The Switch [Mass Market Paperback]

Sandra Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown comes another masterful creation, a riveting novel of suspense, revenge, and unpredictable twists and turns...Identical twins Melina and Gillian Lloyd haven't considered switching places since childhood. So when Melina proposes that Gillian take her place as a media escort to NASA astronaut Col. "Chief" Hart, she refuses...at first. The following morning Melina receives terrible news: her sister has been brutally murdered-and Chief, though innocent, is the prime suspect. He and Melina are determined to find the killer, a megalomaniac whose horrific schemes require Gillian's replacement, her identical twin-Melina.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Identical twins are fair game for a thriller writer, and in The Switch, queen of suspense Sandra Brown (The Alibi, Standoff, Fat Tuesday) makes the most of an intricate setup involving Gillian and Melina Lloyd, a pair of thirtysomething Dallas beauties. When Gillian hears her biological clock ticking, she puts herself in the hands of the world-famous Waters Clinic and is artificially inseminated (as described in a somewhat plodding first chapter that omits no detail of the procedure). The action picks up when Gillian switches places with her twin, a media escort, and chauffeurs sexy astronaut Chief Hart around town. It turns out to be a fatal attraction, and suspicion falls on Chief when Gillian's mutilated body is found the next day.

The dead woman's smarmy and enigmatic boyfriend, Jem Hennings, has a vested interest in focusing police efforts on Hart, but Melina has her own reasons for thinking him wrong. Jem's connection with a charismatic preacher known as Brother Gabriel is at the heart of this mildly creepy mystery, in which the plucky Melina tracks Brother Gabriel to his lair and uncovers his diabolical plot while simultaneously revealing her own dark secret. The ending is telegraphed well in advance, but that won't deter Brown's many fans from relishing the details, including some sex scenes that are spicier than most of the florid prose that usually turns up in romantic thrillers of this sort. But that may be why the author inevitably rockets to the top of the bestseller list, where The Switch is destined to land. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

With some 60 novels, including 40-plus bestsellers already to her credit, it seems a sure bet that this new romantic thriller will not blemish Brown's phenomenal track record. On a whim, the same day she is artificially inseminated at a Dallas fertility clinic, Gillian Lloyd switches places with her identical twin sister, Melina, a professional celebrity escort assigned to chauffeur astronaut Col. Christopher Hart (or "Chief," as he is called by his NASA cohorts because his mother was a Native American). It's lust at first sight. Swept away by Chief, Gillian is caught up in a marathon frenzy of lovemaking in his hotel room. Slipping out in the wee hours of the night, she is found brutally butchered in her own bed the next morning. From an obscene blood-smeared scrawl on the bedroom wall, her sister realizes that the killing was related to Gillian's love tryst with the astronaut. Hours later, the killer, an employee at the fertility clinic, commits suicide. The resulting investigation connects him to Brother Gabriel, the charismatic, egomaniacal leader of a powerful TV religious cult who is mysteriously linked in turn to artificial insemination clinics nationwide. Determined to avenge Gillian's murder, Melina and Chief become the targets of professional assassins masquerading as FBI agents. Potential witnesses are murdered as the trail eventually leads the pair (now fighting to keep their hands off each other) cross-country to Brother Gabriel's mountain stronghold in the remote reaches of New Mexico. Displaying her talents for fast pacing and tricky plotting, Brown delivers one of her patented twists in the denouement, setting the scene for a breathy, rose-colored climax. 700,000 first printing; major ad/promo.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446609943
• ISBN-13: 978-0446609944
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (151 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Brown, Sandra

More About the Author

Sandra Brown is the author of sixty New York Times bestsellers, including RAINWATER (2010), TOUGH CUSTOMER (2010), SMASH CUT (2009), SMOKE SCREEN (2008), PLAY DIRTY (2007), RICOCHET (2006), CHILL FACTOR (2005), WHITE HOT (2004), HELLO, DARKNESS (2003), THE CRUSH (2002), ENVY (2001), THE SWITCH (2000), THE ALIBI (1999), UNSPEAKABLE (1998) and FAT TUESDAY (1997), all of which have jumped onto the Times bestseller list in the number one to five spot.

Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published over seventy novels, bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to upwards of eighty million. Her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Texas Christian University, majoring in English. Before embarking on her writing career, she worked as a model at the Dallas Apparel Mart, and in television, including weathercasting for WFAA-TV in Dallas, and feature reporting on the nationally syndicated program "PM Magazine."

She is much in demand as a speaker and guest television hostess. Her episode on truTV's "Murder by the Book" premiered the series in 2008 and she was one of the launch authors for Investigation Discovery's new series, "Hardcover Mysteries."

In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.

Brown recently was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University. She was named Thriller Master for 2008, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer's Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Her Best!, September 25, 2000

By 

Christine Shaw "cms246" (Scranton, PA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Switch (Hardcover)

I have been a Sandra Brown fan from day one. Her romance novels have been some of the best I have ever read. Her early mainstream novels are better than her recent ones. If you read the inside flaps on the dust cover of "The Switch", you will basically know the story and the author does not stray far from the review. "The Switch" was a fair read but could have been so much better.

For starters this book was too long! (469 pages) This story could have been told with 100 less pages. There were few characters and the information relayed between them at times became repetitive. I did not find any surprises. The murderers are revealed at the time of the murders and the reader is aware of the diabolical plot and just tags along for the ride. By the time you are halfway through the book you should be able to figure out Melina's "dark secret". I questioned it at the very beginning. And spicy sex scenes? Ms. Brown just does not write them like she once did.

In short I found this book to be an OK read although predictable and a bit long. If you want to read one of her better novels try Charade or Exclusive. The Switch seemed to have so much potential but did not deliver for me.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER BLOCKBUSTER, August 29, 2000

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Switch (Hardcover)

Gillian and Melina Loyd are identical twins, so it comes as no surprise to Gillian when Melina comes up with the idea of switching places for the night (the twins played the switching game as children, but never as adults), Gillian declines the offer to take her sisters place as a media escort for astronaut Christopher "Chief" Hart. Melina begs her sister, but lets the idea drop after Gillian explains that she underwent an artificial insemination procedure earlier that day.

The following morning, Melina, is awakened to the terrible news of her sister being murdered...

Demanding to see the crime scene, Melina, witnesses the blood and obsenities scrawled over Gillian's bedroom wall, the obsenities refering to "Chief" Hart.

With Hart being the main suspect, the police endlessly question him, but after another twist in the case occurs, the police let Hart off the hook.

The desire to find the killer, sends Hart and Melina on their own investigation, turning up more questions in this bizzare murder. As the two become deeper in the case they will find a trail of clues leading them to the clinic where the artificial insemination was performed.

The pages turn FAST in "The Switch", the reader is kept glued to their chair uncovering secrets and cliffhangers in each chapter, as the novel roars along to the stunning conclusion.

Sandra Brown has crafted another top-notch thriller that will immediately land on the bestseller list's.

Nick Gonnella

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, if not entirely successful, effort from Sandra Brown, October 7, 2000

By 

AriesPA (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Switch (Hardcover)

Sandra Brown is one of the more skilled writers in the romantic suspense genre, capable of coming up with mysteries that keep you guessing until the last minute with more than a fair share of steamy sex scenes. While "The Switch" is much better than her last book "The Alibi", it still does not rank up there with "The Witness" or "Exclusive." The latter two books had genuine "gotcha" endings, that threw the reader unexpected curve. Anyone who has read a mystery involving twins and exchanged identities can probably guess how "The Switch" ends.

That said, Brown's tale maintains suspense as Melina tries to figure out exactly what was the motive behind Gillian's murder, and who was responsible. Brown is also to be commended for creating a Native American leading man in Chief and giving historical background on the past, current, and future struggles of the Native Americans. Their plight is treated with respect, and is successfully incorporated into the plot. The chemistry between Chief and Melina feels forced at times, and because of that the romance between the characters is not that convincing. The sex scenes, revealed mostly through flashbacks by Chief, is the only time when the two seemed connected and bonded.

As some other readers have noted, the book is a little long and the plot suffers for it, making "The Switch" a chore to finish in some parts of the book. However, this is definitely one of Sandra Brown's better efforts and hopefully it indicates she is returning to the style of some of her more suspenseful and tightly paced novels.