The Switch - Hardcover

Brown, Sandra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446527033 ISBN 13: 9780446527033

Publisher: Warner Books, 2000

Synopsis

What began as a lark turned into a tragedy...leaving Gillian Lloyd dead, the victim of a brutal and seemingly unmotivated crime. Her twin Melina, along with astronaut "Chief" Hart-with whom Gillian had been involved-disagrees with the police that the homicide is an open and shut case. She vows to stop at nothing to learn the truth and avenge her twin's death. But Gillian's murder has a far-reaching impact that no one suspected or could even fathom. Soon, Melina is on the run from the police, the FBI, and the mastermind whose evil plot to engineer the perfect "switch" could result in disastrous consequences on a global scale.

About this title

About the Author

Sandra Brown is the author of seventy-seven New York Times bestsellers, including Blood Moon, Out of Nowhere, Overkill, Blind Tiger, Thick As Thieves, Seeing Red, Outfox, Tailspin, Sting and Mean Streak. Writing professionally since 1981, Brown has published over eighty novels and has upwards of eighty million copies of her books in print worldwide. Her work has been translated into thirty-four languages. Brown holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University, where she instituted the Excellence in Literary Fiction, or ELF, a scholarship awarded annually to a creative writing student. She has served as president of Mystery Writers of America, and in 2008 she was named Thriller Master, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer's Association. Other honors include the Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award.

From the Back Cover

From Sandra Brown, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Alibi, comes another riveting novel of suspense, revenge, and illusion -- where a labyrinth of twists and turns culminates in a final, stunning revelation....

It isn't the first time that identical twins Gillian and Melina Lloyd have switched identities. Yet it's the first time as adults that they've even considered the childhood prank. Melina, the more impetuous twin, proposes that her circumspect sister take her place as a media escort to NASA astronaut and national hero Colonel Christopher "Chief" Hart.

Although it's an enticing offer, Gillian declines for a very personal reason -- she's preoccupied with whether or not the artificial insemination she underwent that day will be successful. Besides, she warns Melina, such a switch could have unexpected consequences.

Media-savvy Chief turns out to be an easy assignment for Melina -- in fact the evening with him is as much pleasure as business. But the following morning police arrive at Melina's door with the worst possible news: her beloved twin has been brutally murdered in her own bed. And on the walls, scrawled in blood, are obscenities directed at Gillian, along with insults toward Native Americans that indisputably link Chief to the crime.

Dissatisfied with the official police investigation, Chief and Melina form a grudging alliance, strike out on their own ... and find themselves uncovering more questions than answers. Mistrusting even the authorities claiming to protect them, on the run with their lives in danger, the two are soon following a crooked and bloody trail that inexplicably leads to Gillian's attempt to conceive a child... and to the threshold ofan inner sanctum, where a megalomaniac hatches horrific schemes and lies in wait for Gillian's replacement, her identical twin -- Melina.

A book that reveals the powerful, almost mystical bond between twins -- a bond that extends beyond the grave and compels a woman to go to almost impossible lengths to avenge her sister -- THE SWITCH defies every prediction.

Edition details

• Publisher: Warner Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446527033
• ISBN 13: 9780446527033
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 496