A collaboration between author Sarah Pekkanen and her editor Greer Hendricks. At first it seems to be another psychological thriller, this time about a woman Vanessa who discovers her husband Richard is having an affair and she doesn’t know who to trust. We are in her head and the head of the newly-in-love young woman Nellie. Set in New York, we contrast the lives of these two women, the ritzy well-heeled wife married to a successful hedge fund manager (now ex-wife and suffering) and the up and coming, flat sharing, waitressing pre-school teacher who is about to become the second Mrs Hedge-fund. Something is amiss, they both have anxiety-causing secrets to hide and a feeling of being watched, but is it paranoia of is there something genuine to fear? There is an excellent twist in the tale, which isn’t predictable and I enjoyed the delving into character that we are allowed. Something essentially surprising about the way it ends also. I want to know more about how it was written – did the authors both take different chapters, or different women? And how did they stop it becoming writing by committee. Expect more from this duo.
