Book # 10: You Are Not Alone, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

About the book:

The electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US and AN ANONYMOUS GIRL return with a brand new novel of psychological suspense, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

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.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does data shape Shay’s world and how does
she process it? Does her data journal ultimately serve
a higher purpose? Did you find Shay’s data entries
helped set up key moments in the story? Which
data nuggets did you find particularly interesting or
surprising?

 

2. Discuss how the Moore sisters came to infiltrate the

lives of Stacey, Daphne, Beth, and Amanda. How did

their paths overlap and what does each woman bring

to the table in terms of their talents? What are they

asked to sacrifice for the favors they’ve been given?

 

3. Were you impressed by the Moore sisters’ level of

surveillance and intervention in others’ lives? How

is this influence wielded in both sinister and lifeaffirming

ways? What ties these seemingly dissimilar

women together?

 

4. Do you think Shay could have avoided being

absorbed into the sisters’ orbit? What was appealing

to Shay about these glamorous women? Is loneliness

Shay’s greatest weakness?

 

5. What psychological tricks and methods (like

offering gifts) do the Moore sisters use to brilliantly

manipulate their targets?

 

6. When did you suspect Amanda was in danger? What

about Shay? What early signs tipped you off?

 

7. How did your feeling about Detective Williams

evolve throughout the book? When did you realize

that she was operating behind the scenes to help

Shay?

 

8. Describe how you felt watching Shay transform into a

clone of Amanda and paradoxically grow into a more

independent and confident version of herself. Were

you torn about how Shay was evolving? When did

the cost grow too high?

 

9. What is it about New York City—a modern, bustling,

and compressed city—that serves as an ideal

backdrop or accomplice to this story?

 

10. Discuss the early lives of the Moore sisters—what did

you learn later in the novel that helped color your

reading of their actions or behaviors? Did you root

for them at any point in the story? Who was really

the master architect of their plans, and how did the

sisters manage to look out for each other?

 

11. Discuss Sean and Jody’s role in Shay’s life. How did

their triangle affect Shay’s susceptibility to the Moore

sisters’ overtures? What do the people in Shay’s life

get wrong about her or misread?

 

12. When Shay visits Amanda’s mother, she feels as if

she’s tumbled into something called the Snowball

Effect: “Basically it means that people who commit

small acts of dishonesty find it easier to tell more lies.

As your fabrications pile up, your anxiety and shame

start to disappear” (p. 116). Why does Shay think

this? And does the Snowball Effect apply to the

other women in this novel besides Shay?

 

13. “Everything is working beautifully. Even though

Cassandra and Jane don’t enjoy deceiving the other

women, it’s necessary to protect them” (p. 195). Do

the other women in the group consent to setting up

Shay for the crime? Why? How do they engage with

the sisters’ plans, even if seemingly coerced by their

debt to them?

 

14. What cracks do the sisters begin to show that give

away their scheme? The clues inadvertently dropped

about a smoothie recipe, bedroom doors being left

ajar, meeting the neighbor with a cat--do these tip

off Shay initially? How does she continue to justify

their kindnesses against the mounting evidence of

something sinister at work?

 

15. Who is James and why does he become the target

for the circle? What heinous acts has he committed?

Does he deserve the punishment he gets?

 

16. What separates justice from revenge? Can you justify

the intentions of the Moore sisters? Is their mission

sympathetic? Is their approach more swift and

satisfying than the legal system, as they assert?

 

17. Could you imagine yourself falling under the spell

of the Moore sisters? What would appeal to you, or

what characteristics of your personality would make

you the most vulnerable to their influence?

 

18. Did you enjoy the cat-and-mouse chase and subway

clash at the end of the novel? Were you satisfied

and surprised by how all the puzzle pieces came

together?

 

19. Did you consider Shay’s last actions suspect—is

there any question she committed a murder? What

do you think she feels in her heart?