Doppelganger

(Spoilers ahead.) I picked this up in my local library a few months ago on a whim, and got a nice surprise. It's a fun, easy read, but at the same time it's suspenseful, drawing you in. The book starts out with a nameless narrator, who explains that he's a doppelganger: a creature that kills people and assumes their shape afterwards. But this certain doppelganger is having doubts - is killing wrong? Is he a monster? And when he falls in love with the girlfriend of a boy he killed... All in all, Doppelganger is a worthwhile read. The characters are interesting, the narrative fresh, and the renewal of old themes is well executed. I wish more people knew about this book. -Ari

David Stahler, Jr., has created a novel that resonates with human integrity, though the "lesson" comes from the doppleganger and not from a human at all. Gabriel, as he comes to be named by Amber, exhibits traits that all humans should have despite his lonely upbringing and his instinct which tells him to kill humans for his own survival. Gabriel takes over Chris Parker's life and improves nearly every aspect of it. Stahler seems to be telling us that life doesn't have to suck if we're willing to change it. And he seems to also be telling us that everything hinges on our own compassion for others. It's Gabriel's compassion for Chris' sister Echo that eventually stops the abuse she receives from their father. It's Gabriel's compassion for Chris' mother and father along with his sense of what a family should be that eventually fixes CHris Parker's family. It's his love for Chris' girlfriend Amber which mends the mistakes Chris made with her in the past and allows Amber to become herself and not the cheerleader/girlfriend/sex toy she was. Gabriel's love for Echo and Amber frees both girls from the pain in their lives. The most upsetting portion of this book is its conclusion. Though entirely fitting, as a reader I wanted Gabriel to live happily ever after with Amber. Naturally that wouldn't have been "fair" to her, but it seemed as if Amber would have wanted Gabriel in her life no matter what. That perhaps she might have even helped him hide the bodies of his prey throughout their lives together. Of course, that would be an entirely different story... The descriptions of the dark portions of this novel are fantastically gloomy, but the overall message of the novel is Gabriel's compassion and humanness. The doppleganger shows the humans what it truly means to be human.

"He" doesn't have a name. "He" isn't one of us. "His" species lives among ours without us even knowing. "He" is a monster. "He" is a doppelganger. A doppelganger is a shape shifter, but before a person can be copied, they must be dead. Growing up, he lived in an isolated cabin in the woods with only his mother and TV for company. He spent much of his time alone reading because his mother went out to change skins often. He never knew what she was going to look like when she came home. Finally, at the age of sixteen, his mother kicked him out. She didn't want to be tied down to him any more and felt he was old enough to take care of himself. At first when he leaves the cabin he is frightened. He'd never killed before, but knew he couldn't survive looking like his true self. He hears a train in the distance and approaches it, not knowing what he'd find. A hobo, who isn't well, happens to be riding the rails. He puts his hands around the hobo's neck and kills him; then assumes his form, leaving the dead man on the train to be discovered later. He spends several weeks in the hobo's form, traveling from town to town, but when he stops in Bakersville his life takes a turn he's not prepared for. While sitting by a fire on the edge of town as the hobo, he is approached by three high school boys who start to poke fun and be cruel to him. Two of the boys lose interest and leave because one boy in particular, Chris, starts to go over the line and looks like he is going to harm the hobo. Once the other two leave, "he" kills Chris, wraps his body in plastic, stuffs him in a storm drain, and assumes his shape. Once in Chris' skin, he heads back to meet the other two boys and goes home. As Chris, he falls in love, feels some family attachment, and learns that humans can be monsters, too. Once you get into this story, you won't be able to put it down. David Stahler has written a fantastic young adult fantasy that will have you questioning the definition of good and evil. Reviewed by: Karin Perry

I haven't read either of David Stahler's previous books but that's an omission I'll make up for soon, for I enjoyed this one enough to want to go back and see how this YA author got to such towering heights. It can't be easy! You'd think there would be some baby steps that would have to come first. DOPPELGANGER tells the story of an American family, a mom, a dad, a son and a daughter, from the outside they have an enviable life, but from the inside it's just a mess. A doppelganger kills the boy and assumes his identity, and it's from the creature's point of view, as he tries to negotiate from inside Chris Parker's complicated life, that we view this particularly twisted bunch of humans. Sheila, the mother, is a nervous wreck and what we here in California call an enabler, for she sits back and lets her horrid husband Barry beat up his children without mercy. Chris is no prize either. The toast of the town because of his exalted linebacker status on the football team, he has a mean streak inherited from his dad, and initially draws the doppelganger's attention by trying to kill him as he hides inside the identity of a stumblebum old man drunk. I guess bum-bashing is all the rage in high schools nowadays, or so David Stahler, a teacher himself, would have you think. You see it on CSI and Law and Order SVU nearly every week, now it dominates the early part of this novel. Who's worse, an old piece of human refuse lying passed out in the gutter, or the young athlete who cheerfully tries to douse out his life? Stahler forces us to constantly revise our opinion of what good and evil are. The doppleganger's mother has brought him up (in "a cabin in the middle of nowhere") to regard good and evil and human constructs without real meaning. But as the doppelganger inhabits Chris more and more fully, and learns more and moreabout being a person, his attitude changes with ours. However I must not let you think that this is either a preachy or theoretical type of book. It's a slambang adventure, very dark and violent, with erotic undertones as "Chris" renegotiates his relationship with his upperclass girlfriend, Amber, and with a disturbing English teacher as well. Have any of you ever read Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY? That's what this is like, Ripley for kids. Highly recommended.

In their natural form they are hideous monsters who are shapeshifters taking the form of the person they kill. They have no conscience and they live among us without us being aware of it. They can't hold their assumed shape indefinitely so when they revert to their natural form they leave behind people who never know what happened to those who disappeared. One doppelganger (they have no names) has just been kicked out of his home by his mother and the first person he kills is a wino who wants to die. In that form he reaches Bakersville where a high school football star Chris Parker beats on him until he kills him and takes the teen's form. He takes over Chris' life and notices that "his" father verbally abuses and physically hits "his" younger sister Echo. He wonders who the real monster is as he tries to protect Echo and maintain a relationship with Amber who he has come to love. He makes a place for himself but he knows that it can't be permanent because he will shift back into his natural form soon. DOPPELGANGER is a fantastic young adult urban fantasy in which the one who calls himself a monster regrets what he has to do while his human "father" is the real fiend who abuses those he should cherish. The doppelganger is an interesting creature who is unlike the rest of his race because he doesn't like to kill, wants to know love and other good human emotions, and genuinely cares about the Parker females. Amber is his biggest regret because he knows that in the near future he will lose her but he also realizes "you've got to accept the best of a bad situation", which in his case is his entire life. Harriet Klausner