‘Jack & I’ by Laury A. Egan

Published by Enigma Books,
18 May 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-91590534-5 (PB)

 “‘How I wished I wasn’t trapped with him, that we weren’t glued together in a nightmarish tandem!’

Sixteen-year-old foster child Jack Kennett desperately wants to be part of a loving family and live his best life. There’s just one thing stopping him – the other Jack Kennett; the one who’s sharing his body and who threatens to ruin Jack’s life when he takes control of his host’s mind and actions. Each time this “alter” identity asserts himself, Jack is unable to resist whatever his dangerous companion chooses to have him do.  Even more perturbing is that Jack often cannot recall what has happened.

‘It was rare that I could see what Jack was doing or remember what he had done.’

School friends and his foster parents see only one teenager, they don’t understand Jack’s predicament and blame him when his “alter” behaves badly.  Over time what began as inappropriate behaviour escalates to violent sadism and Jack realises that he, and those he cares about, are in jeopardy.  On the brink of despair, he turns to the one person he feels he can trust, but is it too little too late?

The plot of this gripping thriller is tight, edgy and unpredictable as it explores Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder, through the eyes of a child who is living with it.  Whilst the subject is treated sensitively, there are some events that are both shocking and disturbing as the book outlines Jack’s defilement, mental and physical, by his “alter.” 

The novel is told through two first person narratives.  This allows both identities to describe their battle and highlights the contrast between the host Jack and his “alter.”  Jack tries to subdue his “alter” whilst the “alter” is determined to dominate his host, even to the point of destruction.  Particularly poignant is Jack’s perception that he is somehow to blame for his dilemma.

Jack and I is a well-researched, thought provoking, and inspiring story.  Absorbing, unusual and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Laury A. Egan is the author of five crime fiction novels. She also writes, Fantasy, Gay Romance and general fiction.  Her work has appeared in over 85 literary journals and anthologies. The Psychologist's Shadow, was published 2023. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.