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Alex Segura, LA Times Book Prize–winning author of Secret Identity, returns with a clever and escapist mystery set in the world of comic books. In the present day, a comics legend is given the chance to revive a beloved but forgotten character. But at what price?

Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she’s never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available―until now.

But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle’s father started Triumph Comics, and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie’s inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.

Annie, who has been called a genius, a sell-out, a visionary, a hack, and everything else under the sun, is sick of the money grab. For the first time since she started reading a tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx #1 as a kid, she feels a pure, creative spark. The chance to tell a story her way. She’s not about to let that go. Even if it means uncovering the dark truth about the character she loves.

Sharply written, deftly plotted, and with a palpable affection for all kinds of storytelling, Alter Ego is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

Don't just take our word for it...

“Alter Ego is a love letter to comics, creation, and the mystery of family. Alex Segura writes with such assurance and joy, a sly wit and a clear love for the characters. I was pulled in from page one and tore through this moving tale.”
– Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

“The suspense and tension in Alex Segura’s Alter Ego builds slowly, like the best of Hitchcock’s films, and then, with the turn of one more page, all the setups and foreshadowing explode in this finely-tuned plot. Annie and daughter Margot are true gems, steeped in authenticity and visceral emotion. Segura is an excellent writer and he brings his A-game to this rollicking page ripper. Don‘t miss it.”
– David Baldacci

“Alex Segura knows how to write a propulsive mystery that hooks you from chapter one. Most of all, I loved Segura’s deep and compassionate portrayal of Annie Bustamante, a reluctant heroine I wholeheartedly rooted for until the very end. Alter Ego is a must-read.”
– Zoraida Córdova, USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: The High Republic Convergence

Taste the very first page

October 10, 2018

She’d been driving for what felt like forever.

Laura Gustines blinked her eyes, trying desperately to stay awake as she pulled her car off the Whitestone Bridge and onto the Van Wyck Expressway. She’d been on the road for almost eight hours – unexpected traffic and her own anxiety conspiring to derail her exit plans, a few nervous pit stops delaying it even further. But none of that mattered, she told herself. She’d gotten what she wanted. The final piece of the puzzle that would make her book truly sing.

She tapped her phone without looking down, her other hand on her battered Subaru’s steering wheel. She squinted to make sure she was going the right way. It was well past midnight. She wanted to go home and sleep, but she needed to do one more thing.

She found the audio file on her voice recorder app. It was huge. The idea of losing it sent a jolt of panic though her entire body. In that file was the interview that would make her book – Secret Identity, a look at the home who had helped shaped comics but also been ignored – a cut above what she’d first envisioned.

December 2024