Someone Like Me by M.R. Carey

SHE LOOKS LIKE ME. SHE SOUNDS LIKE ME. NOW SHE’S TRYING TO TAKE MY PLACE.

Liz Kendall wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’s a gentle woman devoted to bringing up her kids in the right way, no matter how hard times get.

But there’s another side to Liz—one which is dark and malicious. A version of her who will do anything to get her way, no matter how extreme or violent.

And when this other side of her takes control, the consequences are devastating.

The only way Liz can save herself and her family is if she can find out where this new alter-ego has come from, and how she can stop it.

I’ve never read any of M.R. Carey’s books before, but on the strength of this one… I might have to change that.

Someone Like Me is a freaky, disturbing, and uncomfortable read. Yet I couldn’t put it down. The writing is deceptively simple and straight-forward, but some of the scenes and the twists in the story set my skin to crawling. This book deals with some heavy themes — such as domestic abuse and PTSD — but in my opinion does so very well.

There are two main POV characters here. The first is Liz Kendall — A mother and recent divorcee of an abusive husband. The other is Fran Watts, who is a teenager experiencing what she thinks are hallucinations brought on by the traumatic experience of being kidnapped and nearly murdered as a young girl.

The story kicks off with Liz Kendall fighting back against her husband as he tries to choke her to death. Liz survives when she feels something take over her body and fight back. She’s unsure if this dissociative moment was due to a medical reason, or something else, and it’s that ambiguity that makes her lower her guard for what comes next.

Both Liz and Fran explore their respective traumas over the course of the book, with realistic and supernatural elements woven together to give a freaky and surreal atmosphere. Both are fundamentally decent people, and were written well enough to draw a tonne of empathy from me while I was reading.

Someone Like Me perfectly captures just how scary it is to confront the unknowable, terrifying otherworldliness of your trauma. There’s a great, slow-paced, and unsettling story here, but the real strength of this book lies in how it will leave you thinking once you’ve put it down.

Thanks to Orbit UK for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.