Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com

"He" doesn't have a name. "He" isn't one of us. "His" species lives among ours without us even knowing. "He" is a monster. "He" is a doppelganger. A doppelganger is a shape shifter, but before a person can be copied, they must be dead.

Growing up, he lived in an isolated cabin in the woods with only his mother and television for company. He spent much of his time alone reading because his mother went out to change skins often. He never knew what she was going to look like when she came home. Finally, at the age of sixteen, his mother kicked him out. She didn't want to be tied down to him any more and felt he was old enough to take care of himself.

At first when he leaves the cabin he is frightened. He'd never killed before, but knew he couldn't survive looking like his true self. He hears a train in the distance and approaches it, not knowing what he'd find. A hobo, who isn't well, happens to be riding the rails. He puts his hands around the hobo's neck and kills him, then assumes his form, leaving the dead man on the train to be discovered later. He spends several weeks in the hobo's form, traveling from town to town, but when he stops in Bakersville his life takes a turn he's not prepared for.

While sitting by a fire on the edge of town as the hobo, he is approached by three high school boys who start to poke fun and be cruel to him. Two of the boys lose interest and leave because one boy in particular, Chris, starts to go over the line and looks like he is going to harm the hobo. Once the other two leave, "he" kills Chris, wraps his body in plastic, stuffs him in a storm drain, and assumes his shape. Once in Chris' skin, he heads back to meet the other two boys and goes home.

As Chris, he falls in love, feels some family attachment, and learns that humans can be monsters, too. Once you get into this story, you won't be able to put it down. David Stahler has written a fantastic young adult fantasy that will have you questioning the definition of good and evil. ( )

A doppelganger, as the reader quickly learns, is a creature who is driven to kill humans, and once they've made a kill, they take on the form of their victim, and can retain that form for anywhere from a few weeks to several years, depending on their maturity. The doppelganger narrating this tale steps into the life of a teenager named Chris, and learns that Chris's life was less than perfect. The new Chris may be a weak doppelganger because he has human blood in him due to the fact that his mother mated with a human. Chris falls in love with the human Chris's girlfriend, Amber, and eventually even tells her the truth about what he is. I passed the book on to my local high school due to the violence and content. Chris's father is quite abusive to his family. ( )