Reeling from witnessing the suicide of a young woman on a New York subway, Shay Miller--a data analyst who is obsessed with numbers and statistics--seeks to find out more about the victim, even to the point of attending her memorial. In doing so, she seeks the friendship of the victim’s sophisticated friends, and unwittingly sets herself up in a greater plan.

Authors Hendricks and Pekkanen are masters of their craft, and they have once again articulated a carefully woven psychological thriller. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the pre-release in exchange for an honest review. YOU ARE NOT ALONE is truly destined to be a best-seller.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. All opinions are my own.

Hendricks and Pekkanen have officially done it again. I am a massive fan of the other books they've written together so when I saw they had another one coming out, I knew I had to read it ASAP.

Let me start off by saying: my expectations were extremely high and I didn't love this as much as I loved their other books. I found the plot to be dull at times and there were a lot of names thrown around that were hard to keep straight, but I genuinely enjoyed this book. This was jam-packed with mystery and suspense, and my heart really went out to the main characters.

If you like books about vindictive wenches, then this is it! It’s an entire orchestrated group of vindictive wenches! They started off with a purpose that most of us would agree with: something had to be done to a very bad person. But as their big get-evens become more complex and more successful, the bar for who deserves what drops severely. To the point that innocent bystanders may get caught up in their web.
Along comes Shay Miller. She secretly loves her roommate but is slowly coming to the realization that he thinks the world of her but he loves his girlfriend, who just happens to be moving in, so it’s “Que sera sera” for that perfect economical room she’s renting.
Next is her job, or the lack thereof. She’s had a bad run of luck there, too. Her way of looking at these issues and all other functions of the world is analytical. What are the percentages? What’s the historical average? What are the chances? She’s excellent to a fault with numbers. Her mind is so cluttered with stats that she’s hard to befriend, difficult to understand, and not too sharp with abusive relationships. She’s perfect fodder for the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane have it all: nice apartment, expensive clothes, beautiful friends and they’re stunningly successful owners of their own PR company.
Shay witnesses a suicide and her delicate cracked eggshell of a world shatters around her. She loses it all in a few days: home, job, and self-worth. Along come the Moore sisters who actually want to be her friend! They help her pick up the pieces, keep her socially entertained, help her overcome her fears, and encourage her to rent that apartment that sounds just too good to be true. Life is going better for Shay, yet she’s still hung up on the analytics of the suicide she witnessed. Who was the girl and what made her tick? She digs into the personal data of the girl, which is her nature, but this looks suspicious to the cops who are investigating. Ah, the plot thickens and the web continues to weave tighter and tighter around this good-hearted, intelligent to a fault young lady.
I love the plot, I felt emotion towards the characters, and I could easily see the majority of this story actually happening. Yes, there are parts that seem a bit over the top, but I’ve read crime articles that were less believable and they were facts. And I enjoyed living vicariously in New York for a bit, taking the good with the bad.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for making it available.)

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for providing me an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest opinion.

From the publisher:

The electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US and AN ANONYMOUS GIRL return with a brand new novel of psychological suspense.

Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.

Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better.

Shay would die for them to like her.
She may have to.

This book stressed me out a little! But in a good way. Definitely a thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the wee hours!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This is a heart beating, cannot put down thriller of a book! I loved the entire journey that these fabulous authors take us on! Reserve a whole weekend for this one..you will not want to put it down. Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC. I love these authors!

You Are Not Alone - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - St. Martin's Press - March 2020
4.5 stars
I was thrilled to be offered a galley of You Are Not Alone as I had read the co-authors' previous books, Anonymous Girl and The Wife Between Us. Once again, they have delivered an entertaining tale that pulled me in from the beginning.

Shay has roomed for some time with Sean, a male friend, and when the story opens we discover that she is being edged out by Sean's girlfriend who has been staying over more and more often the past few weeks. It is complicated by the fact that Shay had begun to fall for Sean. But she realizes it is time for her get her own place. That means finding a new job. On her way to a part-time job where she plans to also review her resume for an upcoming interview, she entered the Murray Hill subway station to await her train. She notices another young woman who seems to be very pleasant and approachable, spots a shining object, picked it up, recognized it as a necklace with a charm shaped like a blazing sun, and headed towards the young woman in the green dress, thinking it was she who dropped it. Immediately, as the train thundered into the stop, the woman in the green dress stepped off the platform.

This scene sets the background for the rest of the story. The necklace and charm are pivotal to what occurs in Shay's life over the next several weeks. So is the young woman, Amanda Evinger, a 29-year-old ER nurse loved by coworkers and patients alike.

If you have read any of the co-authors' previous books, you know that their writing style is extremely engrossing. They release enough facts/clues to keep you turning the pages while also treating your senses to voluptuous descriptions of food, drink, passersby, diners, coffee shops, dress shops, condos and apartments of Manhattan, mostly the Murray Hill area. Chapter by chapter, more characters come into Shay's life and we come closer to the truth about Amanda Evinger's apparent suicide.

