Double Identity

As the story begins Bethany Cole is dropped off at an aunt’s house to stay for a while. It’s an occurrence that would seem normal to most people, but Bethany is almost thirteen years old, and she has never stayed anywhere overnight without her parents. She also never even knew she had an aunt. Her mother has been crying without explanation for weeks. Her father, usually strong and self assured, seems broken and disturbed. Bethany overhears her father talking to her aunt as he is dropping her off. He says, “She doesn’t know about Elizabeth.” Bethany wonders who Elizabeth is, but she’s too scared to ask her aunt about it. Her curiosity becomes almost desperate as it becomes clear that people think that Bethany looks and acts just like Elizabeth. Some people look at Bethany as if they have seen a ghost. Bethany concludes that, whoever Elizabeth is, she must be dead. Bethany’s parents do not come back for her, and the phone calls that she receives from them get stranger and scarier by the day. Bethany finally discovers who Elizabeth was, and her whole world changes instantly. Everything she thought she knew about herself and her parents seems like a lie. What’s even more chilling is that Bethany has yet to learn the whole truth about the long lost Elizabeth. When she does, she will realize that she may be in great danger, and her parents may never come back to get her.

I tried not to give away the “big secret” in this book, but if you put the clues together you can probably figure it out. Clue #1: This book is considered science fiction, and the title is Double Identity. Clue #2: Bethany not only looks but acts just like Elizabeth. Clue #3: Bethany’s parents have always been extremely over-protective. They don’t let her spend the night at other people’s houses. She’s never spent time alone. Clue #4: Her parents have always encouraged her to play with toys that she considers “retro”. The toys will seem very familiar to anyone who was a child in the 1980’s, but to Bethany, who was born in the 1990’s, they’re really cool antiques. You get the idea now, enough of the clues.

I really enjoyed this book. Even though I knew what was coming, I found myself reading faster and faster. I was wondering how Bethany was going to finally find out. Although I guessed who Elizabeth was, there were a lot of aspects of the story that I didn’t see coming. I didn’t know why Bethany and her parents were in danger, for instance. From fairly early on in the story, the reader gets hints that someone is following Bethany. This makes for suspenseful reading, which I love! I was also curious to find out the truth about Bethany’s parents. Their behavior at the beginning of the story is very strange. They act as if they have done something very wrong, and now they must run from the consequences (without Bethany). They spoiled Bethany like crazy when she was growing up, and Bethany describes them as very loving parents, but I found myself wondering if Bethany’s parents were good guys or bad guys in this story. Sometimes the way Bethany describes her childhood reminded me of a person under house arrest.

Many young adult/tween novels tend to use vocabulary and descriptions that are pretty complicated. They can be hard work for a reluctant reader. Science fiction books have the potential to get very technical and hard to follow. Margaret Peterson Haddix has a wonderful talent for writing suspenseful science fiction that isn’t above the heads of most middle school students. I think even reluctant readers would enjoy her stories. They are exciting and full of mysteries that make a reader want to keep reading on and on. I will definitely be putting this author on my list of favorites.