However, the book has an almost mythical feel that makes it work. If you read this as realism it could be concerning that they apparently shake them off quite easily. Brandon and Percy are attracted to each other, but there are obstacles between them and happiness – not least themselves.īoth Brandon and Percy have some traumatic experiences. He lives for James Ringer’s movies but fears he will never have his own life. They keep him isolated from people of his own age. One of his clients is Percy, a young disabled man who comes from a wealthy but uncaring family.

He finds work as a look-a-like escort just to get by, but taking on the role of James Ringer brings to the fore his ambivalence about his grandfather. The conveniently named Brandon Ringer has inherited his movie-idol grandfather’s looks and his mansion – but he has no cash and a dark past. This book is a great mix of Victorian gothic and classic Hollywood, transplanted into contemporary California. Too bad Brandon knows how those stories end. Their struggle to love each other is the stuff of classic Hollywood. Soon they want time together off the clock, but Percy is losing his battle for independence, and Brandon feels trapped in James's long shadow. But despite their differences, they connect, and Percy's fanboy love for James shows Brandon a side of his grandfather he never knew. When he finds 'Jim Ringer' on Hollywood Doubles' website, he books an appointment, hoping to meet someone who shares his passion for his idol.

His only company is his meddlesome caregiver and his collection of James Ringer memorabilia. Percy Charles is chronically ill, isolated, and lonely. He refuses to sell it ? it's his last connection to his grandmother ? so to raise the cash he needs, he joins a celebrity look-alike escort agency. Brandon is unknown, unemployed, and up to his ears in back taxes after inheriting his grandparents' Hollywood mansion. His grandfather, silver-screen heartthrob James Ringer, died tragically at twenty-one, and Brandon looks exactly like him.

Dead Ringer by Heidi Belleau