Laura Sims 
How Can I Help You 
A Razor-sharp Suspense about Two Librarians Whose Lives Have Become Dangerously Intertwined

From the author of Looker comes this razor-sharp suspense about two librarians whose lives become dangerously intertwined.

No one knows Margo’s real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small-town public library only know her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of countless premature deaths in her wake. She has turned a new page, so to speak, and the library is her sanctuary, a place to quell old urges.

That is, at least, until Patricia, a recent graduate and failed novelist, joins the library staff. Patricia quickly notices Margo’s subtly sinister edge and watches her carefully. When a patron’s death in the library bathroom offers a hint of Margo’s mysterious past, Patricia can’t resist digging deeper – even as this new fixation becomes all-consuming.

Taut and compelling, How Can I Help You explores the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession.

PRAISE FOR HOW CAN I HELP YOU

‘A dark and spellbinding descent into jolly madness’ – MONA AWAD

‘A gripping and dark psychological thriller… Delicious… I read it one sitting’ – HARLAN COBEN

‘A sly meditation on art and identity and the depths we’ll go to protect our constructs. I couldn’t have loved this book more’ – PAUL TREMBLAY

‘With transfixing dual female narrators and an artful, innovative structure, How Can I Help You is both a riveting commentary on false pretenses and an utterly beguiling cat and mouse thriller’ – KIMBERLY Mc CREIGHT

‘A delicious mystery begging to be enjoyed beachside… Sure to satisfy just about any thriller craving’ – ROLLING STONE

‘Unnerving… reads like a homage to Shirley Jackson’s work’ – NEW YORK TIMES

‘Sims plumbs the depths of obsession and madness… deftly building the tension until the explosive ending’ – WASHINGTON POST

‘Fresh and funny… A quick read that is reminiscent of Laura Lippman’s Sunburn and Christine Mangan’s Tangerine’ – BOOKLIST

** A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week **
** A Crime Reads Book of the Month **
** A Town & Country Must-Read Book of the Summer **