In my opinion, this is a well written story. I did not find any gaping plot holes and if the Moore sisters who entered Shay's life after Amanda's tragic death had been working class instead of wealthy entrepreneurs, it would still be a riveting story. The writers' character development skills are admirable. Even if you have some of the story figured out, they always give you a surprise near the end.

As is a currently popular trend, the book is written in a mix of third and first person chapters. Shay's are told in the first person and each of her chapters is introduced with an entry from one of her data books. I enjoyed reading the statistical excerpts that of course pertained to that point in the story - how many suicides are committed each years, how many Americans drink coffee to start their day, et cetera.

I gave it 4.5 stars and heartily recommend it. The only criticism I would give is that I wish they had given Sean a chapter or two so we could know more about him and how he felt about his friendship with Shay. Ditto with Jody - we really only see her through Shay's eyes.

I would like to thank the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC of You Are Not Alone. I am sure it will be as successful as their previous titles and I look forward to their future publications.

Quite good for the good news.. but not sure. This is more than enough. Five star rating for these authors. Exciting riveting story of revenge

A fantastic psychological thriller that was a pleasure to read. I read this in one day! Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC egalley.

After reading and loving the first two books by Hendricks and Pekkanen, I went into this one with low expectations because, surely, not every book they write together will be amazing, right? Wrong. I would say You Are Not Alone had a touch less suspense and surprise for me than the last two, but I still found myself wrapped up in Shay and the Moores right away. It was easy to root for Shay and relate to her in her desire to connect with new friends. I loved the integration of her data books and the facts that headed up each of her chapters, they were a fun sneak into what may happen next. I had a couple of tiny questions at the end, but was very happy with how they wrapped it all up. The last quarter of the book flew by! I would definitely recommend reading You Are Not Alone if you’ve read and loved Hendricks and Pekkanem, and maybe make this your first one if you haven’t!

Wow from the first pages from the introduction of characters from twists and turns that shocked me I could not put this book down.I will not give any of the plot away not even a hint,I will say grab this book & if you haven’t read their other book grab them.#netgalley#st.Martinspress

This book, as their other two books, grabbed me right from the beginning . I liked the narrative format used: Shay's chapters were told in first person; everyone else's, in third person. That made the reader become more invested in Shay, the main character, and made her actions seem more intimate and intense. As Shay looks into the life of a woman she witnessed die in front of her, she becomes ensnared in a plot that she is totally unaware of. This psychological thriller spirals Shay through more and more layers of deception until the final explosive climax. I read this book in a little over one day because I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy a psychological thriller with a roller coaster of emotions and actions, then you need to definitely read this book.
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I started You Are Not Alone last night and woke up early to finish it this morning. This book is fast-paced, and while the twists are predictable, it is such a wild ride that I didn't mind. I empathized with Shay, because I think most of us want to feel understood and that sense of belonging. While I don't think the plot of this story will be one I remember for long, it was well worth the read.

Sisters Cassandra and Jane Moore are highly persuasive and resourceful. They have "cultivated" a small group of women, who have experienced trauma and injustice, and who possess a skill or access to resources that is mutually beneficial to the group. However, as the book begins, the most recent addition to the group, Amanda, has committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a subway train. On the mostly deserted subway platform when Amanda committed suicide was unemployed data analyst Shay, who yelled at the woman (Amanda) to stop, but was unable to act in time. Witnessing the suicide has greatly affected Shay. She finds out the name of the victim and she later learns of a memorial service for Amanda and decides to go. At the service, she meets the Moore sisters. Shay lies about how she knew Amanda (not wanting to announce that she witnessed Amanda kill herself) and her lie, as well as other behavior, causes the Moore Sisters to wonder/worry about her true connection to Amanda and what Amanda might have told Shay in the days or weeks leading up to her suicide. The Moore Sisters insinuate themselves into Shay's life and start transforming her into someone much like Amanda. Shay, wanting a sense of belonging, and having experienced a number of unfortunate events recently, likes the attention and finds the transformation empowering. However, as time goes on and strange things happen, she begins to wonder if something more sinister is occurring.

This was a good psychological thriller; 4.5 stars. The authors have the Moore Sisters and two of the women in their group do a quite effective job at keeping Shay off-balance -- things seems to be looking up for Shay, and then something happens that rattles her. In addition, some of the behavior of Shay unintentionally creates concern among the Moore Sisters that she knows more than she is telling, which influences how they behave towards her and the psychological mind-games they employ. While the book is largely set in the present, following the events that occur after Amanda commits suicide, there are multiple chapters that go back in time to explain the backstories of the various women and to explain the events that led to Amanda's suicide. The authors, through the character of Shay, make effective use of data, with Shay recording in her data book various data/statistics about the events around her. There are also some pretty good surprises in the book.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley.

