The Book:
Alex Six by Vince Taplin, 2020
The Characters:
Vick and his wife Kraya
Alex
Get it on Amazon.
Listen for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Note: As an Amazon Influencer I earn from qualifying purchases made through the links on this site.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Time and time again the procedure doesn’t work. Alexa and Francis were wealthy executives who had everything, except for kids. When he tragically passed away, she gave up hope for being a mother until she met Vick, who is a perfect doppelgänger of her husband.
She pays him for his donations to produce a child who resembles her husband. Vick’s marriage begins to strain. Alex wants his genes and is wealthy, attractive, powerful and obsessed.
He has no idea she is watching him.
The Twist
In the beginning, you think Alex is a widow. You think she ran into Vick by chance, was struck by his similarities to her husband, and then began stalking him to get him to give her his sperm. Actually, Alex picked Vick to stalk long before their encounter at the grocery store. There was a Francis, but he was just a quick distraction to occupy Alex while she waited for Vick to fall in love with her. Alex killed Francis. She also has been drugging Vick’s wife and stealing bills to make her seem irresponsible so that he will leave her.
When Kray is arrested for heroin possession, Vick spends a drunken night with Alex. In the morning, he discovers her secret room of camera where she watches him obsessively. She catches him snooping, drugs him, and tells him everything. Vick plays along that he’s happy she did all this for him.
He commits to this so fully that he divorces Kray and marries Alex. He does it for the money, and kills her on their honeymoon.
The Ending:
Vick gets back together with Kraya, gets her the help she needs, and gets all of Alex’s money. I feel like the ending was breezed through a little too quickly, making it too good to be true. Kraya isn’t mad that Vick cheated on her for over two months? Not only cheating, but with the woman who drugged her and put Kraya and her son in constant danger? Or getting them into this whole mess in the first place? No one questioned the honeymoon death and the huge payday Vick received? I feel like Alex’s parents, rich as they were, would have demanded a full investigation into her death. Alex’s father didn’t try to stop Vick from getting all that money, when they had never met? What about the IRS, as Vick bought all those properties with money he definitely wasn’t paying taxes on?
Overall, I was satisfied with the ending itself (Vick killing Alex), but not with the execution. I feel like it would’ve been more believable if Vick had even one problem pulling it off.
The Review:
I’ve heard great things about Alex Six–it’s been all over Bookstagram lately. And it definitely lived up to the hype! The premise was intriguing and creepy, the dialogue was amusing, and short chapters made it fast-paced.
The story was told through but Vick and Alex’s points of view. Alex’s chapters take place a few months behind Vick’s. This jump was a little confusing at first, especially on audio, but after a few chapters I caught on. Once I figured out what was going on, it was very interesting to read the same scenes from Alex’s deluded perspective!
I would have liked to hear more about Kraya and her relationship with Vick. I was a little confused why Vick never seemed to speak to her. Even if Alex had already been drugging her when the book started, wouldn’t Vick have noticed something was wrong with his wife? The ending also seemed a little rushed, leaving me with some questions about how it would really be pulled off.
Overall, this book was extremely entertaining and not like anything else I’ve read lately. Definitely check it out if you like a creepy thriller that will make you laugh, cringe, and look over your shoulder all in the same paragraph.
For audio listeners: The audiobook was very well done. I thought the narrator did a great job of portraying the characters. The changes in POV weren’t announced, but it was always very clear which character you were listening to. Don’t have Audible? Start your free trial here!
By the way, this book is free on Kindle Unlimited! Start your free trial here!
1 Comment