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You are not Alone: A Book Review

You Are Not Alone

You are not Alone, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen: A Book Review

You are not Alone is on a bazillion bestseller and best of lists, and I completely see why. I’ll write on but what you really need to know is that no matter your preferred genre, you should give this book a read. Shay Miller is a fit, fierce working girl in New York City, living with a male roommate with whom she is in love. He has begun a new relationship, though, and her life is seemingly stalled. She works a temp job. She works out. She has no real girlfriends to hang out with, and she is lonely. One night, she is standing on a subway platform in NYC and sees a woman about her age, Amanda, jump to her death in front of an incoming subway train. Everything changes for Shay in that moment.

She begins to do the things you’re supposed to do after a traumatic event. She seeks therapy. She seeks help from several of the woman she meets at Amanda’s memorial service. Although they’re extremely welcoming to Shay, they’re instantly suspicious of her connection with Amanda, because they hold a dangerous secret that they’d hoped died with her.

The authors let the reader know, right up front, that Amanda’s friends, sisters Cassandra and Jane Moore, and their friends Valerie and Daphne, are up to something. We know from the start that they are holding on to this dangerous secret and they are curious to find out what Shay knows. As they become further and further entangled with Shay, their intentions become far more sinister. They begin to encourage her to makeover her look, her job, where she lives, and the whole time they’re remaking her in the image of their deceased friend, Amanda.

I’ll stop there, as I do not give spoilers. When I finished reading the book, I really admired how the authors were able to weave such fine details into the mystery without using many of the overdone tropes you find in mystery novels, where characters miss obvious connections or just fail to notice that something horrible is going on. Shay Miller is smart. Nothing gets by her for long, and when she finds out she has been wronged, she does not lie down and take it lightly.

The plot of this book is beautifully executed and I really enjoyed the entire read from the very beginning. Highly recommend, 5/5 stars.

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