You Are Not Alone A Novel

Sexc

Like the authors other books, this one will keep readers hooked with lots of twists and turns. Shay sees a woman jump on the subway tracks to her death. She becomes friends with the dead woman's friends. But will that be her fatal downfall? I highly recommend.

fine but also boring

Nice and twisty, but not quite as tight as 'The Wife Between Us.'

pretty basic thriller, not in a bad way (3 stars is a good rating!!) but i just wish it had done more. i kept waiting for something to happen specifically with shae in a few different ways but it never went there, and she was way too stupid for way too long. her actions in particular felt incredibly incongruous with her thought process, and i can't figure out if that was intentional or not lol. the ending i saw coming by the first time the characters were all introduced, which is fine i don't mind "calling" an ending, but it didn't have any feeling of release after it all went down and happened. without going into spoilers, i just wish it had made a few slightly different decisions. that being said, it was a pretty good set up and story and the characters were all interesting and distinct which i appreciate. overall falling into a kind of mixed-bag average thriller read for me.

I don’t read books this fast, but I had a day off and this sucked me in. A lonely woman sees another woman commit suicide, but then has a fortunate turn of luck, becoming friends with some rich and powerful women. Things are going her way now, or aren’t they? I really enjoyed the main character, Shay, and her desire for relationships. It was easy to see how she was drawn into this friendship circle, and I loved the twists and turns that it took. Definitely a fun afternoon read.

**4.5 stars** Yes! This was so good! I was on the edge my seat throughout this book. It was so easy to read as it was super fast paced, and had so much packed into the pages. I was not disappointed in the ending which is so exciting because that’s where a lot of thrillers are ruined for me. Once I got to the end I didn’t want to like it as much as I did because a lot of it was over the top and kind of unbelievable…but I was captivated the whole time and couldn’t put it down. So I decided that I did like it a lot. I’m trying to shy away from half stars, but I truly feel that this was right in the middle of a 4 and 5 star…so 4.5 stars it is! What I think was supposed to be one of the biggest plot twists of the book, I kind of already knew and assumed we were supposed to have figured out way earlier in the book….so that was a little disappointing because it was set up to be really shocking and once I read it, I just kind of went….’oh…didn’t we already kind of know this??’ I think it was still a pretty well done twist though and if you don’t figure it out before I think it will be a big game changer. This was such an exciting read and I would definitely recommend it!! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions!! ***SPOILERS***BELOW*** So mostly I guess these are the reasons I didn’t give it a full 5 stars… For a while it was hard to keep all the different women straight in my head. And honestly I don’t think I ever knew the difference between Jane and Cassandra, I just kind of saw them as one person in my head. Also, why did I think there were like 6 women in their little friend/cult group?? I would've sworn there were more than just the 3 sisters and Daphne. I don't know, there was a lot going on. Towards the end where Shay was doing all that research about James and how he was connected to the sisters felt really drawn out and I got a little bored. I think that section could’ve been cut down a bit..but that’s just me. I think Valerie trying to push Shay onto the subway tracks was really uncharacteristic for her. Valerie seemed very calculating with everything she did and maybe she just became unhinged because of everything that was happening and made a rash decision to do this but it was really dumb. I mean there were people on the train platform and she was just gonna try to murder someone….right there in the open?? After all the work they had gone through to cover up the murder I find it hard to believe she’d ruin it all now…unless like I said before was to show how Valerie was falling apart and willing to go to drastic measures no matter the consequences. I did really like Shay’s growth throughout the book. I mean for most of it she seemed really naive and way too trusting of everyone she just meets. Clearly she was having a breakdown, so it’s understandable for her to act the way she does. But when she finally figures out there’s a lot more going on she starts to put the pieces together logically and I love at the end when she goes straight to the police instead of believing another lie, I wanted to jump up and scream ‘YES!’ I was so scared she would fall into another lie, but it was so nice to see her change from the beginning. It was seriously stressing me out that she was writing EVERYTHING down in her notebooks during all her research. I thought for sure that would come back to bite her in the butt, but thank goodness it didn’t! I liked the little twist at the end with her murdering Valerie…and playing it off as self defense. I always think it’s the best when a thriller ends with the main character also being a little twisted, I think it’s clever and adds a lot to the book. It would’ve ruined it for me if everything was tied up nicely where Valerie just got arrested and Shay went on her way being totally innocent of everything. Love that. I mean it’s messed up, but it’s good.

