Hendrick Hudson Free Library (Montrose) & Eastchester Public Library present: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

 

Tonight I attended the Hendrick Hudson Free Library event with Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. This event was to celebrate the launch of their paperback version of You Are Note Alone. Greer Hendrick's 5th grade teacher, who is acknowledged in their first book was a part of our zoom meeting tonight. We got to learn about the book and hear an excerpt read by the authors themselves. 

The question of the night, who believes in love at first site? More than half of Americans believe in love at first site. 4 in 10 Americans say they have fallen in love at first site. 3/4 of Americans believe in one true love. 

Some things we learned...

The Author Team

Sarah Pekkanen has written 8 novels on her own, and You Are Not Alone is the third book she co-authored with Greer Hendricks. When Sarah and Greer first met they found they had a  lot in common.  They both studied psychology, are not the best cooks and have brothers named Robert. They subscribe to psychology today and listen to all things psychology podcast. Anyway….Greer was Sarah’s editor at Simon and Schuster and they enjoyed working together so Sarah suggested they co-author a book and the rest is history.

Great Success

The two authors egg each other on to dip in to their alter egos and come up with dark and twisted ideas for their characters.  Every line of their books is written together and this method has been extremely successful for them.  The Wife Between Us has been optioned by Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg’s company, and Pekkanen and Hendricks have been hired to write the screenplay.  An Anonymous Girl is being adapted into a TV series for eOne where the author duo will be executive producers.

Fun Fact

In You Are Not Alone, their latest psychological thriller, Shay Miller carries around a data book.  She is number focused, and this notebook is filled with facts and figures which she relies on to help her figure out the world.  One of the facts she mentions is that a person will walk by 16 killers in a lifetime.  Sarah confirmed that based on her research, this scary fact has proven to be true.

They wrote 200 pages for this book and scrapped it. It was set in a retreat originally and they said that the plot felt too claustrophobic. 

This is the first book they explored a police officer character together  however Sarah covered police cases for the Baltimore Sun. Where Greer had more comfort with neighborhoods in Manhattan as she lives there. 

Interesting fact, neither Greer or Sarah read thrillers while they are writing their thrillers. They don't want to be tainted or intimidated or guided in any way by what they read. 

About The Book

Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.

Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better. 

Shay would die for them to like her. 
She may have to.

Up Next

Pekkanen and Hendricks are now finalizing their fourth book due out in 2021, about a maverick psychologist.  In the meantime, available in May on audible, is a 20,000 word short thriller they co-wrote called The Getaway.

Posted by book lover: Brittany P.