Customer Reviews

The Switch

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

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.

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

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.

Well, well, well is that right? Another Sandra Brown novel? The lady only writes about 5 novels a year? Have you ever heard of anyone who can write that fast and have all of her novels be exploding blockbusters? One name: Sandra Brown, the romance and now the MYSTERY queen of the year! I only read mystery, romance is not appealing to me since I'm a guy. I recently read Fat Tuesday, Unspeakable, The Alibi, and Standoff, (the remainder of her mystery novels), and loved each one of them. Well on August 29, I went out and bought THE SWITCH! I thought that this novel couldn't be better than her other ones. Well, I was sooo wrong. The Switch was everything I could want in a novel. Melina and Gillian Lloyd are two identical twins. One a real estate agent and one a personal assistance. They are very different. Gillian wanted to to have a child but her lover, Jem, had had a vasectomy, thus making him not able to have a child with Jillian. So Jillian went to a clinic and decided to have artifical insemination. Well it turns out that there have been many women across the world who have had the same thing done with them. But what many of these women don't know is that there is a very powerful religious person who feels that he should be the God or Hitler of the world. He believes that if he SWITCHES a donor's sperm with his sperm than he will be the father of the next generation. He and his assistants will kill anyone in their way including Gillian Lloyd. The reason Gillian is murdered, (I am not giving any secrets away, all this can be read on the flap of the book) is because she recently had sexual intercourse with a man shortly after the artifical insemination process, which screws up the possible chance of the "religious person" to have his child. So it is up to Melina Lloyd to find out who killed her sister and to bring down a very powerful group along with the help of the FBI and the local police. This is Sandra Brown at her best, which I have to say about all her novels, because she is always at her best! Can't wait for her next novel!

I really enjoyed this book, as I have most of Sandra Brown's other books. This was a real page turner, and it kept my interest all the way through. The plot seems simple but just when I thought I had it all figured out, BAM, something else comes up I was not anticipating! It is a good, quickly moving story, and I did like it better than her last book, Standoff. (Probably because it was much longer and seemed to be a better storyline.) I have come to like Ms. Brown's novels better now that they are more than just steamy romances..I like the action she has incorporated in this book and others, like Witness, Fat Tuesday, Exclusive, and Alibi. If you liked those, you will enjoy this one, as well. Good job, Sandra Brown.

If I sat here all day, I couldn't begin tell you how much I enjoyed "The Switch". Being a fan of Sandra Brown's, I bought the book the day it hit the shelves as I always do with each of her titles as they are released. I was kind of expecting the typical 'twins switching places and getting into trouble' story, but what I got was sooo much more ! Ms. Brown has worked her magic on an old story and given it a brand-spankin-new-twist! It's the kind of mystery that keeps possible endings hanging in the back of your mind, just waiting for the most bizarre shocker to pop out. The ending of this book had me whooping for joy ! Outgoing Melina and reserved Gillian know each other better than they know themselves and when Gillian is brutally murdered after taking a life-altering risk (by being artificially inseminated), you can almost feel the anger and the loss her twin feels at the life thats been so cruelly wasted. When her sister informs the police that, just the night before, the women had switched places so that Gillian (impersonating her media escort sister) could meet astronaut Christopher 'Cheif' Hart, things begin to get a little jumbled. But Sandra Brown only manages to weave the web tighter. After only two chapters, you'll be frantically turning pages trying to guess whats coming, and solve the mystery. This is definately a book to invest on in hardcover. Don't wait for the paperback version. Get it today, and enjoy it.

I read about Sandra Brown's "The Switch" in the September issue of Cosmo. I had never read any of Brown's books, but the excerpt in the magazine intrigued me. So I went out and bought the book.

I'm glad I did. The story of Melina and Gillian Lloyd kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page. I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what would happen next. This book is full of surprises and thrills, and never predictable.

Now I plan on checking out some more of Brown's books. If they're even half as good as "The Switch," I think I've found a new favorite author!

Melina and Gillian Lloyd are identical twin sisters who decide on a lark to switch places for one night. Melina is supposed to escort former astronaut Chief Hart to a special dinner honoring him. One of the sisters escorts him and they have a wonderful time, however, when the night is over one of the twins is brutally murdered.

Ms. Brown insults the reader by lying throughout the book when it does not even enhance the plot. One does not know if the twin is the right twin or if the twin is the twin pretending to be the twin pretending to be the twin. See how confusing this gets? If the author was honest with her readers or at least make the main character a bit ambiguous then the novel might be enjoyable. Unfortunately, the author lies about the main character's identity that at the time it is actually revealed one does not even care. The characters are flat and caricatures of what they are supposed to be. There is a second story within the novel involving a cult who are kidnapping children born out of artificially inseminated mothers. The story is a bit ludicrous as well as disappointing.

I have been a huge Sandra Brown fan over the years but have been greatly disappointed by her last couple of books. I remember when I could not put one of her books down but with The Standoff and The Switch I had to struggle to finish the book. Where is the Sandra Brown of old?

I have been a big fan of Sandra Brown for years and I have read most of her books. If you like her recent books best--if you thought "Unspeakable" was one of her best then you will like "Switched". The romantic tension between the main characters was very good. The story line was definitely suspenseful, full of twists and turns. Although I was able to figure out one of the surprises early on, I still couldn't put this book down. Really a four and one half star book and a must read.