Now I am big fans of Hendricks & Perkkanen’s psych-thrillers (Wife Between Us was my favorite), however this one proved to be my least favorite of the three. This book took me about a month to read, which is quite unusual for me. There are many different characters and back stories to keep straight, and the POVs alternate between all of them. The characters are interesting, yet none of them are likeable - especially the protagonist, Shay. As a data-analogist she is very analytically intelligent, but not very smart when it comes to people leaving her to be the perfect victim to be taking advantage of the way she does. It leaves you going more like, “Really? You fell for this?” rather than having empathy for her. Her actions and responses made very little sense to me. The novel starts out quite slow (although that could be my longer read-time), but around the last third of the book is when it starts to pick up and has more of that Hendricks/Pekkanen suspense and clever information reveal that I love, which is why I still gave it 3 stars. However I do wish the endings for the whole group of girls would’ve been expanded upon a bit more, especially since the time was taken to give them all a history and backstory. Overall not my favorite by these two authors, but I did find it worth finishing.

** spoiler alert ** Okay, this book got REALLY good at the end... but seriously 7/8 of the way through, I was thinking to myself, “When is something going to happen?” I love their writing style because it goes fast and keeps things interesting, but the plot of this book was so dumb... And basically there was nothing sinister or surprising about the main character’s involvement, she just randomly got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and somehow conveniently this weird group of girls were able to use that in their favor. Idk, just a strange premise to me and not believable/realistic at all.

I'm going to need a few days to wrap my head around this book! I didn't see that twist coming at all, but it made perfect sense. Some of my favorite authors and I can't wait for their next book!

Another amazing psychological thriller from Hendricks and Pekkanen. I was hooked from the first few pages and enjoyed piecing together the clues the authors left along the way. While sometimes the storyline seemed convenient, I thought the twist at the end was completely unexpected but so so satisfying!

I read The Wife Between Us last year as part of a book club and was so into the discussion that I was happy to receive this early copy. I don't want to give too much away, because this is a book that you will enjoy more the less you know about it. Basically, you have a lonely woman in NYC (Shay) who witnesses a subway suicide that upends her life. This is a traditional mystery/thriller sprinkled with unique details, like Shay's obsession with recording a notebook full of facts and references to the loneliness that major city like NYC can inspire. The twists and turns generally surprised me, so I was eager to finish this and polished the final half off in one sitting. This dark little book will have me paying more attention next time I'm taking public transportation, for sure. This is a unique thriller as much about the dangers of isolation as it is about the dangers of opening up to strangers. Thanks to St. Martin's Press/NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5

Everything I want in a thriller! I couldn’t put it down.

This book was just okay. I liked some of the revelations towards the end but overall I saw most of the plot twists coming, they were not surprising at all. Also, I found some situations in the book highly unrealistic such as the fact that our main character can carry out a better research and find out things the FBI haven't after months of investigating only by using a burner phone... yeah, don't think so. What I did like about the novel was how well loneliness was depicted in it. We have a protagonist, Shay, in her mid-thirties who just lost her job and whose best friend has recently had a baby which situates her on a different stage of her life. On top of that, her male roommate and crush is in a new relationship and she feels out of place and like an intruder even at home. The book did a good job at giving voice to the thousands of people who find themselves in their adult life very disconnected from pretty much anyone and are feeling the despair of a lonely existence even when they live in big cities like New York (where the novel takes place). The fact that these places are in constant change, so many events continuously happening and so many people coming and going makes it the more upsetting and highlights the feelings of being left out from all the fun. I also appreciated the little snippets from Shay's data book that we get at the beginning of her chapters which focus on data and percentages on an specific topic related to the events that later on will make an appearance in the narrative. Since our protagonist is a data analyst I found that writing device very fitting. I wouldn't go into the novel with high expectations or hoping for shocking plot twists, because you will get disappointed. It was just a fun, quick read but didn't bring anything new to the table.

This was just ridiculous...

