviewed that one for a local paper and she has given me a copy of each new book when it comes out. We meet for lunch occasionally and talk about writing. She has 15 books to her credit now. I have 15 years of blogging about books to mine and a book I am always working on but feel I may never finish.
Life is wonderfully strange but fiction can be stranger, as it is in Exposing the Past. There can also be danger in writing about the past. My book is autobiographical in part and I have spent some uncomfortable days, even weeks, as I look at my past and that of the world. Alice too has written a memoir, mainly for her descendants, though she let me read it. Of course, she wrote hers in just a few months!
boy, impressive! i used to dream of what it might be like to be an author. i gather it's nightmarish for some, but great for others... i guess it depends on the individual...
ReplyDelete"I guess it depends on the individual" Truer words were never spoken.
DeleteI played basketball against mine, it was SO WEIRD! My freshman year of high school I was on the basketball team, and also taking part in our school's Madrigal Dinner. The first time we played the team she was on, I missed the game due to rehearsal for the dinner. My teammates later told me they kept passing or wanting to pass the ball to her because that's how alike we looked - despite the uniforms. It was truly weird. We were the same height, same hair and eye color, nearly the same glasses, everything. Playing against one another a few weeks later was also very strange. It was weird guarding myself, lol.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for your story!!
DeleteIt's so weird to think there is someone out there who looks just like me and we are in no way related. I wish I remembered her name!
DeleteI was once told that everyone has a double somewhere. We hired a driver in Ecuador and he was the spitting image of Anthony Quinn. Don't you feel sorry for the poor sucker somewhere who looks like Donald Trump!
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of that, David. Exposing the infamy!
DeleteFascinating story - I have never come across anyone who looked like me but, while in business was told by a few others that " I look just like... I think my life story would be rather boring but, I do love reliving certain parts in my head on the nights when I can't sleep LOL BTW.. My husband, on business in FL about (15) years ago was bothered by a limo driver for an autograph - at the time he looked a lot like the late actor Leslie Nielson at the time:)
ReplyDeleteThe parts I relive when I can't sleep are rarely the good parts! Thanks for your thoughts here.
Deletehmm, sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteGood!
DeleteHow interesting. I never met anyone who (was unlucky enough to) looked like me. I would think it would be disconcerting to say the least.
ReplyDeleteYou make me laugh today, Dorothy!
DeleteNever met or seen by doppelganger (one of my fave words BTW) but I did meet someone who I'd never seen before who was *convinced* I was someone else he knew!
ReplyDeleteA related disconcerting experience!
DeleteI certainly love the sound of this book. The idea of doppelgangers intrigues me - we've seen how easy it is to 'look' like someone else but then to resemble another person for real - that's unnerving. I'll keep this one on my radar.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, there was a certain actress I could look like if I combed my hair a certain way. That was the closest I came to having a doppelganger, lol. I'm glad to say we look nothing alike today, though it's very possible we never did and it was all just teen fantasy.
It has been great getting all these perspectives on the doppelgänger experience.
DeleteI have never encountered my own doppelgänger before... although I've heard we all have a doppelgänger. It would be a very bizarre experience to meet someone that looks like me, but isn't genetically related to me.
ReplyDeleteAlice Zogg's new book sounds like one I'll have to read. I have already read and reviewed 2 of her novels, which I've enjoyed very much.
I do hope you finish your autobiographical book... Are you writing your memoir for yourself, your family or for entirely different reasons?
Alice will be so happy to know you are interested in this one.
DeleteAs far as my book goes, I have not decided who it will be for. That is if I ever get it done!
The idea of doublegangers is one that has always intrigued me. I've never decided if I truly believe in them or not. This book sounds good.
ReplyDeleteIt was full of surprises for me.
DeleteI'm glad Alice is cranking the mysteries out. I recall the 2017 Giller Prize winner -- a novel called Bellevue Square was about a doppelganger too. But I havent read it yet. I think doppelganger plots add an interesting twist. I look forward to your book Judy. but take your time!
ReplyDeleteShe is. We met, masked, in a park so she could give me this one. Good to hear of that Giller Prize novel. As far as my book goes, I am going at it more steadily for the last year but yes, I am taking my time!
Delete