My thanks to NetGalley and Borzoi Bo0ks/Alfred A. Knopf for the ARC of "The Divide" in exchange for an honest review.
I couldn't wait to get into this one for its genre alone......an L.A. contemporary Neo-Noir set amid the semi B-Listers who skim along side the cream of Hollywood strivers, all chasing their dreams of fame fortune, million dollar deals and Iinstagram clicks.
Definitely not in their league is Jenny St. John, a fake psychic barely scraping out enough of a living to pay the rent for the office she has to illegally live in. Back in her early 20's as a fresh-off-the-bus starlet, she caught lightning in a bottle as a star of the independent film "The Divide". But film never saw the light of day, dashing her dreams and leading to her current miserable life. Pouring salt in her wounds - her director Serge Grumet went on to a fabulously successful career and his ex wife Gena, an uncanny look-alike for Jenny claimed she was the actual star of "The Divide"
Then Jenny's stunned to hear of their reversals of fortune - Serge was shot dead in his home and Gena's disappeared. presumed, either dead or on the run as a suspect, depending on who you ask. Through her extraordinary resemblance to Gena and her so called psychic ability, Jenny's accepted into Serge and Gena's coterie of artistic-showbiz friends, enemies and hangers-on. She's hoping to pin down both Serge's murderer and the everlasting hurtful mystery of her would-be doppelganger and career usurper, Gena.
Author Morgan Richter lines up a terrific colorful cast of unusual Hollywood suspects for Jenny to interrogate, but I parted company with the book's fuzzy flirtation with paranormal elements and the all too overused multi-verse stuff, the very thought of which sends me into upward eye rolling. There's no real concrete payoff to those tropes anyway and guaranteed to leave readers interested in that part of it unsatisfied.
But I did fully soak up the Tinseltown whodunit part of "The Divide" which does deliver a fair, logical reveal and a suspenseful climactic showdown for Jenny.. Much to enjoy here and I wouldn't mind seeing Jenny take on more mysteries among the upper and lower L.A. classes.

I enjoyed this upcoming new release from this author. This is the first book I have read by her, but it may not be the last! She can weave a tale that will leave you guessing from start to finish.

Jenny had one role as an actress and is not a psychic life coach. She can do what a good life coach can do by redirecting an individual's expectations and pointing them in the direction they want to go. All is going okay, but not great, until she receives a visit from a detective informing her that the original director from the film has been found dead and his wife is missing. And she is a dead ringer for Jenny. From then on, Jenny is determined to figure out what happened to Gena and why she looks so much like her.

There is a limited cast of characters, so the truth lies with one of these people. Jenny has some joyful reunions with those she worked with on the film, but there are others who have a lot to hide.

I really liked following along as various clues were revealed. Jenny does find herself in some harrowing situations, but she puts the pieces together to reveal what really happened that night.

One situation is never really explained, but I won't go into details because it would spoil part of the story. Despite this one fault with the book, the story is engaging and kept my mind jumping back and forth between potential suspects. The actual killer was quite a surprise because I never suspected this person. It made sense, but I still never suspected them.

Overall, enjoyed this book and we give it 4 paws up.

Thank you, Netgalley, Morgan Richter, and Knopft, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the ebook! This book had me questioning my sanity and I'm still not sure of what I've read or what the outcome was! I'm still questioning everything. A fun and quick read!

This story is set in Hollywood and comes with all of the attending drama. The plot is a murder mystery that sees the main character Jenny taking on the greatest role of her life, trying to solve the murder of the woman who looked like her. The plot is filled with misdirection until the author is ready to reveal the killer.

This story kept me interested from the beginning. Jenny is really having a bad time after the cops come to visit. Apparently, there is a woman missing who looks just like her. They were wondering if she just happened to be the woman trying to lay low. A man has been murdered and the woman is missing. Is she murderer or a victim? Jenny knows the man who was murdered and hasn't seen him for 20 years. As she starts trying to understand what is happening with the woman, she runs into so many others that she knew in the past. Apparently, the woman has been using Jenny's name too. The mystery deepens when the police compare Jenny's DNA to the missing woman's DNA, and they match. She has a twin. How could that be? The more she investigates, the more she uncovers and the more confused she becomes.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This book had me hooked 🙌 until we got to the part where the FMC goes home to visit her mother and then it just dragged and got confusing. 🤔 I’m still a little unsure of the truth about Gena but I think the author intended for it to be left up to the reader’s interpretation. 🫠

Overall I do think it was a good read and do recommend checking it out for yourself, my book peeps! 👀

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was good -- I enjoyed it from the first page. I really liked Jenny as a character -- very well developed. Suddenly we were on a crazy ride and I didn't know how it would end. The ending was very satisfying, which is so rare. If you like thrillers, give it a try!

