Book Review: Stranger With My Face
Rated by 3 members
What Parents Should Know
Some inconsistent plot elements and a narrator whose voice
sounds a little too wise for her years can't distract from a
fascinating study of psychic phenomenon.
Common Sense Media Review
STRANGER WITH MY FACE isn't a mystery in the classic sense;
as soon as Laurie's friend, Helen, is discovered battered and
abandoned, the reader knows Laurie's double is responsible. The
real mystery of the story, though, is which path Laurie will
choose: Will she explore her psychic powers and her past, or
will she embrace the present and defend her family?
As intriguing as this question becomes, and as menacing a figure as Lia is, these elements of the novel are almost secondary to the exploration of astral projection that's at the heart of the story. Duncan makes out-of-body travel seem so commonplace that even the most literal-minded readers might lose some of their skepticism.
In fact, most readers will be so absorbed by these supernatural elements that they'll overlook many of the book's inconsistencies. Laurie tells us this story at age seventeen, only a year after the events described, but her voice often sounds more middle-age than teenage, repeatedly referring to her younger siblings as "the children," for example.
Duncan focuses on specific psychic phenomena in several novels including Try The Third Eye, in which a teen with ESP helps solve a kidnapping. Singularity, by William Sleator, deals with science fiction and sibling rivalry.
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