Unknown - by Didier Van Cauwelaert (Paperback)

About the Book

When Martin Harris wakes up from a three-day coma, he returns home to discover that his wife of 10 years no longer recognizes him. Stranger still, she now lives with another Martin Harris, a man whose knowledge and memories are in every detail identical to his own. Is it a conspiracy?

Book Synopsis

Martin Harris returns home after a short absence to find that his wife doesn't know him and another man is living in his house under his name. The imposter shares all of Martin's memories, experiences, and knowledge down to the last detail. Is it conspiracy? Amnesia? An elaborate hoax or his own paranoid delusion? Part moral fable, part thriller, Unknown is a fast-paced tale of one man's desperate attempt to reclaim his existence-even at the cost of his own life.

Watch a Video

Review Quotes

"A convincing little nightmare. A Twilight Zone-ish yarn that tests the very notion of how human identity is shaped."
-Entertainment Weekly

"Simply thrilling. Its surprising denoument works a retrospective magic."
-The New York Times Book Review

"Compelling ... The terse prose is unpretentious and the plot is full of captivating twists."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"An engaging intellectual page-turner."
-Rain Taxi

"Had Camus trained at the CIA, this is the book he would have written. A hauntingly literary espionage thriller."
-Brad Thor, author of State of the Union

"Van Cauwelaert starts with a premise that could serve a Hitchcock thriller, a Twilight Zone episode, or a heavy-going exercise in existentialism. But [he] nimbly sidesteps clichT and pretense.... The swift final scene-a breathtaking jetT-should surprise even the most jaded fan of thrillers. A little gem."
-Kirkus Reviews