Greer and Sarah have done it again. They have easily become my favorite authors and I look forward to every book they write! This book was no exception, it sucked me in right from the beginning. I enjoyed the twists and drama!

I think I’m definitely in the minority on this one, but I had such a hard time getting through this one. I’d been doing well trying to read more this year until I hit this book and I just could not get into it. Every chapter just drug and it wasn’t interesting. It was just weird. I knew I had to press on and get through it, but I dreaded picking it up at the end of the day. I’m so glad I’m finally through it and can move on to something else now. It did finally get mildly interesting somewhere around the 75-83% mark, but it was too little too late for me. None of the characters were even remotely likable and the plot was just so far fetched to me. It just fell very flat.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

"You Are Not Alone" is a very solid suspense book. The authors take the reader into the mind of a young woman who is being manipulated by a band of sisterly crazies. The reader will learn lots of solid facts, become deeply immersed in this tantalizing tale, and be glad they invested the time in this fine book. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are to be applauded. This book is fast moving, just the right amount of creepy, and a story that could easily become a box office hit. It's a solid 4.5 stars . . . just not quite up to the rare air of five stars.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE is about a woman named Shay, who witnesses a terrible incident on the subway and ends up making friends with Cassandra and Jane afterwards. Shay feels that this is just what she needs after some hardships have recently gotten her down. She is extremely excited about this blossoming friendship with the sisters, but doesn’t realize that it is them who are most excited about this new “friendship”. They have their own agenda and reasons for wanting to get close to Shay.

This is an entertaining book, but I’m struggling on the rating due to the fact that I think it’s somewhere smack dab in the middle. I’ve read the two novels by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and absolutely loved how absorbed I was in the stories they created. The writing is excellent in this one as well, but it just doesn’t contain the same type of satisfaction as its predecessors. I will happily say that it really picks up the pace towards the end, and it is mostly a satisfying conclusion. These writers also do a great job of fleshing the characters out and really making us care (or not care) about them.

Thank you to Hendricks and Pekkanen, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I truly enjoyed this book. Its characters were very complex and woven into a very original storyline. The only problem I had with this book was that it dragged on for quite a bit. To me this was unnecessary and it lost my attention midway until the plot picked back up again.

Main character Shay is easy to feel sorry for. No boyfriend, no real housing situation, and a dead-end job. Then one day she sees a woman jump in front of the subway. From there, she is thrust into a world that she never knew existed. This is like Mean Girls on steroids people. The planning and conniving Moore sisters are on to innocent Shay. What she doesn't know is that she could be in real danger.

Thank you to Netgalley, Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen, and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You Are Not Alone is a suspenseful thriller that will make you cautious about making friends with new people, especially if they seem too good to be true. Shay is a woman in to data and analytics, and when her life starts a downward spiral - she loses her job and realizes that her love interest will never be hers - she witnesses a woman commit suicide. Shay becomes obsessed with this woman because in a lot of ways she seems familiar to her, and Shay wants to understand why she killed herself.

If you have read any of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's other novels and enjoyed them, you will most definitely like this one. The only thing that distracted me a little was the changing POV's. At first I wasn't sure how they related to Shay's story, but the authors did a great job of pulling them all together with a lot of twists. I didn't expect the ending and the dramatic suspense that led up to it had me on the edge of my seat.

With friends like these.........

You Are Not Alone is written by a dynamic duo of a writing team. I've read all their books and have enjoyed them. This time out I'm afraid I may not be setting off fireworks. While You Are Not Alone contained a pretty creative premise, it had some difficulty getting the weight of it off the ground. Far too many details and far too many characters who had to unpack the clutter of their backstories. A bit of heavy lifting while trying to enjoy the storyline.

Shay is a 31 year old market researcher living in New York City. She lives with a male friend of hers who has a girlfriend who enjoys constant sleepovers. Shay can't seem to get her act together and works at random part-time jobs. She hasn't had a date in eons. It's time for her to strike out on her own, but she's caught in a random orbit around an uneventful life.

But all that changes when Shay witnesses a young woman, Amanda, leaping in front of a subway train. Stunned, Shay finds it difficult to answer all the questions aimed at her by the police. Soon she becomes almost obsessed by this unfortunate individual and tries to find out as much as possible about her. This series of inquiries will lead to a hornet's nest of activities in which Shay will come upon Amanda's "friends". Loneliness will be the impetus to hurl Shay into a deadly situation that she can't escape from.

This was an entertaining book, but it just didn't live up to the fine work of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen of the past. Perhaps you'll think otherwise. Like I always say, take it out for a test drive and see what you think. I'll always leave the light on for the next offering by these two fine authors.

I received a copy of You Are Not Alone through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St.Martin's Press and to Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen for the opportunity.