A Book A Week

Last year I read The Wife Between Us, a twisty thriller that used all the conventions of the genre to string the reader along and play with traditional expectations. Writing duo Hendricks and Pekkanen absolutely exceeded my expectations and left me longing to read more from them. I made a note to be on the lookout for more from the pair. As often happens, other books distracted me, and my experience reading The Wife Between Us soon became a distant memory. Fast forward to this week, and I found myself scrolling through the list of available audiobooks from my local library. When I saw You Are Not Alone, the latest from Hendricks and Pekkanen, I jumped at the chance to read another thriller from these talented authors. 

To say that Shay Miller's life is not going according to plan would be a huge understatement. She is recently unemployed, turning to random temp jobs to make ends meet. Her roommate/best friend entered into a new relationship that leaves him physically and emotionally occupied on most days. Shay is pretty sure he'll be moving in with his girlfriend soon. To top it all off, Shay just witnessed a horrific suicide on the New York subway. The young woman looked directly into her eyes before she jumped onto the tracks. 

Shay is haunted by that final moment. She can't seem to clear the image of that woman looking at her from her mind. Inspired by a bit of guilt and the longing to put that tragic moment behind her, Shay looks up the accident and discovers the name of that girl. Before she knows it, she is attending the girl's funeral, taking in the view of her mourners. Before she is able to leave the service unnoticed, Shay is confronted by a group of the late woman's friends. She panics and concocts a story about how she knew the woman, and the friends seem to buy it. United by shared grief, Shay becomes a member of this friend group. Little does she know, the friends may have more nefarious plans for their newest addition. 

You Are Not Alone has all the makings of a fine thriller. The main character teeters precariously on the line of reliable and not. As readers, we are in on the twist much earlier than Shay is, but that doesn't deter us from the suspense. In fact, knowing that Shay is walking directly into a trap only heightened my paranoia and had me rushing through the pages. Hendricks and Pekkanen layer in commentary about loneliness and reliance on others in a way that adds some much-needed depth to their characters. All that said, I still felt as if there was something missing from this book that was present in their others. I can't quite discern if the plot was just a bit too unbelievable, or if the characters weren't as enticing. Suffice it to say, You Are Not Alone left me with the feeling that I was missing something. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2020, 43)