In Hollywood everyone lives a lie to some degree

Jenny St John is not living the Hollywood life everyone dreams about. Twenty five years earlier she had arrived from Iowa with dreams of film stardom, and she almost made it. She got the starring role in an independent film called The Divide, the first film of director Serge Grumet, and gave an amazing performance only to have the film be shelved prior to release. While Serge went on to direct more films and garner great acclaim (and financial success) for his work, Jenny would never get another substantive part. She drifted into working along the fringes of moviemaking and for the past six years has been operating as an “intuitive counselor”, a sort of life coach using tarot cards and her inherent abilities to discern what people want to tell them what they want to hear. In short, she’s a fake psychic. When COVID hit, her already precarious career took a major hit and she was evicted from her apartment. Ever since, she’s lived (against the terms of her lease) in the shabby “clinic” she rents in a desirable location and is just getting by. Then she receives a visit from Toni Moreau, who claims to be a walk-in client but is in fact a detective with the LA Sheriff’s Department. Moreau is investigating the recent murder of Serge Grumet and the disappearance of his ex-wife Gena Santos, a successful painter in her own right. The kicker? Gena is a dead ringer for Jenny, so close in looks they could be twins. Moreau suspects that Jenny is actually Gena, trying to stay off the radar after Serge’s murder. Jenny swears she isn’t and is able to prove it (to a degree, anyway) to Moreau. When Jenny learns that Gena has for years claimed to be the lead actress in The Divide, she is furious. That is the one thing Jenny has done of which she can legitimately be proud, and to have someone else take the credit is a violation. She’s more than a little curious about this apparent doppelgänger and starts poking around, and before long she has been talked into using her uncanny resemblance and supposed psychic powers by a friend of Gena’s, former actress and current wellness guru (Gwyneth Paltrow vibes) Boots Pontifex, to mingle with Gena’s and Serge’s circle of friends and hopefully figure out who killed Serge and what happened to Gena. Hollywood is full of unusual people and odd match-ups, and soon Jenny is hanging out with people like social media sensation MMP, Serge’s second wife the sculptor, the young actress who was to star in Serge’s next film (who would likely have been the next leading lady with whom he’d have had an affair), and a couple of people whom she knew during the filming of The Divide who were still in Serge’s orbit. Is one of them a killer? Where is Gena, and what can explain her uncanny resemblance to Jenny? Can Jenny figure out this situation and, if she does, will she become the next victim?
A quirky twist on Hollywood thrillers of the past, The Divide gives the reader an unlikely but appealing protagonist in Jenny, a woman who has had her dreams of artistic success crushed not once but twice. She left Iowa behind and with it a horrific night that she has all but completely blocked from remembering. She’s not particularly proud of how she’s making a living, claiming to have psychic powers that she doesn’t actually possess (or does she?), but she needs to eat and this is (barely) paying her bills. Having the chance to revisit the most successful moment of her life and simultaneously rub shoulders with (and get paid by) some of the people who actually made it in this city of broken dreams is impossible to resist, and the reader gets an inside peek behind the curtains into lives behind social media posts and glowing media accolades. The characters are pure Hollywood, often over-the-top, and since any of them could in fact be a murderer it makes Jenny’s interactions with them all the more enjoyable to observe and dissect. This is part whodunnit and part psychological thriller, with the odd circumstance of Jenny and Gena’s parallel existences another conundrum to solve. Not every thread was tied up to my complete satisfaction, and the pace slowed down a bit in places, but overall it was a crafty and somewhat cinematic twist on the genre which I enjoyed. Readers of authors like Hank Phillippi Ryan, Katherine Wood and Alafair Burke might find this read up their alley, as would those who like a touch of LA/Hollywood to their mysteries. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for allowing me early access to this offbeat tale of deception and redemption.

The Divide reminded me of Catherine Steadman’s The Disappearing Act by way of Julie Clark’s The Last Flight, with a dash of Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. Jenny St. John, a struggling former actress turned fake psychic gets a visit from the police when her unbeknownst-to-her doppleganger, artist Gena Santos, has gone missing, after the murder of the director, Serge, of the only film credit on Jenny’s resume, who Gena married and then divorced. After ruling out that Jenny isn’t Gena, Jenny gets dragged into the search for who murdered Serge and what happened to Gena. As Jenny gets deeper and deeper in Gena’s life and inner circle, the more questions arise of what led Gena to take credit for Jenny’s role in the only film she appeared in, and why she disappeared, and who murdered Serge. And is Jenny next? Tense with mystery and deceit, in a town where everyone lies, this book built the suspense from the beginning up until the reveal at the end. The only thing that bothered me about the book is that all the questions we have aren’t properly answered.

