Barbara M. Hodges Category:  Science Fiction Publisher: Twilight Times Books ISBN-10:  1933353791 Type: Fiction Pages: 193 Copyright: July 2007 ISBN-13: 9781933353791 Genetic duplicates of people are dropping out of thin air right beside the originals. The duplicates are complete, except for one little thing: they're dead. Science fiction thriller. Excerpt "Shut it down! It’s running wild!" Wesley Jones shouted to an assistant technician. "No, wait! We’ve got something!" Jones kept his eyes on the gauges, hoping he didn’t blow up half of Nevada trying to bring the object to the earth. Nor did he want to land it right on top of them. It was big! "Hold it! Hold it now!" The wild humming roar of the generators wound back down to silence. Wesley ran to the window where others from the team were gathering. He pushed through the crowd and looked outside. "My God," he breathed. "We did it. And we not only did we do it...we captured an airliner!" Gilbert Collins, head of Research and Development of The Advanced Research Projects Agency, moved quickly. It wouldn’t do for this to get out. Not until they figured out where the plane was from. He picked up the phone. "Security to the control room now!" Within two hours, the Boeing jet had been moved into the confines of a building big enough to serve as a hanger. The stunned and confused crew and passengers offered no resistance as they were sequestered for questioning. Indeed, they seemed pleased just to be alive. Before they were allowed to leave, he extracted another secrecy oath from everyone involved in the experiment, and this one he worded in terms scary enough to silence a politician running for reelection. The passengers were secreted in apartments of the huge underground cavern originally constructed as a bomb shelter. Only after all that had been taken care of, were the very few government officials who were aware of the experiment notified. They were also sworn to secrecy. *** In the predawn darkness blanketing the Kingwood suburb of north Houston, Linda Vesprie heard the thump of the Houston Chronicle hitting the sidewalk. She sighed with pleasure. Perfect timing, her coffee should just be ready. Linda lived in a different time zone than most people. Her internal clock had her out of bed right before five, regardless of whether she was taking the day off, on vacation, or had just stayed up later than usual the night before. While most of the city still slept, she showered and dressed...today was April thirteenth, so her choice was her green mini with the scalloped neckline. She had started wearing the dress on the thirteenth day of every month five years ago. She had been wearing it on August thirteenth when she signed her first book contract and now she wore it on the same date every month. Her mother and father had been the only ones to catch on to her little quirk and she had taken some teasing from them. At the thought of her parents, a fragment of last night’s dream surfaced; her younger sister laughing and smiling as she hugged the ratty teddy bear she’d had since she was two. She remembered the entire scenario only vaguely, something about wavering lights and her parents beckoning to her. Pain touched her, bringing a tightness in her chest. A psychologist would probably say the dream was manifested by the upcoming anniversary of her parents and little sister’s deaths. It was five years ago this month their plane had gone down.

Shadow Worlds
Linda’s orderly life is turned upside down one morning as she retrieves her newspaper. Beside the Houston Chronicle, a body identical to her in every detail lay dead. Even her purse, down to the lotto numbers in a certain pocket is the same. Linda is understandably freaked as she summons the police. When the cops arrive, coincidences continue to arise. Frank, one of the officers in charge of her case, shares a history of loss identical to hers. Both of them lost their family when a plane vanished five years ago.

An instant attraction springs up between Frank and Linda; however romance is not the most important thing in their lives at the moment. More twins are turning up, not only around Houston, but in other parts of the country. Each one had a relative on that plane, each one arrives dead or dies shortly afterwards. When a live person arrives, the mystery is revealed.

Another Earth is sending the people there, trying to save all Earths from being taken over by Ogres. The risks involved and the price of salvation is high, but a few brave souls are willing to try if it will save all humanity on every world that’s left.

Two voices have fused perfectly to create an action packed story that will hook you from the first page. Action and romance balance perfectly, making this a story appealing to a wide audience. If it were a paper book, I’d call it impossible to put down. As it is, you’ll be glued to your computer screen until it’s over.

Although the story does wrap up nicely, I do hope there is a possible sequel in the works.

Reviewer - Amanda - June 2005