Copycat [Paperback]

Gillian White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2003

Martha tolerated Jennie, took her on holiday, helped her with the children—but all the time she was wondering how much longer she could stand living next door to her. As time went on, however, the roles seemed to reverse. As Jennie became more confident and successful, Martha's life was falling apart. At times they seemed less like friends, and more like sworn enemies. Their relationship became bitter and twisted—a relationship which only one of them could survive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“… Gillian White handles her gruesome ingredients with control and intelligence. A novelist of the highest quality.” -- Independent on Sunday

From the Publisher

The chilling crime novels of Gillian White have drawn comparisons to the work of Barbara Vine and Minette Walters. With insidious and unnerving accuracy, White shows us the horrors that can lurk within the most ordinary of families. Among her dozen novels, four have been adapted for the screen, including The Sleeper, recently a star–studded BBC television series, and Rich Deceiver, soon to be a major motion picture starring Sandra Bullock.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0593047877
• ISBN-13: 978-0593047873
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,480,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful but slightly repetitive, April 9, 2006

By 

Sigrid Macdonald (Ottawa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copycat (Audio Cassette)

Gillian White has done it again. Copycat is a terrifically engaging novel about two neighbors. At first glance, it appears as though Jennie is extremely disturbed because she has developed an obsession about her neighbor Martha. But later on we realize that Martha is equally dependent on Jennie for her own particular reasons.

Fast-paced, original, excellent plot and dialogue. My only complaint about the book was that certain parts seemed repetitious; however, it's possible that the author was simply trying to emphasize the repetitive nature of obsession.

In general, I enjoyed this book very much and stayed up late at night to finish it. A real nail-biter with scary yet believable characters.

Sigrid Macdonald
author of D'Amour Road

4.0 out of 5 stars Unusual psychological drama, November 16, 2008

By 

Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copycat (Paperback)

Tells the story of an obsessive friendship between two women, Jenny and Martha who begin as neighbours, become friends, then rivals, then develop a love-hate relationship.

It's a novel about how things go wrong between them rather than one that keeps you in suspense about what will happen. Almost the first line of the novel, in a prologue narrated from prison, makes clear that eventually one of the central characters will murder the other. It doesn't make clear who kills who. In the subsequent chapters, supposedly based on "edited extracts from the diary of the victim" alternating with "transcripts of statements by the accused" the perspective switches between that of Jennie and that of Martha.

When they first meet, as new mothers who move into adjacent houses, Jennie admires and is jealous of Martha - of her house, gorgeous husband, apparent success in society and as a mother. But then the roles begin to reverse - Jennie becomes more successful as Martha's life falls apart. And the obsession on both sides becomes more and more dangerous ...

Interesting and well crafted but a bit sad and depressing. The author also leaves to the reader's imagination to deduce in several important matters, including the final conclusion of the book, what is actually going on.

Those readers who like to be able to use their own imagination will probably appreciate this, those who like to be told exactly what has happened should leave this book alone.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars marvellous book but with a poor ending, January 13, 2004

By 

Linda Sackstein "linlibrary" (Raanana Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Copycat (Paperback)

Jenny and Martha are next-door neighbours and also have children of the same ages and sexes. Jenny is completely besotted with Martha and slowly she becomes her reason for living. The author takes us into the twisted workings of Jenny's mind and makes her peculiar and devious behaviour understandable to us. Each chapter is written alternatively by the two protagonists and the writing is clever and very addictive.

Both characters are completely rounded and three-dimensional and we come to know these two ladies very well. The other neighbours are more shallowly dealt with and the portrayal of Jenny's husband, Graham, makes him almost too good to be true. I don't think many men would put up with this kind of behaviour and still remain loving and supportive.

Unfortunately it had a very unlikely ending which I felt was a let-down. In view of this I gave the book only 4 stars.