Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one.  Definitely one of the best books this year.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. Characters fell flat, the story was repetitive and the climax was too abrupt.

A perfect psychological suspense novel that drew me in from page one, especially since a library plays a large part- what book love wouldn't like that? A fast read that kept me reading as fast as I could until the very end.

I was initially drawn to this book because of the cover. I am a librarian, and I thought the image of the library card going up in flames was intriguing. I loved the library setting and the descriptions of the various patrons. I also like the allusions to Margo's mysterious past and how the narration switched back and forth between Margo and Patricia, allowing the reader to glimpse events from both characters' perspectives. The ending was unexpected, and the story kept my interest the entire time. Definitely recommend.

This book wasn't my cup of tea. The plot was incredibly slow, focusing so much on the goings on at the library, mixed with Margo's creepy thoughts. It felt like not much was happening throughout the book, and the chapters were so long, I kept losing interest. The characters were really hard to understand or relate to as well, so I didn't really care what happened to either one.  The story picked up towards the end slightly, but it really wasn't enough to save the rating for me.

How Can I Help You is a dark and mysterious cat and mouse psychological suspense novel. Margo is hiding who she really is and her past from her fellow library co-workers. When newly hired Patricia is brought on board, she can sense there is something odd about Margo.  Her obsession into who Margo really is leads to an explosive ending. The pace of the novel kept me engaged and intrigued. Told between the alternating point of views of Margo and Patricia the author does a great job of putting the reader inside each of the characters minds and giving them an individuality that comes across on the page. Neither character is likable but that is okay in this setting, although it made it tough to root for one or the other. I was still interested in finishing the novel to learn the fate of the characters. At a bit over 250 pages this is a quick read, and one that is easy enough to speed through. I would have liked to have a bit more suspense and friction between the characters, most of the action took place in the thoughts of the characters, making for a good psychological experience. Overall, a good novel. 

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for offering an advanced complementary digital copy for me to review. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes my desire to know nothing about a book going into it really isn't my best practice. I saw library theme, decided based on nothing that is was prob lit fic and jumped in. Spoiler alert, it is not! It's horror/creepy and while I did end up enjoying it, it was not exactly what I decided it was going to be. Definitely if you enjoy creepy books that make your skin crawl, this is the book for you! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This story will appeal to a very specific audience. We try to find books with mass appeal so it's not a good fit for our libraries. I personally stopped at 9%. It's very readable, but I found the amount of inner monologue tiring personally.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

The premise for this book was very interesting - I even found the eerily complicated and intriguing character of Margot/Jane appealing. But the ending fell flat and short. With how creepy Margot was, I wished the author did more with that especially with how the book resolved. Again, it ended too short. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy!

Dueling narrators are the driving force of Laura Sims's HOW CAN I HELP YOU. They're equally compelling & propulsive, rocketing the narrative forward at a relentless pace. We leap between two perspectives - Margo & Patricia, local librarians - back & forth, back & forth. This not only makes for an engrossing read but it infuses the pages, already growing with obsession, with a paranoia so thick you can't shake it even after reaching the back cover.

Laura Sims has done it again. After having loved her debut, Looker, I was eager to get my hands on her latest release and she did not disappoint.

Margo is a circulation clerk at the Carlyle Public Library. She loves her job and more importantly loves helping people. She enjoys her quiet life and daily routines until a new reference librarian is hired. Patricia is young, pretty, and stylish - all things Margo wishes to be. She's also intuitive so when Margo asks her out for a coffee and informs her that she used to be a nurse that left abruptly due to an investigation, of which she insists she wasn't guilty of, Patricia's mind starts simmering with curiosity of why this straight laced librarian would make such a career switch so late in life.

What Margo doesn't realize is that Patricia is a failed writer. Her first novel was rejected from every publisher which promptly ended her dream but Margo has sparked something in Patricia and with a little research she finds out just who Margo really is. Now the words are simply pouring out of her while she writes notes frantically on the page. This book could be it. The one to catapult her stardom.

Margo suspects Patricia. Patricia suspects Margo. Who will prevail the victor in this game of cat and mouse? You'll need to read this to find out!

What a gem of a book. I was hooked on every word. Laura Sims fleshed these characters out perfectly and I assure you that you won't be looking at your local librarian the same way again. The ending is what did though, what sealed the deal - I officially love this author! 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for my complimentary copy.

This was a fun, dark thriller. I enjoyed the different perspectives and was surprised by the ending. This was a quick read and a different take than your typical thriller.

The Carlyle Public Library’s newest circulation clerk, Margo Finch, is an employee who is actually a fugitive named Jane Rivers, a former nurse whose hospital stays coincided with a string of suspicious deaths. Jane’s has a compulsion to help patients die, based on her own assessment that their time has come. Margo gets used to her dull work routine as a trade-off for her freedom. A library patron is found dying in a restroom causing her murderous urges are return.   Patricia Delmarco, librarian and failed novelist brings to her job secrets of her own, and gradually becomes obsessed with uncovering Jane’s past.  She suspects that Margo is Jane.  Will she tell on Margo’s past?  

The author has written an eerie thriller novel about former nurse with a cruel streak and an aspiring novelist check each other out in a library..  it is a taut and compelling novel to read.  It shows a dark side of the two people working in the library.  I enjoyed the feeling of suspense at the end of the novel.  It is an unforgettable story.

What could be better than a library circulation clerk who is also a serial killer? Margo has carefully crafted a new persona--middle-aged library employee who (usually) gets along with everyone and is skilled at handling difficult patrons. 

