You Are Not Alone

When one morning Shay Miller observes a woman committing suicide in the New York underground, her life, too, crumbles and falls. The shock sits so deep that she in not able to enter any underground station anymore. She starts to investigate about the woman and soon finds out her name, Amanda, and thus comes across some of her friends: Cassandra and Jane Moore, two sisters her own age who are everything Shay is not: They have a successful PR agency, know how to dress and obviously know the right places and the right people in town. Just as Shay is fascinated by them, they seem to feel pity for her and help her to find a new place to stay when she needs to move out, they help her to get a new style and also can connect her to finally find a better job. All seems to be perfect in Shay’s new life, yet some things are completely wrong and it does not take too long for her to realise that all that glitters isn’t gold, but fake and also highly dangerous.

I was already fascinated by “The Wife Between Us” which convinced me due to the very clever construction of the story. In “You Are Not Alone”, we also get the story narrated from different points of view and also different points in time which cleverly supports suspense since you already get facts which do not make too much sense until you learn the story behind them. As you are always a bit ahead of Shay, you sympathise with her and, of course, you hope that in the end, all will turn out well even though you cannot be too sure of that.

The whole plot lives on the characters. Shay as well as Cassandra and Jane are interestingly drawn and totally contrasting which makes them equally appealing for the reader. Just a simply – yet, quite important aspect – that I totally adored was Shay’s obsession with numbers and statistics. The authors have perfectly integrated this fact into the story.

Apart from the entertaining factor, in my opinion, the novel also provides insight in the psychological mechanisms that operate within people who are a bit unsecure and rather sad since their life did not turn out the way they hoped. Shay is very clever and likeable, nevertheless, in all areas of her life she more or less failed: neither does she have a flat of her own, nor a permanent job or relationship. No wonder that she immediately falls for the shiny and glamorous Moore sisters who represent everything she also wishes for. This makes it quite easy for them to manipulate her – just as they managed to take advantage of others who were in critical situations, too.

A captivating suspense novel that I did not want to put down once I had started.