Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Double Identity by Margartet Peterson Haddix

WARNING - SPOILERS!!!!

I have really enjoyed some of Haddix's books, especially Running Out of Time and Among the Hidden. And I enjoyed this one, too, BUT ... and somehow there is always a BUT ... this one ties up a bit too neatly at the end for me. The sinister guy stalking the teen wasn't really that sinister; Mom and Dad come back and are as loving as ever. Worried teen is now mostly carefree and confident.

And it leaves some things that need to be explained completely unexplained - not even alluded to. There is no mention, that I noticed at any rate, of just WHY Mom and Dad felt they had to clone their first daughter, rather than simply having another baby. You can infer that they loved their first daughter so much, they wanted someone just like her - but that seems so shallow. And, as caring as they have been for her every need, her every want, why in the heck didn't they give her ANY CLUE as to why her mother cried all of the time. They are not stupid; they have GOT to notice that Mom's incessant crying has an effect on their daughter.

It is an intriguing idea, just like the ideas of the other two books mentioned above, but I think this book needed some more polishing before being published.

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