The Other is the 1971 debut horror/suspense novel of actor turned author Thomas Tryon, about a kid with an Evil Twin.
In 1935, 13-year-old twin brothers Niles and Holland Perry live in a huge, loving household at Pequot's Landing, Connecticut, where their extended family provides them with companionship during a long, boring summer. Adorably Precocious Niles helps around the house and seeks lessons from his grandmother, Ada, on "the Game"; a form of Astral Projection where Niles projects his personality onto a bird, or a fish, or a tree, and gets a feel for how those animals and objects interact with the world. Meanwhile, Holland plays a series of mean-spirited pranks around the household.
Dark clouds lie over the house, however; a strange accident killed the twins' father last May, their mother has been rendered agoraphobic, and an incident involving a cat has resulted in the family's well being sealed off. Holland, meanwhile, has begun to develop a shocking mean streak which only gets more and more dangerous as time goes on...
The novel was adapted into a movie in 1972.
Not to be confused with Others, or The Others (2001).
The Other contains examples of the following tropes:
- Astral Projection: The "game" that Ada teaches Niles is in reality a type of astral projection, allowing him to "project" himself into other living things. And, horrifingly, dead bodies, as shown when Ada makes Niles project himself into Holland, to make him accept his brothers death.
- Dead All Along: Holland has been dead since the twins previous birthday, and Niles, repressing his brothers death, has been assuming his identity.
- Death of a Child: When the twins older sister gives birth to a baby girl, Holland, fascinated with the recent kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, kidnaps the infant, which is eventually found drowned in a wine casket. Niles is the real murderer, as Holland himself is already dead.
- Evil Twin: Invoked with Holland, who's a cruel, mean-spirited prankster in comparison to Niles. He died trying to kill a cat, which is a good indicator of his pure malevolence.
- The Film of the Book: Released in 1972, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, and identical twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky. A young John Ritter has a supporting role.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Holland kills the twins cousin, Russel, by tricking him into jumping on a pitchfork hidden in a haybale.
- Karma Houdini: With Ada's death, and their mother a catatonic invalid, there's no one left who knows Niles true nature, or the crimes he's committed. When the movie was aired on TV in the 1970's, the network added a voiceover in the ending that implied Niles accepted his guilt and was submitting to being institutionalized, in an attempt at subverting this trope, but this was not included in future broadcasts and home video releases.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Niles is either possessed by the spirit of the dead Holland, or he developed a split personality after the trauma of seeing his twin brother die. Either way, things undeniably start getting a little more arcane and ethereal after the reveal.
- Offing the Offspring: Ada, realizing what a monster her grandson has become, tries to kill both him and herself by setting fire to their cellar hideaway. She fails, due to "Holland" cutting the padlock to the cellar earlier.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Niles is outgoing, precocious and pleasant, while Holland is brooding, withdrawn and cruel.
