Hypnotically persuasive and a lot of fun to read, Their Double Lives is an enjoyable, twisty, suspenseful ride that’s filled with imperfect, complicated characters. It’s not the most surprising mystery I’ve ever read, but it’s incredibly involving. The phenomenal tension between its characters and how truly and totally it involves you in their fates makes this book a must read

Freelance graphic designer Kim Valva would do anything to ensure her beloved dog, five-year-old Murphy, gets the surgery he needs to survive. This is why she’s working a crappy job waitressing at a country club. He’s her reason for being – especially after her live-in ex, Nicolas, turned out to have another, pregnant, girlfriend. One day she finds herself serving her high school boyfriend Tony Fiore – AKA Anthony Fuller, now a millionaire executive – the ex-love of her life, whom she got away from after his bad-boy behavior peaked in an armed robbery and murder. Having to serve him is just the cherry on the crap sundae of her life. Unfortunately, someone has also anonymously given Kim a whole lot of money to kill Tony by slipping a pill into his drink. And she really needs that money…

But she can’t bring herself to do it. Tony and his very young new fiancée are about to walk out of her life – when the young woman, Poppy Jade “PJ” Walsh, collapses, poisoned at the table. But it turns out PJ isn’t all she seems, either. Tony did something to her decades ago and she sought him out, planned to marry him, and then kill him. Why did PJ want to kill Tony? Were her feelings cut-and-dried as all that? Who wants to kill him still, and succeeded in offing PJ? And how is Kim involved? Will Kim and Tony reignite their romance? More importantly – does Murphy get his surgery?

For those who need a spoiler and won’t read the book without knowing Murphy’s fate:

This thriller offers plenty of surprises, with Poppy, Tony and Kim all coming off as alternately sympathetic and terrible, each with major flaws and surprisingly tender vulnerable spots. The mystery may be a little obvious, but the twists, extra parties, and solutions are not. This is a fantastic little thriller that’s filled with spirit, sass and humor.

It’s the spirit of the thing that’s fabulous here, and the characters are what makes Their Double Lives.  It’s a thrill, and one of the best mysteries I’ve read this year.