Two best-selling authors, born minutes apart, only meters apart in the same hospital in a quiet northern Californian city, Twilight Falls. Although they never become friends, with each other or with some one else for that matter, they are creepily alike not only in mannerisms and appearance, also in the stories they write. This continues into adulthood, until one of them, right at the start of the novel, kills the other.
Although the story is more of a background on Martin Smith and John Becker than it is a murder mystery, it is told from the perspective of people from their periphery, a school teacher, a peer. It is obvious these people are influence by the two, although not really in a good way.
This is one of those stories that you're not able to catch in a single, or even two or three, genres. At times, I would even consider calling it paranormal or horror, due to all the creepiness that surrounds it. Then why only three stars, I hear you ask. Well, it is not something easily explained but I will give it a try. While I like experimental kind of books, I often find that they give up some parts of the story for the sake of style. I feel this sort of happened in this story. The 'original' murder mystery is perhaps 10% of the book, the rest is flashbacks and at the end it feels like there is a rush to close everything asap. During most of the book, Martin and John are almost not there at all. Their names are being dropped, but as they don't have a lot of contact with anyone really, it feels like they are not present at their own party. This made that I was not as invested in the story as I could have been, and sometimes I had to really tell myself to pick the book back up.
As The Green-Eyed Monster is part of a 'non-linear' trilogy about Twilight Falls, I'm continuing with the other books, Negative Space and Waking Gods.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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