You Can't Hurt Me

November 1, 2024

Journalist Cook's domestic suspense debut features a toxic marriage and unreliable narration. Eva Reid, who could not feel pain, is found dead inside the home she shared with her husband, a famous scientist who runs the Pain Laboratory. Journalist Anna Tate becomes obsessed with Eva's death and inserts herself into the couple's lives and secrets. Prepub Alert.

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November 1, 2024
Journalist Anna Tate is known for getting to the core of her subjects. When she's offered a chance to ghostwrite a memoir with famed scientist Dr. Nate Reid, she jumps at it. Nate's wife, Eva, who recently died, had a rare condition where she could not feel pain. Fascinated by Eva's condition, Anna walks the line between professionalism and impropriety, pushing Nate to share the most personal parts of his life. As she grows closer to Nate, Anna realizes the events leading to Eva's death are not as cut and dried as they seem. The characters in Cook's debut thriller are understandably flawed and unlikeable. Anna's storyline is front and center, but Cook weaves Eva's voice in through past journal entries, providing depth and detail needed to move the story along. While exciting, the connection between Eva and Anna and the eventual path the plot takes might appear a little too coincidental--but readers will still enjoy the twists and turns. Recommended for readers who enjoy domestic thrillers by Katherine Faulkner, Sally Hepworth, and Liane Moriarty.

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Starred review from September 9, 2024
Cook keeps readers on their toes in her exhilarating debut, which centers on a journalist who takes a ghostwriting gig for a well-known neuroscientist. Anna Tate has fought hard to land a job helping Dr. Nate Reid write a biography of his artist wife, Eva, whose body was found in her West London studio two years earlier. Eva’s rare medical condition—first diagnosed by Nate—made it impossible for her to feel pain, and Nate rose to prominence by researching her disorder. As Anna parses Eva’s diaries and delves into the couple’s history, she discovers that her own past may intersect with the dead woman’s in ways she never knew. Complicating matters are a new inquest into Eva’s death, championed by her sister, Kath; the reemergence of Tony, Anna’s protective younger brother, who fears for her safety as she gets closer to Nate; and the opaque machinations of Nate’s publisher, Priya. Each character harbors just enough dark secrets to keep readers guessing about where their sympathies should lie. When the reveals finally come, they’re richly satisfying. Rarely has the frustration of not knowing who to trust been so much fun.