Alter Ego

A mix of manmade chemicals and natural botanicals is morphing men into women in a matter of seconds. With one of the conspirators calling a journalist, Simone, to leak information, and Jack, the FBI agent calling in help from a detective agency, there’s no guarantee if their plan can be stopped in time.

Mix a sexy FBI agent with a hot journalist, a dash of a detective agency staff, and a science fiction premise that just might be plausible enough to happen, and there is a set up for a thrilling ride of whodunit. This is supposed to be a mystery romance. However, by page 50 of its 350 or so pages, the reader knows everything but why - which is found out by page 150, and instead of nail-biting seriousness in trying to solve murders, comedy and witticisms that have nothing to do with the story abound. There is also tons of political soapboxing that does nothing for the story, characters or background, and entire paragraphs of alliteration, in alphabetical order. All the characters are bad stereotypes and plot holes are everywhere. Nearly every conversation has bantering, with many information dumps hidden as bad dialogue. Instead of building the story and the tension, the action makes this story read like three separate books. Jack and Simone disappear after the first third, and only return in the last three chapters, while the detectives run around finding answers to questions the FBI has already answered, and spelled out. With adjustments to content and some rearranging in plot and dialogue, this has the potential to become a great and enjoyable farce.

Julie York