** 'A MARVELLOUSLY INTENSE, READ-IN-ONE-SITTING GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE AMONG THE BOOK STACKS' - GUARDIAN **
From the author of Looker comes this razor-sharp suspense about two librarians whose lives become dangerously intertwined.
No one knows Margo's real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small-town public library only know her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of countless premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges.
That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo's subtly sinister edge and watches her carefully. When a patron's death in the library bathroom offers a hint of Margo's mysterious past, Patricia can't resist digging deeper - even as this new fixation becomes all-consuming.
Taut and compelling, How Can I Help You explores the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession.
PRAISE FOR HOW CAN I HELP YOU
āA dark and spellbinding descent into jolly madnessā ā MONA AWAD
āA gripping and dark psychological thriller... Delicious... I read it one sittingā ā HARLAN COBEN
āA sly meditation on art and identity and the depths we'll go to protect our constructs. I couldn't have loved this book moreā ā PAUL TREMBLAY
āWith transfixing dual female narrators and an artful, innovative structure, How Can I Help You is both a riveting commentary on false pretenses and an utterly beguiling cat and mouse thrillerā ā KIMBERLY McCREIGHT
'Openly indebted to Shirley Jackson and Patricia Highsmith, this is a terrific two-hander... This makes for fine cat-and-mouse (or cat-and-cat?) suspense, but also an unsettling moral tale' - SUNDAY TIMES
'A fun and entertaining cat-and-mouse novel... a perfect book for when you just want to sit back, relax, and read about women behaving badly... you'll fly through the pages' - GLAMOUR
āA delicious mystery begging to be enjoyed beachsideā¦ Sure to satisfy just about any thriller cravingā ā ROLLING STONE
āUnnerving... reads like a homage to Shirley Jacksonās workā ā NEW YORK TIMES
āSims plumbs the depths of obsession and madness... deftly building the tension until the explosive endingā ā WASHINGTON POST
āFresh and funny... A quick read that is reminiscent of Laura Lippman's Sunburn and Christine Mangan's Tangerineā ā BOOKLIST
** A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week **
** A CrimeReads Book of the Month **
** A Town & Country Must-Read Book of the Summer **