The Wrong Liza

by

Jazz Voss

Clever psychological thriller about identity with twists you won’t see coming!

The Wrong Liza by Jazz Voss is a short, suspense-filled psychological thriller about identity and the ultimate example of identity theft. While the initial setup was somewhat confusing and, perhaps, compounded by a staccato stream-of-consciousness narrative style, the plot soon coalesced into a riveting tale of deception and frightening manipulation —one I couldn’t put down. 

Set in present-day Manhattan on the Tuesday after Labor Day, Liza Connors prepares for work at her corporate job like any other normal business day, when she discovers a notice affixed to the door of her apartment building displaying her picture on it, along with the sentiment “In Loving Memory – Liza Connors,” with the eyes ‘X’ ed out with black marker. Was it a sick joke? A heart-stoppingly tragic error? Or, if possible, was it something even more alarming, like a truthful indication of her actual condition? Neither Liza nor the reader knows for certain at this point, but it is absolutely attention-grabbing. 

Continuing to her office, the situation gets odder as her access badge is no longer functioning, and security confirms it had been deactivated the previous Friday. Kara, a coworker, arrives just as Liza is on the verge of collapse and escorts her to Janet Thompson in the HR Department for their firm to figure out what’s going on. Unsurprisingly, HR is no help except to add to the mystery. Janet claims Liza resigned by email early Friday morning, and there is both digital and video evidence to corroborate her statement. Unfortunately, the company has a policy of no “take-backs.” 

Accompanied out of their offices, things are about to take a turn for the worse as Liza begins to receive reports from friends and family about interactions with her that she has no memory of whatsoever. From that point, it is a non-stop barrage of gaslighting and taunting indications that someone is literally taking over Liza’s life as she watches helplessly from the sidelines. With Kara still by her side, Liza no longer knows who she can trust or who could possibly be behind the unrelenting takeover. 

Time after time, just when I thought I knew where Liza’s story was headed, a new twist in the action was introduced. By the final page, the story resembled nothing I could have possibly imagined it could have evolved into. I was compelled to return to the beginning and read the whole story again to see how it ended up where it did. I recommend THE WRONG LIZA to readers of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and suspense. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.