The Divide comes out next week on August 20, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

I'd forgotten all about the punishing heat just outside the gallery. Now, staring at Genevieve's painting, I felt chilled, like the air conditioning had been cranked up several notches. The sweat that had collected between my shoulder blades slid down my spine in an icy trickle and pooled in the small of my back. If I hadn't been holding the champagne flute, I might've wrapped my arms around myself for warmth.

After moving to Los Angeles to become a star, Jenny lands a lead role in a new film called The Divide, and she works with a great director named Serge. For whatever reason, her career comes to a virtual standstill after this movie, and she tries to survive be being a psychic. Now, twenty years later, Serge has been murdered, Jenny discovers that she greatly resembles Serge’s ex-wife, and the storyline progresses. Although I found many of the events taking place in this novel to be a bit weird, the plot was an interesting one, it moved quickly, and it generally held my interest. All in all, this was a good read. Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This is a compelling and read that blends mystery with a touch of the supernatural. The story is set in a remote and eerie location, which adds to the tension and suspense as the plot unfolds. The characters are well-developed and intriguing, each with their own secrets that keep the reader guessing. While the pacing is deliberate, it allows for a deep dive into the characters' psyches and the unsettling environment around them. Overall, it's a gripping novel that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers with a dark twist.

The Divide was a book that made me think, I wanted to be the one to solve the mystery!! Jenny stared in The Divide but it never made it to the big screen and she never got another part. Now a struggling psychic, she is visited by a detective because she looks like a missing person who may be a murderer. As the story unfolds, Jenny must confront her past and meet any number of new and old "friends" who could all be a potential murderer.

Detective Toni Moreau is investigating the murder of director Serge Grumet and the disappearance of his ex- wife painter Gena Santos. Moreau learns that Gena claims to have been the star of a movie called The Divide. However, the real star of the movie was Jenny St John. Jenny knows Serge from working on the movie and is acquainted with several of the people involved in the project. She cannot understand why Gena would claim she is the star, even though the resemblance between Gena and Jenny is uncanny. Gena’s best friend, Elizabeth Pontifex, AKA Boots, seeks out Jenny, who is now a psychic. She wants to hire Jenny to help find Serge’s murderer, but more important the whereabouts and fate of her friend Gena. While Jenny knows that her psychic abilities are limited, she feels that she is a good reader of people and, therefore, would have some insight into their feelings/motives. She also needs the money. Thus begins Jenny’s journey through a labyrinth of people hiding information and secrets. Jenny begins to feel that among this inner circle of friends and acquaintances there are lots of people with a motive to kill . It is up to Jenny to discover the murderer and Gena’s fate. I found that sometimes I was confused with keeping everything straight because of all the characters, their backgrounds and relationship with Serge and Gena. However, this novel was a real “who done it” and had a great ending.

The Divide kept me absolutely entranced the entire book. I wanted to see how this was going to turn out so I didn’t put this down once and read it in one sitting. Jenny is flawed but lovable. You could really feel her helplessness at times. I loved how this was wrapped up and could have even read more about Jenny!