The synopsis was intriguing but the book itself left a lot to be desired. Poorly written with one dimensional characters- I do not recommend this book.

The Divide pulled me in at the beginning of the story. The mystery of Jenny's doppelganger was interesting, and I was invested. However, I found my interest waning, and when the mystery is solved, it was not explained properly. It was just bizarre and glossed over too quickly. I was disappointed and not satisfied. The writing was good, and the storyline was interesting.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a digital copy.

This book was a joy to read. I enjoyed the way the story flowed and I had a few moments that kind of made me question a few things. The characters were very interesting and I had smile quite a few times. This author really knows how to tell a story that will captivate you from the very beginning. I highly recommend this book.

I thought the book came out strong. You have questions and are wondering what can happen. You quickly figure out that there isn’t too much to learn. I thought some of the decisions made by the FMC were a little crazy and not needed

I went into this book thinking I was not going to like. Turns out, I loved it. It was non stop story, without any unnecessary parts. It all added up. I was a bit taken back at the who dun it part, it was my last guess, actually.
It was very well written, and keeps you turning the pages. The start, is a tad slow, but it's well worth the read.
Thank you netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC, for an honest review.

I had a great time while reading this! It drew me in from the beginning when we first met Jenny in her clinic getting ready to put on her psychic persona to make some cash. Then a Detective comes in and changes everything Jenny thought she knew.. There is a missing woman named Gena who is so eerily similar to Jenny that people think they are the same person. This intrigues Jenny for many reasons the first being as far as she knows she isn't related to Gena at all, second Gena has been telling everyone she meets that she was the lead in her ex-husband's first movie The Divide.. The only problem with that is Gena wasn't in the movie Jenny was... Why would Gena go around telling people that? Last but not least is that Gena is suspected of killing said ex-husband who should have known that she wasn't the one who starred in his movie but either he didn't which doesn't do Jenny's ego any good, or he did know and he didn't care that his wife was lying for some mysterious reason.

So Jenny heads off to dig up what she can about Gena, and ends up in the middle of her friend group, using her psychic abilities to figure out if one of them is a killer and track down what happened to Gena... I really liked that she walked into the group telling the truth about who she is.. not Gena and the one who really starred in the movie.. Which except for the fact they could be twins everyone takes in stride that Gena lied.

I loved Jenny as our main character. She is a survivor, and I loved watching her look into the case. As Jenny slowly uncovers things about Gena she ends up with more questions which kept me frantically turning the pages waiting for the ANSWERS!! I was both surprised and not by who the killer ended up being. I didn't see it coming but once it was all revealed it made sense. Most of the questions I had about Gena specifically weren't answered by the end so I would absolutely love another book following Jenny getting those answers and using her "psychic abilities" to look into more murders..

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"The Divide" by Morgan Richter was an amazing experience.
When I read the description of this book, I had to request a copy:
"A failed actress turned grifting psychic searches for her missing doppelgänger & is plunged into a web of murder & corruption among Hollywood A-listers".
It had an interesting & unique premise, great characters & endless twists that lead to an unexpected ending.
I will definitely be on the lookout for Ms. Richter's next book.

Failed actress and fraudulent psychic Jenny St. John is pulled into a murder mystery when a detective shows up, thinking Jenny is the #1 suspect: missing artist Gena Santos. This is how Jenny finds out she has a doppelgänger - who is also stealing credit for Jenny’s work. Gena’s famous friends ask Jenny for help finding Gena, and as she investigates, she embeds herself deeper and deeper into their lives.

The premise of the story was so cool and unique, and the writing was great. I was on track to give this a solid 4 stars, until the ending really let me down. There are plot points left unresolved, which in itself could be forgiven, but for the constant insistence that certain things are NOT true (I’ll spare you the spoilers) throughout the book. There are a few explanations which would have been very plausible, if not for the specific contradictory evidence the author goes out of the way to share with us.

If you like Hollywood, and you can stand to leave things unresolved at the end of a story, this was truly a great read - I just can’t personally get past the loose ends.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Jenny St John is already not sleeping well when the police come knocking on the door of her psychic studio, where she been illegally living for several months. But when they tell her that someone has identified her as looking a lot like Gena Santos, the missing ex-wife of a man who was murdered the previous night, she realizes her living situation may just be the least of her problems. The man who was murdered was Serge Grumet, the director of Jenny's only movie, made when she was new to LA, but never released. And his ex-wife, Gena, has long claimed that it was HER in that movie. .

One of Gena's friends hires her to use her (non-existent) psychic abilities to figure out if anyone in their social circle is the killer, Jenny sees a way to make a little money and maybe get noticed by all these successful and powerful people. She also gets kicked out of her studio when the landlord discovers she is living there and ends up living in the missing Gena's house with Gena's boyfriend. But when a young woman who has been Gena's protege is found murdered on the bed where Jenny is sleeping, she decides this may not be where she needs to be.

