User:Dopejayy/sandbox

Plot
Double by Jenny Valentine describes the life of Cassiel Roadnight. Roadnight is a poor, young teenage boy who grew up in a house with his grandpa but ran away and started to live in the streets of London. He wishes to have a better life and a family who will love him. Cassiel is taken in by two agents and they happen to notice that he was identical to another boy who went missing on the night of July fourth. Once they take him in for questions he has to decide whether to stay poor or to go with the other family for a better life. The detectives contact the family and notify them that their who has been missing is now found. Cassiel was thinking this family was a picture perfect lifestyle.

When Edie his new older sister comes to pick him up he prepares himself to fit into his new lifestyle. The three hour car ride to his new home and new family is awkward and silent because he really doesn't know his new sister. Edie talks to him and tells him that they've moved into a new home. They pull up to a gated home, while Edie steps out to open up the gate Cassiel is trying to grasp that he his going to have a family but still is thinking what if he does something wrong to give himself up. A pale, short, frail female appears in the doorway of the home, and that figure appears to be his new mom. Cassiel's brain is racing with thoughts saying she knows her son and will notice the slightest difference in the two. As they meet she hugs him tightly and welcomes him into the new home. The mother is never home is always high off of prescribed pills and medicines. Edie tours Cassiel around the new home and shows him what is said to be his room, which is directly across the hall from hers.

Everyone escapes to there bedrooms and starts to go to sleep, Cassiel on the other hand is up searching his room trying to find clues about who and how the other boy acted. Mom heard him and came to see what all the noise was about, she brings him a couple of photo albums and they sit on his bed and reminisce. Cassiel and his mom stayed up until 3 am looking at photo albums and talking about his childhood.

Cassiel meets a friend named Floyd and Edie and Helen are not to fond of him. Floyd is more so of a gangster type person and they think he is leading Cassiel the wrong way. He does actually try to peer pressure Cassiel into stealing and doing drugs and other bad things. Cassiel didn't care about what they thought of Floyd so he kept hanging out with him. Floyd had this really big secret that nobody knows about and Chap is trying to find that out. It's suspicious says Chap and he hunts to try to find out his secret. Floyd knows that Cassiel is not the legit person. He calls him out but Cassiel continues to feed him information and tell him his business. The night Cassiel ran away at Hay on Fire he had given a bag full of evidence to Floyd. Floyd gave it to the police, but not after he made copies. He suspects that Frank had killed then stolen from the rich man Mr.Artemis. Cassiel found out about this and blackmailed his brother, setting up another bank account which Frank continued to put money in. When Frank found out it were Cassiel that was behind all of it, he killed him. This would mean that Frank knows Chap isn’t the real Cassiel. He could kill Chap, but Chap is also be his alibi. Nobody could suspect him of murdering his brother if his brother were right there at home with him.

The man that was set out to be Chaps supposedly Grandfather is actually a fraud named Mr.Hathaway. Long ago, a woman and a child showed up at his door. The woman said she had burned down a house and demanded that he let them stay with him. An extremely introverted man, he was thrilled to finally be able to have some human connection. The woman left one day, but did not take the child. Mr.Hathaway raised Chap all on his own until one Winter day when he went to buy Whisky and never returned. He had slipped and broken his hip. Cassiel does not know this and doesn't really know why his grandpa left.

Theme
The theme of Double by Cassiel Roadnight is don't trust everyone and anyone but yourself. Chap was an imposter of Cassiel and he told Floyd which was suppose to be his friend but he was the one who called him out. Before the real Cassiel left he gave him a bag of evidence and Floyd gave them to the police. When Chap came back acting as Cassiel he knew nothing about the evidence and Floyd found him very suspicious.

Reception
Critiques say that the novel Double by Jenny Valentine is a thriller with many plot twist and unexpected moments. Some say the story line is unique by the way the sentences are worded and by the characters dialect. "A fantastically strong, sensitive and memorable first person narration: themes of loss and betrayal, family secrets and personal identity: truly quality writing that is 'literary' but never inaccessbile or pretentious, this is the thrilling new novel from the author of Finding Violet Park." says the review of Harper Collins review blog. Cassiel goes throughout the whole novel thinking he is going to live a perfect life style, he only helps uncover dirty secrets of a family he knew nothing about.