The Indecipherables - by Anne Hellman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"Heady, creepy, paranoid, The Indecipherables is a delirious doubles-twist on the doppelgänger tale that will leave you questioning the identities of those closest to you. Maybe don't let them get too close."
--Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie

A pair of identical twins reconnect on a road trip where they realize they're being stalked--by themselves--in this unsettling, imaginative tribute to Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo

Meet Ava and Brin, identical twins on a road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway, from San Francisco to Joshua Tree, in honor of their late mother. This is more than a pilgrimage--it's a reunion after a year-long rift, after Ava almost died of a mysterious illness. From their first night on the road, the sisters encounter strangers who insist they've met them before--a waitress who is certain she served them a few days ago, a mechanic who shows Ava and Brin a picture of themselves driving a different car from earlier that day.

Ava and Brin realize that another pair of twins, seemingly identical to them in name and appearance, are stalking them. The cat-and-mouse game between the four identical women quickly devolves into something sinister and supernatural as the lines between them begin to blur. Doppelgängers, prophetic hallucinations, an unwavering fog--what do these shadow twins want? And what are Ava and Brin hiding?

The Indecipherables is a fever dream of a debut novel, a journey into the weird and uncanny, and an exploration of what horrors arise when we keep secrets from those we love--and from ourselves.

Review Quotes

"Heady, creepy, paranoid, The Indecipherables is a delirious double twist on the doppelgänger tale that will leave you questioning the identities of those closest to you. Maybe don't let them get too close."--Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie

"Who do you think you are? For Ava and Brin, the twins at the heart of The Indecipherables, the question becomes more than rhetorical as they pursue (or are they being pursued by?) their own twin doppelgängers down the sunstruck California coast. Part Twilight Zone, part Mulholland Drive, Anne Hellman's debut is a tantalizing detour into the uncanny."--Stewart O'Nan, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Country

"Atmospheric, mysterious, and deeply unnerving, The Indecipherables is a disorienting fever dream that follows a set of twins on a journey of identity and self-discovery, leaving readers to question reality itself."--Monika Kim, internationally bestselling author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

"The Indecipherables mesmerized me from start to finish. Inventive, exquisitely plotted, and always surprising, this delicious slow burn of a novel plays who's who with the precision of Hitchcock's horror, Didion's California, and Dostoyevsky's doubles. It's a must-read."--Christa Parravani, author of Her: A Memoir

About the Author

Anne Hellman has contributed stories and essays to the Ladyfest anthology, Catapult, Hyphen, and Tertulia, among others, and has been an associate editor of Fiction magazine. She is currently a writing mentor for Girls Write Now. Anne grew up in Northern California and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. She is an identical twin.