Review: The Green-Eyed Monster by Mike Robinson

Genre: Paranormal thriller, horror

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: Two men have almost identical lives.  Born the same day, at the same time, in the same town but to different parents.  They are both best-selling authors.  They live next door to one another as adults.  You'd think they'd be friends.  You'd be wrong.

In a series of flashbacks from their youth, some from first person accounts, some from 3rd person stories, we learn all about these two men and their malevolent "grandfather" and the butterflies that announce his presence.  He influences their lives (although he only exists to them) and through their writing, he is able to manipulate innocent people into killing.  You see, he has a bigger plan and they are just his tools.  Because in the end, everything must die to become one again.

My thoughts: This book was marketed as a mystery, but to me it wasn't one.  It was a thriller.  It was psychological.  It was uncomfortable at times.  The only "mystery" was who was the grandfather and what was his purpose, which we do learn at the end.  The writing is very well done and bravo to the author in pointing out how infrequently we end a sentence with "me" instead of "I".  But back to the plot.  The flashbacks are so well done and yet disturbing because they don't have happy endings.  You get to care about the people who "star" in the flashbacks (it is not the two men, but people in their lives) but you know it's going to end badly for them and you almost don't want to read it.  Like when you're watching a horror movie and you want to yell at the character not to open the door that the murderer is standing behind.

Over and over we are told that the men are almost identical, even though they don't look alike.  Well, I have to say that after reading the book, I still can't tell them apart.  Which one died?  They were too similar.  I just don't know.  But I guess that was the point.

If you're looking for something different, something a little creepy in a psychological way, check it out.  Again, it's written well and it definitely kept me turning the pages.  It just made me long for a nice Happily Ever After, but hey, you can't always have one.

Thanks for Curiosity Quills Press for giving me a copy of this for review.