Review: You Are Not Alone (by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen)

My Rating: 4 stars

This is the third book I’ve read by what I now consider the “dynamic writing duo” of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen and I can truly say that they have now become favorite “go-to” authors for me when it comes to the thriller / suspense genre.  As is the case with most works in this genre, it’s necessary to go into this one knowing as little as possible, so I’m not going to expand too much on the plot other than to say that the story revolves around Shay Miller, who witnesses a horrific suicide (a young woman named Amanda jumps into the path of an oncoming subway train) and then subsequently finds herself pulled into the dead woman’s orbit through the Moore sisters Jane and Cassandra and the other women from their group, as they mourn the loss of their friend.  But there’s more than meets the eye here and as we learn each woman’s backstory, the web that is woven becomes more and more complex.

Just like with their previous works, Hendricks and Pekkanen do a good job creating a slow buildup of suspense while giving us a story that is captivating from beginning to end.   Structure-wise, this one fell somewhere in the middle in that it didn’t have the huge shocking twist that we saw in their first book The Wife Between Us, nor did it consist of numerous mini cliffhangers like in their second book The Anonymous Girl.  Instead, there were revelations that made their way to the surface gradually as the story progressed, yet without a whole lot of fanfare, akin to a puzzle where each piece fell into place slowly but satisfyingly, one after another.

One of the things I admire most about this writing team is their ability to create an engaging, well-crafted story of psychological suspense that manages to feel original and creatively different from one book to the next, yet still somehow feel as though they’re connected thematically.  This was an entertaining read, one that I definitely recommend.  I can’t wait to see what Hendricks and Pekkanen have in store for us next!  

  

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley