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From the New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women comes a smoldering erotic thriller with a singular, mind-bending ending.
Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. On the surface, both of their lives have essentially gone to plan.
When a former and beloved college professor suddenly passes away, Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for the funeral, circling something old and dangerous. Something, if Faye is honest with herself, she has been trying to duplicate for years. But Henry is one of a kind.
The kind who delivers a hypnotic apology for the way things ended.
The kind who suggests they go back to the hotel for a drink.
The kind who drugs and kidnaps her.
When Faye comes to Henry's remote mountain cabin, she's beside herself. Has Henry brought her here to punish her? She did, after all, write and star in a lauded episode of television based on their indelicate appetites and vicious breakup. As her week of captivity unfolds, Henry's wanton demands intensify, and Faye finds herself pulled back into his irresistible gravity. But as Faye and Henry spiral into their old dynamic, a sprawling, years-old mystery begins to take shape—one that will rewrite history as Faye remembers it and reveal an astounding, cataclysmic truth.
"[A] nuanced and unapologetic portrait of an unconventional relationship without judgment. Puts the 'erotic' back in 'erotic thriller.'" —Kirkus Reviews
"The whiplash-inducing twists are fun for a while, but the plot's uncomfortable sexual dynamics eventually become a liability, and Faye and Henry feel more like plot devices than three-dimensional characters. Readers will hope Knoll's next outing marks a return to form." —Publishers Weekly
"[A] taut contemporary tale of the explosive reunion of two former lovers…Knoll's twisty tale of psychological suspense, with its exploration of a nuanced relationship with elements of submission and control, will get readers talking." —Booklist
"A sexy new thriller." —New York Post
"Jessica Knoll is one of my favorite writers and Helpless is her at her best. A fearless, powerful and completely original thriller." —Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me and The First Time I Saw Him
"A dark, twisty and addictive read that you will struggle to put down." —Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of Don't Let Him In
This information about Helpless was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Sabrina Lantos
Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of The Favorite Sister and Luckiest Girl Alive—now a major motion picture from Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan and the articles editor at Self. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their bulldog, Beatrice.
Link to Jessica Knoll's Website
Name Pronunciation
Jessica Knoll: nole, like the word "knoll"
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