You may not have read one of Ted Chapman's books, but you definitely know who he is. His books are the mass-market paperbacks you see at every airport, at every newsstand, on every man's bedside table, or lying next to his sunbed on holiday, and you will have seen pictures of him with his lovely elegant English wife Grace, in their picture-perfect antique farmhouse in all the magazines, perched on the edge of the Hudson River. Together, their life is the image of perfection. When Ted's trusted, faithful, loyal assistant of the past fifteen years becomes sick and has to leave, the couple advertise for someone new, spread the word that they are looking, and as soon as Beth walks in for an interview, they know she is perfect. Neat, quiet, orderly, she may not have the maturity of the previous assistant, but she has energy, youth, and willingness. What else could possibly matter? Within weeks Beth isn't just indispensable, she's soon part of the family. Yet while Beth's increasing emulation of Grace's hairstyle, clothes and accessories is at first amusing, Grace soon begins to suspect that this imitation is not flattery, but something more sinister. Is Grace just paranoid, as her husband tells her, or is there more Beth than first thought?