The Switch
Identical twins are fair game for a thriller writer, and inThe  Switch, queen of suspense Sandra Brown (The Alibi,Standoff,Fat Tuesday) makes the most of  an intricate setup involving Gillian and Melina Lloyd, a pair of thirtysomething  Dallas beauties. When Gillian hears her biological clock ticking, she  puts herself in the hands of the world-famous Waters Clinic and is artificially  inseminated (as described in a somewhat plodding first chapter that omits no  detail of the procedure). The action picks up when Gillian switches places with  her twin, a media escort, and chauffeurs sexy astronaut Chief Hart around town.  It turns out to be a fatal attraction, and suspicion falls on Chief when  Gillian's mutilated body is found the next day.The dead woman's smarmy and enigmatic boyfriend, Jem Hennings, has a vested  interest in focusing police efforts on Hart, but Melina has her own reasons for  thinking him wrong. Jem's connection with a charismatic preacher known as  Brother Gabriel is at the heart of this mildly creepy mystery, in which the  plucky Melina tracks Brother Gabriel to his lair and uncovers his diabolical  plot while simultaneously revealing her own dark secret. The ending is  telegraphed well in advance, but that won't deter Brown's many fans from  relishing the details, including some sex scenes that are spicier than most of  the florid prose that usually turns up in romantic thrillers of this sort. But  that may be why the author inevitably rockets to the top of the bestseller  list, whereThe Switchis destined to land.--Jane Adams