October 15, 2017
An angry ex-wife is stalking a young, innocent fiancee who is a carbon copy of her former self...or so it seems. The use of a multiviewpoint, chronologically complex narrative to create suspense by purposely misleading the reader is a really, really popular device. Two words: Gone Girl. While we are not the fools we once were and now assume immediately that we are being played, the question is whether we still take pleasure in the twists and revelations that follow. Pekkanen (The Perfect Neighbors, 2016, etc.) and Hendricks' debut collaboration falls into the first wife/second wife subgenre of this type of story (e.g., The Girl Before, The Last Mrs. Parrish). In all of these, an unbelievably handsome, wildly successful, secretive, rigid, orderly, and controlling husband--here it's Richard, a 36-year-old hedge fund manager with "a runner's wiry build and an easy smile that belied his intense navy-blue eyes"--marries the same type of woman more than once, sometimes more than twice. Of course, he's not who he seems. Perhaps the female characters are not, either. Here, we meet Nellie, an adorable New York preschool teacher who is not quite sure she wants to give up the fun, shoestring, highly social lifestyle she shares with her roomie to move to a sterile suburb with Richard. But the wedding date--of course he hasn't even told her the location, just "buy a new bikini"--draws ever closer. Something bad happened to Nellie in Florida a long time ago that has made her anxious and hypervigilant. Meanwhile, Vanessa, the spurned wife, lives with her artist Aunt Charlotte (a great character), is boozing heavily, and is about to lose her job at Saks. She's stalking Nellie, determined to prevent the marriage at all costs. Since you know there's got to be more to it than this, the fun is in trying to figure it out before they tell you. We didn't! One of the subplots, the one about the bad thing in Florida, was fresher than the main plot--maybe Hendricks and Pekkanen should have written a whole book about that. Easy to read, smoothly put together. A good airport book.

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Starred review from November 6, 2017
Hendricks, who spent more than 20 years as a book editor, joins forces with Pekkanen (The Best of Us) to create a jaw-dropping psychological thriller. Unreliable narrator Vanessa Thompson is obsessed with her ex-husband’s fiancée and on the verge of becoming unhinged. She gave up everything—her job as a preschool teacher, her New York City friends—to have a fairy tale life in Westchester with too-good-to-be-true hedge fund manager Richard. After a series of failed fertility treatments, their marriage unraveled, and Richard leaves her for his younger assistant. Hendricks and Pekkanen chronicle a marriage gone wrong through the alternating accounts of the shattered Vanessa in the present and her vibrant younger self in the past. This is not another eye-rolling story about the jealous ex-wife stalking her replacement, as readers will discover as Vanessa’s motivations are revealed. Unforgettable twists lead to shocking revelations all the way through the epilogue. 250,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders and Associates.

January 1, 2018
Notable women's-fiction author Pekkanen teams up with former editor Hendricks in this seamless thriller that will keep readers on their toes to the very end. At first glance, poor Vanessa appears desperate to stop the impending marriage between her ex-husband and his new young lover, Nellie. Richard is a powerful and demanding man, and Vanessa is determined to save Nellie from the fate Vanessa endured as a controlled trophy wife. But things aren't always as they seem. Is Vanessa crazy or cunning? What's her endgame? And is Nelliewho is suspiciously similar to Vanessa in both looks and supposed backgroundas innocent as she comes across? What is Richard really after in all of this? To say anything more about the myriad plot twists, red herrings, and unreliable narrators would give it all away. Readers will enjoy the dizzying back-and-forth as they attempt to figure out just who to root for and as the suspense ratchets up to one hell of a conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 15, 2017

It's human nature to assume; we all do. But this psychological thriller by first-time novelist Hendricks and best-selling author Pekkanen (The Perfect Neighbors) proves just how dangerous assumptions can be. Nellie, a young teacher, has met the man of her dreams. Nine years her senior, Richard is charming, handsome, and wealthy. He pampers Nellie like a queen--until he doesn't. Nellie is constantly thrown off-kilter--is Richard manipulating things that happen between them? Reality and deception are woven into a strange pattern of twisted understanding. As the difference in how each perceives their marriage grows wider, so does their estrangement until Richard leaves Nellie for another woman. Or so everyone believes. Who is this younger, blonde version of herself? Nellie is compelled to stalk her around Manhattan like a jealous ex. Will this woman become her replacement? VERDICT Readers who were enthralled by B.A. Paris's Behind Closed Doors and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl will love the skewed psychology and shifting perspectives of this domestic thriller. [See Prepub Alert, 7/24/14.]--Kirsche Romo, Duncanville, TX

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017

You know the story: a husband dumps a troublesome first wife for a woman with whom the discarded spouse becomes bitterly obsessed. That's not what happens here. Newbie Hendricks joins with USA Today best-selling author Pekkanen for psychological suspense with a big publicity push.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017

It's human nature to assume; we all do. But this psychological thriller by first-time novelist Hendricks and best-selling author Pekkanen (The Perfect Neighbors) proves just how dangerous assumptions can be. Nellie, a young teacher, has met the man of her dreams. Nine years her senior, Richard is charming, handsome, and wealthy. He pampers Nellie like a queen--until he doesn't. Nellie is constantly thrown off-kilter--is Richard manipulating things that happen between them? Reality and deception are woven into a strange pattern of twisted understanding. As the difference in how each perceives their marriage grows wider, so does their estrangement until Richard leaves Nellie for another woman. Or so everyone believes. Who is this younger, blonde version of herself? Nellie is compelled to stalk her around Manhattan like a jealous ex. Will this woman become her replacement? VERDICT Readers who were enthralled by B.A. Paris's Behind Closed Doors and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl will love the skewed psychology and shifting perspectives of this domestic thriller. [See Prepub Alert, 7/24/14.]--Kirsche Romo, Duncanville, TX

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 5, 2018
Voice actor Whelan rises to the challenge of narrating this psychological thriller by Pekkanen and Hendricks, which is told from the perspective an unreliable narrator named Vanessa Thompson. She appears to be a scorned woman with an alcohol problem and a disturbing fixation on the younger woman who is engaged to her ex-husband. Even though by now there have been enough novels with unreliable narrators to reduce the element of surprise, the authors use plenty of literary trickery to provide at least three genuine jaw-droppers. Since one of them is more easily hidden on the page than in audio format, reader Whelan is faced with the problem of keeping the secret while playing fair vocally, a task she carries off so subtly it’s unnoticeable until the big reveal. She provides the proper voices for Vanessa, the hot mess of an ex-wife, the about-to-be-wed buoyant Manhattan preschool teacher Nellie, and the man in their lives, Richard, a hedge fund manager who sounds a little rigid. It’s worth noting that, after twisting its plot to the breaking point, this ultra-deceptive novel ends with the advice that “the truth is the only way to move forward.” However, Whelan’s proven ability to coyly project deceit leaves listeners with no guarantee. A St. Martin’s hardcover.