From the women that brought us The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl comes a new exciting thriller that has been pegged as the most anticipated thriller of the year by various outlets. I was a little hesitant going into this as I didn't have a great time reading their two previous novels The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl. Though I did find The Wife Between Us interesting, the domestic abuse element of the story rubbed me the wrong way. I also physically read it, which having now chosen to go with the audiobooks for both their other novels, I realise was a huge mistake. It read too long. So, learning my lesson I then picked up An Anonymous Girl via audiobook from my local library, which gave an overall better reading experience despite giving it a 2.5 rating. I digress, basically I chose to listen to You Are Not Alone as I felt it would be the best option, I was right. 100%. If I had picked up the actual book I would've likely given this a lower rating than I have. Before venturing into why this is, let's talk about what this book is about.
In You Are Not Alone you're following a young woman named Shay Miller. Shay's life begins to crumble around her after she witnesses a suicide on the subway of New York City. She can't get the woman in the polka dot dress out of her mind, over and over she goes through the circumstances that led to that tragedy. Shay decides to go to the woman's memorial service and it's there that she meets Jane and Cassandra, two sisters who eventually bring Shay into their inner circle of friends. They give her a makeover, find her a new place to live, and all-in-all turn her into a better version of herself. Without ever meaning to, she slips into the life of the woman who killed herself. Was this all just a chain of events, or did the sisters plan this?
I can't go much further into the synopsis as it's always difficult to not give away too much when reviewing a thriller. But let's just say 'bitches be crazy'. This worked as an audiobook as there are multiple POV's throughout the story and the voice actors really bring that to life. If I had physically read it, I imagine I would've gotten lost in the multitude of female characters a few times.
Shay was a likeable but heavily naive protagonist, which is what you expect if having read Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's previous novels as it seems to be their style. Young naive main character who trusts too easily, and a more mature woman who you can't trust. Which is cool, but a tad predictable at this point. Speaking of predictability, I did foresee the 'twists' that happen in the story way before any of them happened, which I can usually forgive if the story gives off originality like Lock Every Door by Riley Sager, but I'm still uncertain as to whether this book managed that. Though I will be likely to pick up any other books these woman eventually release, I can't help but wonder whether I would want to if it were not for the popularity and hype of these authors on Booktube/Bookstagram. To be honest, all three novels read very basic. I've read better thrillers by much smaller authors who haven't had their work pushed as much online. Unlike Riley Sager and Ruth Ware, I don't believe Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen deserve the popularity. Harsh, I know, it makes me feel bad writing it, but I can't not be honest in an in depth review.
All in all, this book was semi entertaining but forgettable like their previous bookd. I won't remember what happened in this thriller in a few months, and I'll likely forget I ever read it.
Rating: 3.5/5
Which author do you think is unjustifiably popular among the reading community? And on the other side of this question, which author do you think doesn't get enough recognition? I'd love to know!
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