When I picked up an advance copy of Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s thriller THE OTHER ME (August 10, 2021), I had no idea what to expect. I’d heard the buzz. I’d seen words like “Mind-Bending” and “Compelling” but I was *not* ready for exactly how mind-bending and compelling Kelly’s journey would be. Every time I thought I figured out what was going on, Jeng threw me for a new loop until eventually I just had to hang on and enjoy the ride.
Guest Blogger: Sarah Zachrich Jeng
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“Mind bending and emotional…a taut psychological thriller with a twisted question at its core: Would you be willing to lose a life you love in order to gain something you thought was lost forever?” —Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight
On her 29th birthday, striving artist Kelly Holter is mysteriously transported from a gallery in Chicago to a restaurant in her hometown. Suddenly she’s married to Eric, a man she barely knew in high school. She still has her old memories, but she doesn’t know which of her lives is the real one, and she must figure out what – or who – caused the switch before her reality shifts beyond recognition. – THE OTHER ME is available Aug 10, 2021.
“Jeng’s debut is a page-turner with well-developed characters… A good pick for fans of modern women’s fiction about controlling one’s destiny.”―Library Journal |
THE OTHER ME has elements of multiple genres: Thriller, Suspense, Sci-Fi, even Women’s Fiction (oh, how I despise that term). When you originally conceived of the idea, were you leaning towards one specific genre?
I wasn’t at all. I knew the book was going to bend genres, but that was it. I knew very little about genre story structures when I started working on the novel. If anything, I was thinking of it as more upmarket/literary fiction than thriller or sci-fi, because it was so character driven. It became more of a page-turner during the multiple drafts and revisions it went through, and when I sold it, my publisher decided to position it as a cross-genre thriller.
THE OTHER ME is set in the mid-West (Chicago or Flint-ish depending on how you look at it). Do you have any special ties to the mid-West that drew you to the region?
I grew up just outside of Flint and lived in Michigan until my early twenties, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Chicago.
Your main character, Kelly, feels like she’s experiencing two different lives. In one, she’s married to her high school sweetheart and living in her hometown, and in another she’s perpetually single, living in the big city with a bunch of roommates. Do you identify more with the suburban housewife Kelly or the starving artist Kelly?
There are parts of both versions of Kelly that I identify with, and I’ve gone through different periods that have resemblances to both of her lives.
Minus the parallel universes, obviously.
Bear, the dog in THE OTHER ME, is a great character and is more than just the family pet, and is actually an integral part to the story. Do you have any special pets in your life (past or present) that inspired Bear?
Right now I have a “Florida brown dog” (i.e. mix) and a greyhound, and I’ve had or lived with dogs since my early twenties. They are the best companions in the world and I draw on them all the time for my descriptions of dog behavior.
THE OTHER ME is your debut novel. It comes out August 10, 2021, which is —I HOPE—the tail end of a pandemic. How has the pandemic, on top of everything else, affected your writing process, your debut, and the publicity surrounding your book?
I’ve never released a book in “normal” times, so I don’t have anything to compare this launch to! I know the pandemic has affected things like how many printed galleys get sent out to reviewers and whether publishers are willing to underwrite in-person events (they generally aren’t). Also, the conferences where so many connections get made have been virtual or non-existent, so we miss out on those opportunities.
However, I feel like our lives were trending more online even before the pandemic, and now we live there so much that it’s easy to connect with people and discover books we’ll love without leaving our homes. For better or for worse, the Internet drives as many or more book sales than brick and mortar bookstores, though independent booksellers provide an experience that would be sorely missed if it went away.
As for writing process, I certainly had my days where I sat down at the computer to write and ended up doomscrolling instead. But I’ve managed to continue my previously established habit of writing before anyone else is awake, so external interruptions haven’t been too much of an issue.
What’s next for you? Are you working on another thriller? Do you have an anticipated publication date or any teasers you can share?
Right now I’m working on another suspense novel that also has a speculative element, but this one focuses on two estranged best friends and what happens when their lives intersect again. It’s slated to come out in 2022.
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“Breathtaking, inventive, and irresistible… Who hasn’t wondered what alternate versions of their lives might look like?…As relatable as it is suspenseful, cleverly exploring adulthood, identity, and shifting realities. A knockout debut.” —Margarita Montimore, USA Today bestselling author of Oona Out of Order
Sarah Zachrich Jeng grew up in Michigan and always had a flair for the morbid and mysterious (for her dad’s thirty-fifth birthday, she wrote a story entitled “The Man Who Died at 35”). She had a brief career as an aspiring rock star before she came to her senses and went back to school to become a web developer. Sarah lives in Florida with her family and two extremely hyper rescue dogs. She can be found at:
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