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stolen Identity : reviewed by Fran Lewis

Stolen Identity

Author: Amber Rigby Grosjean


Reviewed by Fran Lewis

Imagine waking up one morning and finding out that your entire life was a lie. What would you do? Matthew Peters lived his life thinking he was an only child and had no siblings or real family. In a flash that changed when his mother, on her deathbed, told him that he was adopted and the truth behind his birth and the circumstances that led up to his adoption.

Distraught, angry and frustrated he sought out legal help and an investigator to find his real mother and learn the truth about his identity. One phone call from the investigator caused his whole world to come crashing down and a chain of events that followed so horrific, deceitful and cunning it grabs the reader’s attention and holds it throughout the entire novel.

Rather than deal with the issues of his adoption and the knowledge that he has a twin brother; Matthew becomes hateful, resentful and angry at the life his brother is living and has decided it should be his. Lurking in behind bushes and spying on his brother and his family he learns their daily routines and decides to eliminate his brother John by taking him out of the picture completely along with anyone else that might stand in his way.

Pretending to be another person and learning everything about that person proved to be a difficult task, although at times the author lets you think that he has totally accomplished becoming his brother she is clever and masterfully draws the reader into this web of hate and deceit that Matthew has created and you think he might actually pull it off.

Matthew cleverly learns all he can about John’s wife Allison but the important differences and nuances about his life and his personality he tries to emulate, but really can’t. Allison and John’s marriage was rocky and he cheated her on with another woman. He was not very attentive and stayed late at work most nights. He rarely, if ever made advances towards his wife in any manner and would not sit down and do homework with his children or have a family fun night.

Although Allison and others noticed the differences in him not only at home, in the bedroom and at work, he was able to convince everyone that he had changed. Taking over John’s position in the advertising firm where he worked and encouraging his wife to return to modeling, set up alarms in Allison’s mind, but she never let on.

But the best-laid plans do not always pan out. After taking over John’s life he is arrested for murdering his best friend and a suspect in the killing of John’s lover. Although he does manage to talk himself out of it and create a veil of innocence around him, the reader hopes that he will eventually get caught and that Allison is playing along with him in order to find out what really happened to John and why.

Then, in walks his real father who found him and wanted to get to know him and his brother. Knowing that each had a different birthmark, Matthew did not deem it necessary nor want to prove his identity to him or anyone else. However, in the shower Allison does question him and stated that John had his birthmark removed. Matthew replied, it must have grown back which leads the reader to believe that Allison might now have confirmed in her mind that this was not John. Encouraging her to go back to modeling and taking her on, as client in his firm was another red flag for Allison to be careful.

Throughout the novel Matthew finds himself in many difficult situations that he attempts to talk his way out of. He meets people that he knows as John and as Matthew and eventually his worlds become intertwined and the results: Well you will have to read the book to find out what happens and if he comes out ahead or gets caught.

Falling in love with another man’s wife does not always result in wedded bliss or a happy ending. Bangs of guilt and anguish force his to start seeing John wherever he went and the ghosts of others that he killed.

Through Allison and her cool and collected manner and sharp personality the author masterfully lures the spider (Matthew) in Allison’s web only to get snared.

Fran Lewis reviewer

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Thank you Fran for the wonderful review!

Amber
You are so very welcome.
Yes I do. I was sent a PDF file of both of Amber's books making it hard for me to provide an excerpt. I would love for someone to do that for my two books children's books. i have done quite a number os reviews. I think that I will ask the authors for an excerpt of their books that they might want posted next time. I do this as a favor to the authors upon request. Thank you for your suggestion. I am just learning. Fran
Here ya go. This is only a part of one of my chapters. I tried getting something different than what's on my website lol. I hope its ok to put it here since it was asked about.

