After enjoying a couple of books for young readers, I decided to change things up a bit and dive into some adult fiction. If you’ve followed the blog or my social media accounts for a while, you’re familiar with my love of mysteries and thrillers, particularly psychological suspense.
My first thriller of 2020 was the upcoming release You Are Not Alone from the dynamic writing duo of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. These two make such an amazing suspenseful storytelling team that their novels have become an automatic read for me. The downside of their efforts is that providing a review for one of their books without giving away any spoilers is always especially challenging; however, I’m up for the challenge!
In You Are Not Alone, we meet shy, quiet Shay who is a total introvert, lacks many friends or a social life, and is secretly crushing on her roommate, Sean. Shay’s life is pretty low-key until one day she witnesses a tragedy in the New York City subway that alters her life’s course. As a result of the tragedy, Shay soon finds herself socializing with two sisters, Cassandra and Jane Moore, Manhattan elite who could double as supermodels. Shay’s entire life flips upside down, which she loves, until it suddenly turns inside out, which she hates. She finds herself wrapped up in something but she isn’t quite sure what is going on or who she can trust. I know this is all vague and sounds pretty typical of most thrillers, but I’m desperately trying to avoid spoilers.
What I will say is that the characters were written exceptionally well, and I was drawn into the story immediately, something I’ve come to expect from Hendricks and Pekkanen. This story seemed to move a bit more slowly than their previous collaborations, The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl, but it still kept me finding time to read more because I was so intrigued. Once I had about 100 pages left to go, I couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out how it would end. There was most definitely a surprise twist that I didn’t see coming and is typical of their novels.
I would also like to point out that it can be a little tricky keeping track of all the characters in this story. There is Shay, Cassandra, Jane, and then the sisters’ close circle of five friends. The story is also told in alternating timelines, going from a first person present-day account with Shay to third person accounts of the other women ranging from present-day to weeks, months, or even years ago. So I recommend starting this book when you have time to devote to regular reading. You don’t necessarily have to read it all in one weekend or anything, but if you can only pick it up once or twice a week and read for a few minutes, it might be difficult to keep track of all the characters and timelines and remember what is going on. You might want to wait for a vacation or a time that will allow you more regular reads, which you will want anyway because it really gets quite suspenseful and you won’t want to stop reading.
All in all, this was a great suspenseful read with totally unreliable narration, mystery, and twists. If you like suspense and mystery or enjoyed Greer and Pekkanen’s previous collaborations, I’d recommend giving You Are Not Alone a try.
You Are Not Alone releases on March 3, 2020 from St. Martin’s Press!
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