Review of You Are Not Alone with Spoilers

I thought this writing duo’s previous book had a cool and unexpected twist, so I was excited to try their new title. What did I think? Check out my Review of You Are Not Alone, with plot spoilers marked at the end!

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

To be published on March 3 2020 by St. Martins Press.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review. This post contains affiliate links.

Review of You Are Not Alone

I read and enjoyed The Wife Between Us, which had a twist I really didn’t see coming. I was kind of expecting the same in You Are Not Alone.

The book started out with a tragic and intriguing opening. Main character Shay is standing on a New York City subway platform when she sees Amanda, a young woman about her age, jump in front of an oncoming train. Shay, shocked and traumatized by what she’s seen, picks up a necklace at the scene.

I liked Shay as a character. She’s a person who understands the world through numbers and statistics. She’s a little socially awkward. After the incident, she leaves flowers at Amanda’s apartment. There she sees a flyer for the memorial service, which she attends. There she meets Cassandra and Jane, two sisters who were friends of Amanda. They start to take Shay under their wing and help her sort her life out.

This all sounds nice, like the reassuring interpretation of “You Are Not Alone.” But Cassandra and Jane are creepy. They have a very close-knit group of friends who all wear GPS tracking necklaces because of the “dangerous work they do.” After Shay picks up the necklace (which belonged to Amanda) she’s now on their radar. Literally. And then “You Are Not Alone” takes a whole new meaning.

For me, the absolute best part of the book was trying to figure out what Cassandra and Jane were up to. But once I did, it a) didn’t make all that much sense and b) made less and less sense the more I thought about it. I felt the story did have some really interesting elements (like Shay and the fact that in 2020, we are all sort of under surveillance) but all the what and the why didn’t really work for me.

SPOILERS AHEAD (Do NOT Read Further If You Don’t Want Spoilers!)

Spoilers for You Are Not Alone:

Cassandra and Jane are tracking Shea through the GPS necklace (they were also tracking Amanda, the dead woman).

They are part of a vigilante gang of women who were avenging a sexual assault on Valerie, the sister of Cassandra and Jane (and also a pathological liar). Valerie was assaulted by Trey, the women’s step-brother (also known as James).

But Valerie was also a pathological liar who then manipulated the women to get revenge on other people Valerie didn’t like. Amanda was feeling guilty about her part in this, and that’s why Valerie murdered her and made it look like suicide.

When Shea finally realizes that Amanda was murdered, Valerie tries to set up Shea for both Amanda’s and Trey’s murders.

Valerie calls Shea, pretending to be Detective Santiago, and says that Amanda definitely jumped and that she needs Shea to met her at the subway station.

But Shea’s attention to details saves her.

Valerie tries to stage Shea’s “suicide” just as she murdered Amanda. But Shea has seen through Valerie’s lies and notified the police. They arrive as the two women struggle on the subway platform. Valerie has a gun, but Shea is able to push Valerie away and onto the tracks. Like Amanda, Valerie dies by being hit by a train.

Have you read this? What did you think?

For me this was a LOT. So Valerie was manipulating everyone? Since she’s such a liar and manipulator, was she even assaulted by James/Trey? In her POV chapter, she said she was, but she’s lied about everything else. Were they all just her pawns? Why did all these smart women fall for this?

My other reviews of books by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks:

You can read my review of the Wife Between Us here!

Check out my review of The Golden Couple and my Golden Couple Spoiler Post

Here’s a new suspense book just by Sarah Pekkanen: Gone Tonight!