As my new novella The Double is due for release in the coming weeks, I thought I would talk a little about it. The Double actually began as a real-life event for me which occurred on a London tube last year when I was visiting the UK. Sitting there, in amongst the detritus of busy Londoners on a baking hot, stuffy tube all glued to their phones in silence or looking up at the walls of the passenger car so as not to catch anyone’s gaze, my own eyes moved to a guy about ten feet away who was standing up by one of the doors. I mistook him for a work colleague I worked with during my days as a practicing Lawyer when I lived and worked in the UK over a decade ago. In a previous life.

I was so convinced it was him, I almost called over to say hello. It was only after staring for a moment longer that I realized it was; not in fact him, just someone who looked very much like him. So much so, that he could have been his double. His size and build were the same, same hairstyle and it was only on closer inspection, that I realized there were some discrepancies and it was not, in fact, my colleague. To make matters worse, the poor fella concerned caught my eye and I could see him starting to wonder why I was staring at him.

Leaving the tube at the next stop and feeling a little embarrassed, something resonated within me and I scribbled down a few ideas that night in my hotel room. Slowly, a story began to play to me which went on to become The Double.

The Double is a take on the doppelganger theme and looks at what it would really mean to meet your exact double. Told in first person narrative, the story begins with a newspaper interview the narrator Ben Andrews is giving to a journalist following a horrific event which recently befell his family. Andrews is an middle-class GP, who lives a safe, family life in an affluent part of London with his wife Andrea and young son, Will. Until one day, a man who is his absolute double walks into his surgery and Ben’s previously picture-perfect life begins to quickly unravel.

I wanted to try a fluid and fast moving novella-length piece of work with The Double, to reflect the chaotic nature of the events and the breakneck speed in which Ben’s life quickly descends into chaos after meeting a man who could; in fact, be him and be easily mistaken for him.

The Double is due soon from Strange Days Press for Kindle at Amazon.

As always, a big thanks to everyone reading and supporting my work.

Jonathan