Shay is your average woman. Maybe a little less lucky than your average woman actually. She’s currently living in the spare room of the man she’s crushing on... and his girlfriend. She’s in between jobs... holding out hope for the perfect one to fall in her lap as she temps away. She’s low on friends, ready to fall into the warm embraces of the next people that come along. Then one day a shocking incident on the subway changes Shay and she becomes obsessed with the woman she saw on the platform. What was she running away from? What did she have to hide? What has it all got to do with Shay? I am so worried about saying something that could spoil this book because it’s so worth the read. I didn’t find it as twisty and shocking as the authors’ other books but I did love it. I felt sucked into the world, panicking for Shay and willing her to do things to help herself out, all of which I know she’d have done with the benefit of hindsight! I thoroughly recommend this books. It had me on the edge of my seat and made me uneasy and nervous throughout. I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. This in no way influenced my review of this book. It really was so awesome.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me a with a copy of this novel for review! This was such a middle of the road thriller for me and I'm so disappointed. I really love a major twist in any thriller. Something I don't see coming that will completely blow my mind. If you've read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager, I'll just say I love that book so much solely because of the ending. But for other people, that ending is the reason they hated it. Which is why I'm always hesitant to look at any reviews for thrillers that I want to read because they're so subjective. All that to say, take my opinion with a grain of salt. Honestly, I'd recommend you don't read this review and you go into any thriller with absolutely no expectations. That way every twist and turn is a complete surprise. If you're still here because you either A, read the book and want to see what I think or B, want to have an idea as to what to expect going in, hello! Welcome to my review. This book completely had me hooked for about the first 50%. After that, it just started to drag. I think my issue was, I already knew what was happening. I think it's fairly obvious throughout most of the novel, maybe after 25% in, what's going on and how this is all leading up to screwing over our main character. What's a thriller without completely screwing over the main character, right? Unfortunately, like I mentioned before, I just don't like knowing what to expect in a thrillers. There was a minor twist towards the end that came as a surprise to me but it wasn't enough to leave me feeling mind blown at all. In fact, after I read the twist I almost felt disappointed. Like that was it? It didn't impact the way the story arc was going much if at all, and I honestly wish it hadn't been added in there so my reading experience would've been cut down by a few chapters. If you're someone who likes knowing where the story is going in a thriller, I'd recommend you pick this one up! It was still definitely thrilling but I just didn't care enough to want to go back and see how it ended. I didn't like our main character enough either to care what happened to her after I figured out all the trouble she'd gotten herself into. I almost DNF'ed this one a few times because I just...couldn't care less. I only picked it back up again because I hoped there would be some big reveal or something that would make the story interesting again. That just wasn't the case. I ultimately decided to give this a three star because it definitely wasn't bad. It was written well, I mostly enjoyed over half the story, and I'm glad I saw it through to the end, even if I was left underwhelmed. This just wasn't my type of thriller but I know there are others out there who have absolutely loved it. This isn't a bad book by any means but it just wasn't a book for me. I think this may be a good book to start with if you're new to thrillers and just want to dip your toes into the genre. I also review books here.

2.5 I went the audiobook route for this one but I wanted the book to be over so badly that I had to increase it to 2x speed because the main character Shay is just to naive for me. It was driving me nuts how naive she is.

Let me start saying that I listened to the audiobook and it was a rollercoaster of whatthefuckeries and ohmygoodnesses. The main character has the worst luck in the world. Imagine being socially awkward (me), having no friends (me, at least where I live), and that the only time you decide to try and reach out to a group of women to befriend, they’re plotting to frame you for the murder of their dead best friend that happens to look a lot like you if you just only wear contacts and have a new hairstyle…( well shit, I hope that doesn’t happen to me)!!! I was constantly yelling at the main character DON’T GO, GO BACK TO YOUR HOUSE!! DON’T TRUST THEM!! But did she listened to me??? Hell no!! They never do!!! Its like when in an action movie there’s a gun fight and the bad guys are dead but the good guys don’t pick up their guns fully knowing that they’re almost out of ammo. Jeez!! Well, the understatement of the year would be saying that this woman is made out of questionable choices and bad decisions, are they the same? I don’t care! The bad guys got what they deserved, she finally got a backbone of her own and the plot twist had me pulling my hair out. Overall I can say that ADD THIS ONE TO YOUR TBR!! I enjoyed it and just writing this gave me stress all over again.

3 stars Meh. An Anonymous Girl was better. This had me hooked and then I was just kind of annoyed and when the twist hit I honestly just didn't care much. Disappointed.

This author duo just keeps getting better and better. I went into this with high expectations since I have really liked both of their other co-authored books and it delivered. Though Shay is not the smartest character, at least in social situations, you can’t help but root for her. The Moore sisters are conniving and manipulative, I found them so interesting, I wish we’d gotten their first person POV. The stakes kept getting higher and higher for Shay throughout the book, that at times I felt too anxious to continue reading! The ending was great, even though I guessed part of the reveal. I’m looking forward to anything these authors write together!