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Susanne, out of work and down on her luck, gets a rare job interview – at which she meets a woman who looks quite like her. This woman is richer, more forceful, more successful – yet Susanne initially doesn't care. Getting a job is more important. But things take a surprising turn: having been virtually promised the job, she is turned down. Someone calls at her flat to conduct a 'survey'. And her doppelganger, Nadia, not only insists in maintaining contact but offers her a lot of money if she – you've guessed – will stand in for her. OK, unlikely, but any novel can stand one bizarre incident. This one is crammed with them. Susanne has to convince Nadia's unaware husband – and when, against instructions, she sleeps with him, he can't spot the difference. Hmm. Susanne realises that Nadia is up to something evil. When she makes a half-hearted attempt to pull out, Nadia threatens to kill her. Sinister hard-men turn up. But Susanne, desperate for money, comes back for more. Implausible? You're not halfway through yet. If you can ignore the For-God's-Sake-Woman-in-Peril aspects, the actual writing is engaging and compulsive. Hammesfahr writes well but, as with her earlier The Sinner, her plotlines defy belief.

Russell James

The Lie

by Petra Hammesfahr (translated by Mike Mitchell)

Bitter Lemon paperback 978-1-904738-42-8, £8.99