Amber

PS. I want to remind everyone that this book is Erotica so please excuse me if I added adult content. Just be careful reading it please.
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He parked halfway down the street and waited for Allison to leave. When he could no longer see her car, he jumped out of the van and walked up to the house. He inserted the key, unlocked the door, and opened it. He took the key out of the door and put it in his pocket as he shut the door.
The house was so clean and organized. He took in a deep breath and smelled the air. It was refreshing. Matthew felt at home. The scents in the air were so inviting, so soothing. He didn’t know what they were, but he liked them. He could tell Allison slaved over her home. It was like a picture from a magazine, so clean and proper. He was amazed that children lived in the house.
Matthew walked through every room. He sat at the dining room table where John normally sat and liked that seat. Going to the kitchen, he looked through the refrigerator. It was just as organized as the rest of the house. He grabbed a cold soda and drank it down fast, tossing the can into the trash when he was finished. Matthew walked into the family room and sat down. He began to feel like John.
He rummaged through some photo albums which were neatly sitting on top of the coffee table. He saw his mother for the first time. The picture was labeled, but if it hadn’t been, he still would have known it was her. Matthew had her eyes, her smile and wondered why she threw him away but kept John. He felt the anger surging in him, so he slammed the book shut and set it back on the table where he found it.
He stood up and continued the search through the house. He found himself upstairs and strolled through the children’s rooms. They weren’t as tidy as the rest of the house but they were clean. Matthew guessed the children cleaned their own rooms and thought it was nice that they did their own chores. He remembered his own childhood. If anything had been out of place in his room, he received a beating. He hoped John and Allison weren’t like that.
Finally, Matthew made his way to the master bedroom and master bath, where he hoped to learn more information than a thousand dollars could ever buy him. These rooms were the intimate sanctuary of a couple’s home. The bedroom was definitely a woman’s room. The headboard, dresser, armoire, and nightstands matched in a light oak finish and were dressed in carvings of flowers. In fact, everything had flowers, and stripes.
Matthew assumed Allison’s favorite color was blue because, in every room, blue was the dominant color. From the bedroom, he moved t o the bathroom. He looked at the medicine cabinet and saw his reflection in the mirror. “Well, hello there, handsome,” he said. He opened the door and looked inside to see what they kept on the shelves. Matthew made a mental note as to what they used. He shut the door and looked at the tub with shower curtain.
On the back ledge, Matthew saw a woman’s razor and a bar of soap. He paid attention to the shampoo and conditioner at the front of the tub. Hanging from the showerhead was a sponge on a rope. Matthew turned around, walked out of the master bath, and walked through the master bedroom. As he reached the door to the bedroom, he heard the front door open. Matthew couldn’t be caught yet. He wasn’t ready. As quietly as he could, he ran out into the hallway. The floor didn’t even squeak under his feet. He found a closet next to the stairs where he could hide.
Matthew listened to the paper bags rustling in Allison’s arms. As he waited for an opportunity to escape, Matthew tried to imagine how she put the groceries away. The sounds he heard pleased him, not knowing exactly what she was doing. It excited him. The closet was a prison he wasn’t ready to leave.
Matthew envisioned Allison’s movements in the kitchen. Part of the abuse he had gone through was about putting things away properly so he learned quickly that all things must be kept tidy and kept out of sight at all times. He hated his mother for teaching him that way and promised himself he would never be an abusive man. He pictured her putting the groceries away, one item at a time. Matthew had always been told that everything had its place and there was a place for everything. He assumed all women were picky about things like that. Judging by the sounds, he could see Allison putting away the frozen foods first, and then moving things around to make room for more groceries. From there, Matthew guessed she was putting the other cold items away like milk and eggs. With her figure, he pictured her eating salads.
There was a short moment of silence and Matthew wasn’t sure if she had put everything away that quickly. He opened the closet door a little, inched out, and walked toward the top of the stairs. He searched for her and listened to the silence as he waited for something to tell him where she was or what she was doing. Then he heard the bags wrestling again so he quickly returned to the closet. He wanted to hear more. Matthew heard a door creaking downstairs and assumed Allison was putting away the canned goods now. Maybe even some boxed items. He couldn’t remember seeing a walk-in pantry, but there had to be one. Nothing would be too good for his Allison. If she were his wife, she would have had everything her heart desired with nothing asked in return.
Matthew heard the creaking of the door again followed by the sound of the bags again. He pictured Allison folding the bags and putting them in a cupboard to be reused. He knew how important it was to recycle. His mother had trained him to do it, but after his mother died, he didn’t want to be that man as it reminded him of the woman who raised him. As he heard the sound of water, Matthew imagined her washing the counter off and wondered if she had gotten some meats from the store. That would explain her washing the counter off. Another moment of silence told Matthew that Allison was finished. When he heard the creaking of the stairs, he knew that she was coming up the steps. He closed the closet door and waited in the darkness, listening to the short silence.
i was going to email you with that response. Glad you added the excerpt. Hopefully more authors and readers will want to learn more about Matthew and Allison. Fran Great Job!
Thank you, Fran. Me too! I tried that website deal, BookBuzz and I added Stolen Identity to it, making 10 pages available for readers in various places like Myspace, MyYearBook, and more. Hopefully that will generate more sales!

Amber
I wish I could do that with my two books. They are in PDF files and I have no idea how to put an excerpt from of them there. Fran
Hey, thanks Freya!

I got a quick question for you. I chose my blog as one of my places to load it but it didn't get placed anywhere. Did I do something wrong? Its everywhere else lol. Thanks!!!!

Amber
Ok, I got it figured out lol. When I put in the password and everything, it assumed my blog was under my email's name which it isn't so I had to change it to show the right name. Its on there now

Amber

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