A page turner but not without faults…
Hendricks/Pekkanen tell the story of a young woman whose desperate need to belong somewhere makes her a pawn in a deadly game in their third psychological thriller. After losing her job, Shay Miller’s life takes another drastic turn as she’s expected to vacate her rental flat to make room for her roommate and best friend’s new girlfriend. Witnessing a horrible suicide while waiting for the subway sends Shay on the brink of despair. When she encounters the glamorous sisters, Cassandra and Jane Moore, it seems she has finally found the friends she has been looking for all her life. A lovely place to stay, a well-paying job, and a personal makeover make life look promising once again, but things are not what they seem on the surface. The narrative shifts between first and third person alternatively, and the prose is typical Hendricks-Pekkanen: full of suspense. The exceedingly tedious first half that follows Shay’s budding friendship with the sisters and her painfully needy persona will test the reader’s patience. From here, the hardcore thriller readers will be able to guess the exact direction of the story. Hendricks/Pekkanen take a lazy way to culminate the story by withholding the crucial information from the reader (it’s only revealed at the end): the book falls flat when it comes to achieving the final shattering impact that is typically associated with ending of psychological thrillers. Despite the obvious faults, the suspense element stays intact, making the reader keep turning pages until the end. This is the weakest work from the brilliant duo so far but a page turner, nonetheless.
You Are Not Alone
by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
St. Martin’s Press
Pub date March 3, 2019
ISBN 9781250202031
Price $27.99 (USD)
Categories: Suspense and Thriller
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