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Extract: Always on My Mind by Carys Green

The Other You

‘It will be all right,’ Nellie assured her with startling confidence. 
 ‘I’m here to make things better. You’ll see.’ 
Elena and Stu are barely holding it together. Their newborn screams through the night, their nerves are frayed, and their marriage is hanging by a thread. 
Then comes More You: a company offering an impossible solution — a clone. For a price, they can have another Elena. One who is fresh. Alert. 
At first, it feels like salvation. The clone is calm, capable, perfect. But soon she starts to pick up Elena’s habits. Her voice. Her smile. And in the quiet hours of the night, something in the house begins to shift. 
When the cracks finally split wide open, Elena is forced to confront a terrifying question: if someone takes your place, do you get to stay?

Carys Green is a thriller writer based in Shropshire, where she lives with her husband and daughter. When she’s not writing she can often be found indulging two of her greatest passions - either walking round the local woodland or catching up on all things Disney related.

Elena and Stuart Roberts are struggling. Their newborn baby, Olive, has colic and neither of them have managed to sleep for more than three hours a night for the last month. Something is about to break. Stuart decides enough is enough. They need help. 
 
And help presents itself in the form of More You, a company which offers a clone of you. For a substantial fee. But a clone of Elena might be the answer to all their problems; someone to be up all night, someone who Olive won’t reject. Whilst Elena is hesitant, Stu can’t resist the lure of sleep and the return of some normality to his life, and so a week later they are bringing their new addition to the family home. 
 
Elena’s clone settles in well, bringing balance and assistance where needed. And as the weeks progress, she begins to mimic Elena, adopting her habits, her mannerisms. Something which More You insists is all a part of the adaptation process. 
 
But Elena isn’t so sure. And soon neither is Stu. They are both starting to live in fear of the stranger in their home. And when one night, the clone's presence leads to a terrible mistake, Elena must make a decision which will change her life forever.

Carys Green

Original and compelling to the extreme - I raced through it

Debbie Howells, author of THE BONES OF YOU

‘Fantastic … the tension was exquisite ... I can’t remember feeling this on edge. It takes real skill to extract that level of emotional reaction from a reader ... Carys Green has pulled it off superbly’

Natalie Chandler, bestselling author of BELIEVE ME NOT

Tapping into my existing paranoia about where technology is headed, Green took my fears of inevitable AI intrusion, fused them with romantic toxicity and thereby eradicated any possibility of sleep. Like a OneMind chip, Always on my Mind got under my skin and refused to let me rest until the story’s end! Utterly chilling.

[An] original, gripping thriller… A book to keep you up all night

You can hear his every thought. But he can hear yours too... 
 
When Elijah suggests going to OneMind to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, Anna is dubious about getting the implant that will allow them to hear each other’s thoughts. However, she’s eager to please him, and to make up for the fact she can’t give him what he really wants, she agrees to take this step towards the ultimate intimacy. 
 
And at first things are great. Anna feels closer to her husband, and the novelty of communicating mind to mind is a thrill. But then she develops a strange side effect and begins having dreams that aren’t dreams, but memories. Memories that aren’t hers. And if Anna is now seeing Elijah’s memories, what if he can see hers? Will he discover what she's kept buried in her past? 
 
Desperate to keep the truth from her husband, Anna's mind becomes a prison she can't escape. How long can she keep the traitorous thoughts at bay before she drives herself mad? 
 
A clever exploration of toxic relationships, power imbalances, and privacy from an exciting new voice in the high-concept thriller space.

Carys Green

Praise for Always on My Mind

Original and compelling to the extreme - I raced through it

‘Fantastic … the tension was exquisite ... I can’t remember feeling this on edge. It takes real skill to extract that level of emotional reaction from a reader ... Carys Green has pulled it off superbly’

Tapping into my existing paranoia about where technology is headed, Green took my fears of inevitable AI intrusion, fused them with romantic toxicity and thereby eradicated any possibility of sleep. Like a On ...

Original and compelling to the extreme - I raced through it

‘Fantastic … the tension was exquisite ... I can’t remember feeling this on edge. It takes real skill to extract that level of emotional reaction from a reader ... Carys Green has pulled it off superbly’

Tapping into my existing paranoia about where technology is headed, Green took my fears of inevitable AI intrusion, fused them with romantic toxicity and thereby eradicated any possibility of sleep. Like a On ...

Original and compelling to the extreme - I raced through it

‘Fantastic … the tension was exquisite ... I can’t remember feeling this on edge. It takes real skill to extract that level of emotional reaction from a reader ... Carys Green has pulled it off superbly’

Tapping into my existing paranoia about where technology is headed, Green took my fears of inevitable AI intrusion, fused them with romantic toxicity and thereby eradicated any possibility of sleep. Like a On ...

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Extract: Always on My Mind by Carys Green

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