Introduction

When she discovers e-mail evidence of her husband's infidelity, Annie Milliken is shattered. Dismissing his pleas of innocence, she takes their baby daughter and goes to the one person she has always trusted: her twin sister, Julie. Annie and her sister soon become as close as they were growing up, spending their days together, dressing the same, sharing the baby. But when Annie applies for a job, everything comes undone. Her credit cards are stolen just as she's arrested for grand larceny. The police realize she is the victim of identity theft, but she has yet to understand the true scale of the crime. For when Annie turns to Julie for help, she finds that her twin sister has disappeared...along with her baby. Now, with her daughter--and her own life--on the line, Annie is going to fight for what is hers.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1

Sunlight poured through our front door’s stained-glass window, splashing the floor with an impressionistic rainbow. My two large suitcases sat at the ready; everything I needed for the next few months was in them, plus various sizes of clothes for Lexy to grow into. I stood there, stunned by the reality of what was happening; I was really doing it: I was leaving my husband. Stood there, in this moment that felt too heavy and too long, torn between letting my baby daughter finish her morning nap, and waking her up and leaving. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From Kate:

Here are some questions you might be interested in discussing after reading the novel. I’m sure you’ll be able to think of plenty more!

1. Identity theft has become a real problem over the past few years. Has it ever touched you personally? How can it be avoided? Have you personally taken any precautions, such as installing computer passwords, using a locked file cabinet, buying a paper shredder, regularly monitoring your credit reports, etc?

2. Statistics show that the perpetrator of identity theft is often a family member or someone who works in the home. Does this fact change the way you feel about sharing your home with others—family members who may not be trustworthy, guests you don’t know very well, or hired help? It’s easy to avoid hiring someone who is obviously troubled or has a spotty employment history, but we can’t hire or fire family members; so what would you do if you feared a family member might steal sensitive documents that could compromise you financially or in other ways?

3. How much ‘paranoia’ about things like identity theft is acceptable in our daily lives? Is it best to ignore potential risks, enjoy life and hope for the best? Or can we reach some kind of balance?

4. At the beginning of the novel, Annie trusts Julie implicitly, without question. But as the story unfolds, that sense of trust is shaken. Was Annie wrong in the first place to trust her sister unconditionally? Was this foolish of her, or is trusting those closest to us necessary to sustain our sense of family? Is family a key component of your own sense of self? How would you react if you discovered that a family member was not who you thought s/he was?

5. Are you a twin? How did you feel about Annie and Julie’s relationship in the novel? Did the author, who is not a twin and relied on research along with close relationships with two sets of twins, get it right?

6. Annie is arrested for a crime she did not commit. How did you feel about her reaction to being in jail? Was she treated fairly by the police? Although we are said to be innocent until proven guilty, Annie feels tainted by guilt-by-suspicion as soon as she enters the arrest process. Can a person ever shed that feeling?

7. One of the twins’ blood is found at the crime scene, but DNA testing alone doesn’t help Annie since she and Julie have identical DNA. However, the fact that Annie was breast-feeding at the time of the murder and that some of the blood at the crime scene showed lactation hormones provided the scientific evidence that seemed to definitely point the finger at her. One more crucial scientific element was necessary to shift blame away from Annie—what was it?

8. DNA sampling is a recent forensic tool of law enforcement and has been a boon for those seeking to correct erroneous convictions. Does this affect your attitude about the death penalty? Do you think DNA testing should be mandatory in all cases that could result in a life sentence or the death penalty? Should everyone submit DNA into a database available to law enforcement? Would this affect our civil liberties, and if so, how? Can our society handle having that much information about everyone?

9. What would have happened to Annie without DNA testing? Would both she and Julie have gone free? Or would one of them have been convicted of the murder? Which one?

10. How did you feel about the novel’s ending? Did you expect it? Was it a shock? Did it bother you to end on an unsettling note? Would you have preferred a happier ending for Annie?

11. If you could write the next chapter for Annie, following the end of the novel, what would happen to her?


Additional reading suggestions:

The Identity Theft Protection Guide by Amanda Welsh, Ph.D.

Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior by Nancy L. Segal

Weblinks

»	Kate Pepper's web site
»	Kate's bio
»	Kate Pepper's blog

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