THE ORIGINALS

Can you really own your life if you have to share it with two other people?

Born together from the same birth mother, 17-year-olds Lizzie, Ella and Betsey should be triplets. They are not: They are clones of a baby simply known as the Original. When their geneticist birth mother’s lab came under scrutiny seven years ago, she whisked them away to start a new life in hiding. The cloned teens collectively become known as Elizabeth Best, with each girl allowed out of the house for a third of the day to spend time at school or evening classes. Set in the present day, this science-fiction thriller is narrated in the present tense by Lizzie, who begins questioning her lack of freedom, especially when it comes to dating, and happens upon an uncanny look-alike on the Internet. As she risks more trips out of the house and a clandestine relationship with Sean, Lizzie discovers that her mother has some secrets of her own. With Lizzie as ringleader, the sisters, each with distinct personalities, set out to uncover the truth about their past and pave new futures of their own. Although contrived elements of suspense keep the story from being as taut as the author’s previous novel, Forgotten (2011), readers will enjoy the quick pacing and speculating on science’s ethical dilemmas.

Provocative.