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| Laura Sims: How Can I Help You? You wouldn’t think a book that almost entirely takes place in a library could be so suspenseful and so close to a horror story! Some really chilling character development. |
“On the surface, Margo, one of the main characters in Laura Sims’s unnerving HOW CAN I HELP YOU … is a cheerful librarian known for her ready smile and her willingness to perform even the most mundane task. But it’s a facade she can maintain for only so long, because she has a secret: In her previous job, she was a nurse whose hobby was murdering her patients.”
The other main character, Patricia, is also working in the library. However, her real goal in life is to write a novel that will be accepted for publication, her first novel having been roundly rejected. She catches onto Margo’s secret identity and discovers her real name and her past. Patricia constantly watches her co-worker, taking notes all the time, and planning to base a new plot for her novel on Margo, thus producing a much more dramatic novel than her rejected one. From the NYT review:
“Sims’s great achievement is to present the two main characters almost as sides of the same coin, colluding in a psychological cat-and-mouse game that only one can win.”
The end of this story, I found, was a clever surprise.
Review © 2025 mae sander
8 comments:
Wonderful review.
Noooo! Not a cheerful librarian who hides a dark secret?! lol
I did a doubletake when I saw the author's name, because I have a storytelling acquaintance by that name! Had she written a novel?? But no, Laura Simms, storyteller extraordinaire, is not the author of this book. It certainly sounds like a creepy read!
Great review, thanks for sharing. Take care, have a great day!
This sounds like a really good one!
The cover is intriguing. I was thinking it might be about the death of print. :) Good review without any spoilers.
Quite a premise. Seems like an Interesting but scary cat & mouse game between the characters.
I love the idea behind this book!
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