I Need You to Read This

Books | Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense

3.5

Jessa Maxwell

This “super creepy” (The Washington Post) and “perfectly plotted whodunnit” (Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author) follows an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor’s murder—from the bestselling author of The Golden Spoon. Years ago, Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her quiet world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times. When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position but soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much. As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and she suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her in this “fresh and fascinating” (Megan Collins, author of The Family Plot) page-turner.

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More Details:

Author

Jessa Maxwell

Pages

304

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

2024-08-13

ISBN

166800805X 9781668008058

Community ReviewsSee all

"I adored this book with my whole heart! Alex can’t stop running and hiding, but the question is from what? What could be stopping her from living a more vibrant, connective life? It’s a composition of many things. There are excellent reasons that she initially mostly keeps to herself and the safety of her shoebox apartment, begging to feel better, more fulfilled, and at ease. But then her life is irreversibly shaken up when a murder happens, but not just any murder. The murder of famed advice columnist Francis Keen. Alex has looked up to her ever since she can possibly remember. Francis knows just how to balance her advice with the right amounts of empathy and determination. She inspires Alex endlessly and makes her think there could be more out there. So when Alex sees that they’re looking for Francis’s replacement she jumps at the opportunity to apply and eventually gets the job. With understandable trepidation and fear, Alex channels every ounce of grit she has left to do Francis’s legacy justice. However, when threatening things start to happen, Alex becomes more and more certain that someone had it out for Francis and now similarly have it out for her. It could feel easier and temporarily soothing to retreat inside herself again, but she braves it and does so for all those that couldn’t. Well-written, intriguing, and propulsive, I felt how immensely hard it can be to give advice, not only to others, but to yourself. Things are easier said than put into practice. Yet Alex proves herself to be a magical thinker and intuitive weaver of words. I loved her character’s careful compassion and how she became all at once a flower at full bloom with time, grace, and patience. All that’s damaged isn’t broken. And, guess what, I need you to read this! "