Somebody Else's Life: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

Stephen Cooper, a middle-aged university professor who is suddenly utterly bored by his life, plots an intricate scheme with his lover. They arrange a spectacular forgery of a disappeared art relic, and in order to sell it, also craft new identities for themselves: together they become somebody else.

"We move inside Cooper's chilly satisfaction as he and his lover-accomplice bring off one trick after another in the identity switching necessary to their scam. . . . And we're also brought close to the pain and rage . . . of the women whom Cooper (incorrigible to the end) deceives."—Benjamin DeMott, New York Times Book Review

"An authentic and ingenious account of the ingeniously counterfeit in art and in life."—D. J. Enright

"This offbeat romp intrigues with its ironic probing of life values at the same time that it provides lively entertainment."—Kirkus Reviews

"An extended and absorbing mediation on the loss of integrity."—Chicago Sun-Times

"Witty, sophisticated and intriguing, this tale of a forger is the genuine article: an example of the art of suspense and the suspense of art."—Jack Fuller

"An entertainingly mordant psychological thriller."—Washington Times Magazine