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. 


Wow!! Someone Like Me was my first introduction to M.R. Carey’s work, and I was completely blown away. It starts simply enough, with one of our main characters, Liz, feeling the presence of someone else lurking beneath her skin. The other being emerges during a traumatic assault, and Liz tries to explain it away. But it just won’t go away, and Liz starts to worry that it’s dangerous. 

Our other main character, teenage Fran, is just trying to keep her head above the surface. She survived a terrible ordeal when she was a child, and should be better, but instead she’s starting to experience hallucinations. When she meets Liz in a doctor’s waiting room, she knows immediately that something is wrong with the other woman. 

There are a lot of sci-fi elements in this book, but it takes place in the very real city of Pittsburgh, in a very real neighborhood. I think the best speculative fiction takes a very unreal situation and draws parallels about the world we’re living in now. Someone Like Me does this in an interesting, thought provoking way.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for an arc.