How Can I Help You: A Razor-sharp Suspense about Two Librarians Whose Lives Have Become Dangerously Intertwined

** '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

‘A dark and spellbinding descent into jolly madness’ – MONA AWAD

‘A gripping and dark psychological thriller... Delicious... I read it one sitting’ – HARLAN COBEN

‘A sly meditation on art and identity and the depths we'll go to protect our constructs. I couldn't have loved this book more’ – PAUL TREMBLAY

‘With 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 thriller’ – 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

‘A delicious mystery begging to be enjoyed beachside… Sure to satisfy just about any thriller craving’ – ROLLING STONE

‘Unnerving... reads like a homage to Shirley Jackson’s work’ – NEW YORK TIMES

‘Sims plumbs the depths of obsession and madness... deftly building the tension until the explosive ending’ – WASHINGTON POST

‘Fresh and funny... A quick read that is reminiscent of Laura Lippman's Sunburn and Christine Mangan's Tangerine’ – BOOKLIST

** A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week ** ** A CrimeReads Book of the Month ** ** A Town & Country Must-Read Book of the Summer **

© 2024 Verve Books (E-kirja): 9780857308764

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E-kirja: 25. tammikuuta 2024