Wyatt Barlow wakes up in April 2020 with nothing more than a mirror and a journal with the date 1898. After walking through the iceness of the Alaskan wildness, he comes across two young men hunting. One of the young men looks eerily similar to him. Wyatt soon realizes that the young man hunting was his Great-Great Grandson Travis Barlow.
The two strike up a friendship where Wyatt begins to think of his wife and young child, he left to pursue gold in Alaska. Wyatt then convinces Travis to head to a cave where long lost gold is hidden. There the men will discovered the gold, but with a price.

I received an advance review copy for free from Booksirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

The Ancestor by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Wyatt Barlow, an 1890s man wakes up from a frozen state, not knowing who he is at first or what is going on. As he thaws, he hears shots fired nearby and slowly makes his way in that direction. He is shocked when he finds one of the two men looks just like him. He doesn't want to lose the connection to this twin person, so he hides in their truck and rides with them.

Travis Barlow sees a man in town, that looks like his doppelganger. It's uncanny. If Travis were to grow his beard long, they would be twins. They run into one another in the local bar and introduce themselves. Wyatt gives a different last name, he wants to figure out what's going on, before he reveals his true identity.

Wyatt finds himself falling in love with Travis' wife Callie and son Eli. They remind him of the wife and son he left back in 1898. He is 160 years old, so he knows he will never see them again. He finds himself wanting Travis' family for himself, at any cost.

Wyatt makes some friends in the local village, as he gathers intel so he can initiate his plans.

The book was fast paced, held my attention. Lots of twists and turns. Perfect for those looking for a thriller.

Many thanks for the complimentary copy from Net Galley and All Due Respect with no obligation to post a review. ( )

I have to admit I went in a little on the fence. But this absolutely blew me away. I wasn't sure I was going to really like the author's narrative style when I started, then all of a sudden it was hours later, my heart was racing, and I was deep into the book. There's just *something* about Goldberg's style that grabs you and pulls you in before you even know what's happening. The pacing is good with plenty of moments that will have you on the edge of your seat, heart racing, reading frantically to know what's next, and ones that lull you into a false calm before the storm. If you’re a fan of bone-chilling thrillers, then you’re going to absolutely love this book!
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I want to start by noting that this book is out of my usual reading box. Once in a blue moon I like to stretch my reading with something that is different. The Ancestor does have a bit of a historical hook but it's really a tale of the current day. A man wakes up and has little knowledge of who he is or where he is for that matter. As he slowly comes to he hears shots in the distance - men are hunting and one of them looks just like him! But he doesn't recognize the kind of guns they are using and what is that think they use to get around? Where are their horses? He knows he needs to find out where he is and who he is so he hops in the back of their strange conveyance.

As he comes more alive he realizes who he is and who he has found. He is Wyatt Barlow and he has found his descendant. But how....why, and what is he going to do about it? His great, great grandson Travis is his exact look a-like and as he worms his way into the family he starts to get ideas.

I could not stop reading this book from the very first paragraph. It's creepy, it's totally enthralling, it's completely mind blowing and while I thought I knew what was going to happen - I didn't expect the very last thing that did. Well played Mr. Goldberg, well played.

I am not generally a fan of books that invade my dreams as I tend to be a very susceptible reader which is why I have given up thrillers and murder mysteries but this book will be worth what happens when I go to sleep tonight 'cause I am sure I am going to have creepy dreams. The thing is, Mr. Goldberg was so delightfully subtle and so completely overt it was genius. I am going to read it again I believe because I know there are things I missed because I was turning the pages so fast. This is going to be one of my top five books of the year - I can tell that already. And that does surprise me because it is so far out of my usual.

Give this book a try, it's just really, really good. ( )

In present day Laner, Alaska Travis Barstow and his best friend are out hunting caribou. At the same moment, a man wakes up out of an icy tomb not far away from where Travis shoots. The man does not remember much, but a mirror in his pocket and a journal dated 1898 will help him fill in the gaps. The man's first instinct is survival. Interestingly, Travis Barstow looks like the frozen man's mirror image. The man watches Travis from a distance and as the memories come back, he knows they are connected. The man remembers who he is-Wyatt Barstow, and what he was here for- gold. Wyatt engrains himself in Travis' life and makes his obsession Travis' own. Together, they hunt for the gold that Wyatt was so close to over 100 years ago. However, every day that Wyatt remembers more about his past, he envies Travis' present and feels the need to fulfill the life he left behind.

The Ancestor is a unique thriller blending past and present, family drama and psychological suspense. I was hooked from the very beginning as Wyatt thawed from the ice with no knowledge of who he was. The characters are completely created and each adds a separate element to the story. I was engrossed in Wyatt's unfolding memories and how it changed him as a person as well as my perception of his character. I definitely enjoyed Wyatt's journal entries from 1898 as well as the chapters written from his point of view while exploring Alaska in that time period with the descriptions of a beautiful and wild unsettled Alaska, small villages and Native settlements. I was amazed at how adaptable Wyatt was reentering a strange world more than 100 years after he froze as well as how careful he was with the truth of who he was. The mystery of Wyatt's condition and why he awoke when he did carried the suspense throughout the story as well as his intentions with Travis and his family. The plot slowly but thoughtfully layers as more details are revealed about Travis' life, Wyatt's history and the daily life of the residents of Laner. While I knew where the story was headed, I was still surprised by the ending and would love if the story continued.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. ( )