And then it gets crazy. ARE Jenny and Gena the same person? But Jenny has no memory of anything in Gena's life and her mother swears she didn't give birth to twins, so they are not sisters. But their DNA is a match. HUH?

It's a wild ride, not without a lot of danger, but it is worth the read. But it DOES call for a certain suspension of belief.

This is a story rich with intriguing contrasts between wealth and poverty, memory and facts, and more. Richter manages to make each setting and character interesting, complicated, and distinct, and I really got invested in the telling of this and how it would resolve.

Thank you, Knopf, for a captivating summer escape! “The Divide” by Morgan Richter offers plenty of strengths, but what struck me most was its moody, atmospheric tone and the richly developed characters—especially the secondary ones, who added layers of depth to the plot. I’m a sucker for Hollywood settings and stories that delve into the world of psychics and mystery, so I was immediately drawn in. Richter quickly hooked me with a plot that promised a fun, twisty journey, far beyond a typical thriller. While the pacing and resolution of some plot points occasionally wavered, the overarching themes were compelling, keeping me engaged throughout. I’m excited to see what Richter has in store next!

This one was definitely a puzzle for me! There were so many twists and turns that I couldn’t figure out where we were going.

Jenny St John starred in one movie that never really got a release. After that, she couldn’t find another acting job, and she ended up doing psychic readings in a low budget part of LA and surreptitiously living in her salon. Then the director of her only film was murdered, and that’s when things took off.

There were many suspects, and Jenny is trying to figure out who is the culprit. Serge was married to Genevieve Santos, who looks so much like Jenny that people believe they are twins. Now “Gena” is missing since the night of Serge’s murder, and the keys to this mystery seem to lie with her closest circle. Jenny worms her way into their midst to act as a detective.

This one definitely kept me guessing! I didn’t think some of the plot was resolved, especially the details of the connection between Jenny and Gena, which was the main thread of the story.

3 stars for this tale that kept me reading!

When the police show up at her home/business, this young woman's past will speed forward into her present and find her involved in a murder investigation. How she manages to solve the crime and save the day makes an interesting twist on a plot that's not quite what we expected.

Once upon a time, Jenny St. John was set to become a star. She was the lead in a buzzy indie by the next hot director and everyone agreed she gave an award-worthy performance as a woman with multiple personalities. But the movie was never released and two decades later Jenny is scraping by as a strip mall psychic, living out of her shop and dreaming of what could have been.

When the police show up claiming she’s the doppelganger for her former director’s ex-wife who is missing following his murder, Jenny is thrown head-first into the investigation, not only of a murder and missing person - but of this person who looks exactly like her and led the life she could have had.

A noir thriller with a hint of magic, The Divide is a pitch-perfect summer read that is not getting enough hype. Twistier than the Hollywood hills and as entertaining as a summer blockbuster, this book has it all.

This was a really interesting book and I enjoyed trying to unravel the mystery. I liked a lot of the characters but felt that there were a lot of questions left unanswered at the end that would have really wrapped everything up nicely to have answers to. But I enjoyed reading this and would read more in this world.

I enjoyed this fast paced, fascinating story that grabs you up and takes off, not stopping
until every loose end is handled. The characters are all complicated people
who want to be ordinary, but cannot pull it off without it costing them too much
of themselves. With money, and a surprising twist that was not hard to believe or figure out.
The characters were each so invested in their personal facades that they lost their true identities.
Until one person figured the whole group out and the story becomes too real for them all.
You won’t be able to put the book down.!
My thanks to Knopf Publishing via Net Galley for the download copy of the book for review purposes.

Happy pub day to The Divide!

My quick thoughts: I found this to be a unique and enjoyable read. I thought the way the chapters unfolded heightened the tension, and the writing kept me hooked with fun, suspenseful lines. The mystery of what happened to Serge and Gena was complex and well plotted, had a lot of suspects and red herrings, and culminated in an exciting conclusion. And the more “out there” aspects of the book felt fresh, even though they did seem a bit obviously hinted at/easy to predict. I didn’t mind that all that much, though, as it was a clever concept for a mystery.

I don’t have much else to say other than I had a fun time reading this and you should definitely check it out!

Many thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for this ARC

The Divide by Morgan Richter was such a fun and gritty murder mystery!
A real page turning suspense novel. A plot that moves along at warp speed, and my Kindle pages seemed to turn themselves. With a unique protagonist, an interesting setting, and a story that grabs you from the beginning and keeps on building.
I thoroughly enjoyed and was hooked for the entirety of this story and can only commend the author on writing a very intriguing book.

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!