The Divide was a gripping murder mystery with behind the scenes vibes of Hollywood. I was entertained and enjoyed that the storyline kept moving and didn’t stall out. There were twists I didn’t see coming and I really didn’t figure it out until the ending, which I always appreciate in a mystery. The gritty setting of a grifter who fell off the radar after a film dud who gets catapulted back into the scene and finds out all her old friends have some level of success compared to her was a great storyline to accompany the murder mystery plot. I would have liked to see a clearer resolution and answers to some of the major characters stories such as the Jenny vs Gena relationship but I guess the reader will have to fill in the blanks, which I don’t really love. Overall a good quick murder mystery read and o would suggest as a great choice if you are looking for a palate cleanser book! Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm always up for a female protagonist solving a murder. After not getting accepted in art school, Jenny St. John gave up art and moved to LA and starred into a film that never made it to the theaters, which was the end of her acting career. The story begins 20 years later when she's a fraudulent psychic barely making ends meet. She learns that the director of the film she was in has been murdered and his wife, who looks exactly like Jenny and claimed she was the actress in Jenny's movie, is missing. It is a good mystery with interesting characters. My only complaint is that some significant loose ends are left at the end of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Jenny St John left her Midwest hometown at 18 and went straight to Hollywood. Unlike many others, she was successful in getting cast in the movie, The Divide...until it was abruptly canceled before it hit the big screen. Now, 20 years later, Jenny is a bottom of the barrel 'psychic life coach' who is barely scraping by.

The news of the murder of Serge, Jenny's former director, and the disappearance of his wife, Gena puts Jenny in the spotlight as Gena had claimed that SHE was the star of The Divide, in the role that Jenny herself was playing. To make matters even stranger, Gena and Jenny looks alike, like...scary alike. So much so that the police think Jenny IS Gena and she has to prove that she isn't. All the while, she wants to find out what happened to Gena.
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Morgan Richter's professional experience clearly influenced this book, and that's not a bad thing. They are able to take an inside look at the Hollywood machine while adding twists and turns to what should be a mistaken identity story.

While there were some parts that left me hanging, and wanting more details, this was still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

Jenny St. John, the star of one single, unreleased movie by a now famous director, is living illegally in her clinic/psychic office space, where she gives pragmatic advice couched in the platitudes that her customers want to hear. She’s almost come to terms with her current situation, although her lack of any psychic ability nags at her and she wonders if she’s nothing more than a con woman. That is until the police show up, investigating the murder of the director of her shelved film THE DIVIDE…and the disappearance of his wife, Gena Santos, a woman who looks so much like Jenny that she had claimed the starring role in that shelved film. A film about multiple universes and divergent paths, in which Jenny, by all accounts, navigated wildly different characters.
Who is Gena and why would she be conning everyone, even her director husband? And where did she go? And what does it all have to do with Jenny and the movie?
The plot is very intricate and ambitious in its layers. At times, Richter gets caught up in the complexity, but the Hollywood Noir mood is consistent and enjoyable.

Jenny is a failed movie star who had a one hit wonder. Living off the fame of her one movie, she finds herself a doppelgänger, who she has never met, but causes her a lot of trouble. Is Jenny looking for a secret twin? Or, is she really just chasing herself around town?

Do you have someone that looks like you? Jenny was a one movie wonder. And it never made it to release. Now later her look alike is claiming it was her. The story surrounds her life and how people that barely touch her life start dying. Not a bad story but just okay.

Jenny St. John's only claim to Hollywood fame is an unreleased movie she starred in years ago. But now someone else, Gena Santos, is laying claim to it. Gena is apparently Jenny's doppelganger and now that she's missing, people are wondering what, if anything, Jenny has to do with it. Who is Gena? Why is she taking credit for Jenny's work? And how come they both look so identical?
The Divide was a captivating thriller set in the Hollywood world of glamour, excess and intrigue. This was quick read that I enjoyed a great deal. Great writing, interesting characters and a gorgeous setting make this a must read.

Jenny St. John had one great moment in her life, she was once an actress. Never mind that it was a just one role, in one movie, that never made it into the theatres, she is still proud of that time in her life. It is a happy memory that carries her through the dreary days.
Jenny's life is totally changed when a police officer visits her office and tells her that the director of that movie is dead. And to make it worse, a woman who looks just like her is missing. This woman, the director's ex-wife Gena, also has claim to the same role as Jenny in the move, The Divide.
Jenny is determined to get her claim back to her movie role and clear herself of any ideas that she is the murderer. As Jenny immerses herself back into the movie world, and into those in Gena's life she finds more questions than answers.

This was a mystery thriller with all the aspects of a great book. The plot was intriguing, characters were well defined and realistic and unexpected twists kept the reader completely invested in the book.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.