False memory : a novel
(Book)

Originally published : 1999.

A deeply sinister and endlessly surprising tale of a rare and terrifying phobia: autophobia - fear of oneself. Martie Rhodes is a young wife (happily married to Dustin for three years), a video game designer, and a compassionate woman who takes her agoraphobic friend Carol to therapy sessions. Carol is so afraid of leaving her apartment that the trips are grim ordeals for both women - but bonding experiences as well. Then one morning Martie experiences a sudden fear of her own, a brief but disquieting terror of ... her shadow. The episode it over quickly. It leaves her shaken but amused. Then, as she is about to check her makeup, she realizes she is terrified to look in the mirror and confront her own face. As the episodes of this traumatic condition - autophobia - build, the lives of Martie and her husband change drastically. Frantic to discover the trigger for her descent into hell, Dustin begins to look into the background of a respected therapist. As he comes closer to the truth about this strange and troubled healer, Dustin finds himself afflicted with a condition even more bizarre and terrifying than Martie's.