When Patricia is hired to fill the long-vacant reference librarian position, the equilibrium in the small-town library is disturbed. She is surprised by the ridiculous nature of the questions she's asked to answer (what time is a television show on? How many miles to a city?), and she soon starts using her spare time to resume fiction writing, the career she'd given up to become a librarian.

And with the death of a longtime patron, Patricia sees another side of Margo, and begins her own investigation while a local detective also takes interest in the seemingly benign circ clerk.

This novel is so delightfully weird, I loved it. Told in alternating points of view, with neither Patricia nor Margo as a reliable narrator, and neither particularly likable. I'll be keeping a closer eye on library staff the next time I check out a book. #HowCanIHelpYou #NetGalley

I absolutely loved it! It’s a fun and effortless read. Two narrators. One has a dark past and the other has a bleak future. Both caught in a web of lies that neither can turn back from. With a twist I didn’t see coming. This was my first by this author but won’t be my last.

Loved this book! I am a fan of Laura Sims work, both her other novel LOOKER and her collections of poetry. This book is fun, scary, swerving narrative that captured my attention.

I quite enjoyed this book, with the setting in a public library.

The book is told from two points of view, we start with Margo who turns out just reinvented herself from being Jane, who decided that working in a sleepy town public library was perfect for her. She gets the job and as long as she has her scalding hot bath every evening things are going well, forgetting about Jane and what she did as a nurse.

One day in comes Patricia, filling the 12-year empty reference desk position. Patricia reminds Margo too much of her ex-nurse friend Donna and that rattles Margo. Things escalate when a patron is found in the bathroom stall near death.

It isn’t such a sleepy library after all.

Lots of laugh out loud moments for this librarian! I enjoyed the duel narrators and the building of both characters. Was not expecting the ending.

Margo Finch has left her old life in the rearview mirror. Once a nurse who cared deeply for her patients, she’s now a library assistant – not that anyone can tell the difference between her and the town of Carlyle’s actual librarians. Working in a library is significantly different from her old job, and different too from the libraries of her youth. Shushing patrons is frowned upon, her boss tells her, as modern libraries seek to be a gathering place for the communities they serve.

Since Margo is as adaptable as she is competent, she quickly puts aside her old ideas and learns how to become the perfect library employee. Her unflappability makes her the go-to person when her co-workers aren’t sure how to handle a difficult patron. She’s had a lot of experience remaining calm under pressure from her hospital work, after all:

QUOTE
[C]haos could erupt from the heart of this quiet, too; suddenly I’d find myself standing by a patient’s bedside as commotion descended: hurried footsteps, shouted directions. I stayed calm, soothing the forehead or hands of a struggling one, shushing them gently, steadily handing this or that to the doctor while keeping my eyes locked on the terrified eyes. I’d show them my shining face and my beatific smile and they clung to it, hung their souls onto it, and sometimes they gripped my arms with their wasted claws and literally held me, and I let them. They needed me. I was their living, breathing saint: their nurse.
END QUOTE

Working in a library definitely isn’t the same, but Margo is happy enough with her life change. Until, that is, glamorous new hire Patricia Delmarco arrives to shake up the place.

Margo is instantly drawn to her newest co-worker, who reminds her of friends long ago left behind. Patricia feels a reciprocal attraction but is more standoffish. She has, after all, just abandoned her entire life in Chicago to come work in small town Carlyle. Reeling from her decision to close the door – or, perhaps more fittingly, drawer – on an important part of her existence, she’s leery of forming new connections. A strange incident in the library bathroom gives her a small but crucial insight into Margo’s past, however, sparking a closeness both women at once crave and fear.

Intrigued as well as well-armed with her master’s in library science, Patricia starts to investigate her new co-worker, pursuing Margo’s truth even as the two women begin to bond. She’s thus understandably horrified to discover that Margo is wanted for questioning in a string of hospital deaths. But she’s also intrigued, as a desire she thought she’d been able to snuff out slowly rekindles within her:

QUOTE
I have a story now–or a story <i>has me</i>. Without willing it, I see my character sketches and notes cohere around a central spine: Margo as a killer nurse, living a camouflaged life. Determined not to kill again, but tempted, so tempted sometimes.

She’s a character in a book. <i>My</i> book. And like that, I acknowledge it. <i>I am writing a book</i>. I don’t deny or shy away from it this time. I can’t. How can I deny a story like this? One with such power and potential momentum?

I don’t think for one moment, <i>I should go turn her in. I should call the police.</i> Or–I think it, but I bat it away.
END QUOTE

Soon enough, the two women embark on a cat and mouse game, grappling with the truth as each sees it and trying to pry open each other’s secrets. When the tension becomes too high, someone else has to die. But that’s only the first murder, as Margo and Patricia head for a showdown that promises destruction, more death and, perhaps, a terrible form of rebirth.

How Can I Help You? is a compelling take on the complicated relationship between author and muse, as well as the ethics of writing fiction. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Margo and Patricia, this book explores the power inherent in the acts of nursing both people and ideas. I only wish that more of each character’s back stories had been explored. Tantalizing hints are dropped throughout the novel, but deeper explanations would have really driven the impact home.

That said, this is an absorbing, fast read about the dark sides of care work and public service. If you’ve ever wanted a book that riffs with literary inventiveness on the “kill your darlings” advice often given to authors, then this suspenseful novel with an ending worthy of a horror story is definitely the read for you.

I made it past the half way mark and called it quits. This one just didn't hold my interest. The two main characters were too odd in a creepy kind of way for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.