July 19, 2021
Jeng makes her debut with an entertaining if lightweight Twilight Zone-ish thriller. Aspiring artist Kelly Holter is spending her 29th birthday at the Chicago gallery exhibiting the paintings of her best friend, endeavoring not to be too envious. Suddenly, she starts feeling unwell and heads to the bathroom. But once inside the bathroom, Kelly is somehow transported to another reality, in which she lives in Davis City, Mich., and is married to Eric Hyde, whom she remembers only as a friendly acquaintance from high school. While she’s eager to find a way back to her real life, Kelly isn’t all that disturbed by her new situation. That Eric has a friend working for a tech startup that’s is developing a digital assistant that’s “supposed to be smarter than anything that’s come before it,” makes the basic contours of what has happened to Kelly obvious. A lack of plausible emotional reactions undercuts the suspension of disbelief. Those looking for a more sophisticated handling of parallel worlds should check out Blake Crouch. Agent: Joanna Mackenzie, Nelson Literary.