A solid 2-3 star thriller. This is what I refer to as a "popcorn" thriller altho this wasnt exactly thrilling. I thought the characters werent interesting or fleshed out enough. Despite Margo being a serial killer I didnt find the story that scary or ugent? I didnt feel tense. It just wasnt what I thought when i read the synopsis.

How well do we really know our co-workers and their past? How Can I Help You explores the relationship between coworkers. Margo and Patricia play cat and mouse when Patricia stubbles upon Margo's murderous past.  From the start, both leads are superficial and boring which makes it harder for the reader to relate to them. Patricia's disdain for having to lower herself to a librarian made her character unlikable and self-centered. While Margo was happy with her life and seemed to be a one-time killer turned paige. Most of the story was about what happened in the past and Patricia complaining about her life. Leaving the interesting segment of the plot in the cold

Margo is a librarian at a small community library and lives a scheduled and peaceful life but no one knows her secret. She has another identity that she has hidden and run from for many reasons. After an two years the library decides to hire a reference librarian and Margo starts to feel uncomfortable. After an unfortunate situation at the library puts Margo in the spotlight the new reference librarian makes it her mission to get to know Margo. Through different encounters the new librarian starts to get suspicious and tries to delve deeper into who is Margo? 

I personally was not a fan of this book. It felt very long and drawn out. I read the synopsis before and so I was expecting some sort of psychological thriller with lots of plot and dialogue and I didnt feel like that at all. It was basically two perspectives that ran congruent to each other and at some times intertwined with each other. The idea behind the story was great but it just fell short. There was a cat and mouse feeling to the book but what I will say is that we find out pretty much everything about the characters half way through. What this causes is a situation where there is a buildup of suspense but we already know so much that it is underwhelming at the end. I wanted more and didnt get it which is why my rating is only 3 stars.

I thought this book started really well and hooked me from the beginning. Especially working in a public library, I found it interesting to hear about Margo and Patricia's daily work activities. I finished this book in two days because I couldn't put it down (and it's not that long) but I have to say the ending left me wanting a little more interaction between Patricia and Margo. Overall, it was a fun (though dark) read that I would recommend.

Those of us who love books often have a fantasy about working in a library. That unique scent of coffee, chocolate, and old paper that permeates the building! The soothing quiet swooshes of pages turning and murmured conversations! And, everywhere, books! Unfortunately, that fantasy is dispelled by the reality that working at a library—or anywhere, really—is about working with people. And people can be messy. Quite messy.

Laura Sims, a poet and novelist who also works as a part-time reference librarian, knows these messes. She’s placed her second book, How Can I Help You, in a small community library in tiny Carlyle, Illinois. There, clerk Margo deals with annoying patrons such as the woman who won’t return her books or pay her fines and the man who watches porn. Perhaps these patrons would behave better if they knew Margo was really Jane, a nurse on the run from her killer past. When Patricia, a failed novelist escaping a suffocating boyfriend in Chicago, takes a job as a reference librarian, Margo is immediately wary—Patricia reminds her of the charge nurse who turned her in. But Margo lets her guard down just enough to pique Patricia’s writerly interest. From that point, things unfold in unpredictable ways.

The book is told from both women’s first-person points of view. While Margo kicks off the action, the character doesn’t have the self-awareness that really allows readers to understand and root for her. There’s mention of a fire in her past that killed her mother and stepfather; hints that she set the fire, but the root of her murderous impulses remains unexamined. She also comes across as annoying, so I found myself hoping she’d get caught. 

Patricia, on the other hand, has the disappointment of a failed book and a boring boyfriend that make her a more universal character. Even though she’s new to Carlyle, she already feels trapped, passing on that claustrophobic feeling to the reader. As she starts to figure out Margo’s secret, it energizes her and gets the book moving. 

Sims is a clever writer, and she sets up coincidences and then takes a sharp turn rather than following through with those set-ups. I was surprised when plot points I’d predicted did not pan out. The ending is totally gratifying and completely earned. It’s a short book (I clocked in at two hours) and fast-paced, a perfect travel companion.

How Can I Help You is a return to the stereotypical librarian—the older woman in glasses wearing an austere look, a vague threat of severe punishment if a person laughs too loudly. Nurses, librarians, waitresses, and others in the service profession—primarily women—are routinely ignored and often treated poorly. This book may be fiction, but it’s a good reminder to pay attention to the people in these roles. They’re human, too. And someday, they might just have enough. 

Thanks to Putnam for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Told from two POV's, the book begins with Margo. Margo works at her local library and lives a very structured and controlled life. She must remain in control at all times to manage the library personalities, but more importantly to keep her secrets safe. Patricia is the second POV, she begins working at the library after a failed attempt at writing a book. She is trying to focus on a new path, but writing is her passion. When an incident happens at the library, Margo and Patricia begin to see each other in a different, more suspicious light. 
This is a slow burn story. I really enjoyed the everyday life of working in the library and managing the people that visit regularly. The characters are well written, and being inside Margo's head was quite the ride. There are definitely parts where I needed to suspend my disbelief, but overall I enjoyed this story.

⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.5)

Thank you to @netgalley  @PRHaudio and @putnambooks for the gifted copy of this book.

When serial killer Margo and aspiring author Patricia wind up working together in a library, they’ve each got their eye on each other. In all honesty, I’m not really sure what the point of the plot was, but I really liked it regardless. While I don’t think that I was supposed to, I liked Margo’s crazy ass. She’s highly suspicious of Patricia, and in general she just seems anxious, not surprising given her favorite pastime. 🥴 Told in separate points of view, I found that I liked Margo’s POVs more so than Patricia’s. Again, I don’t know what the plot truly was, but it was a fun read and I will certainly read more from this author. Thanks to Putnam Books for my eARC. How Can I Help You is available now.

How Can I Help You really spoke to my librarian heart. There were so many little remarks made about libraries that I was really happy to see. The story was gripping and it was short. I would recommend it to others but I felt it fell a little flat. I would read from this author again tho!

This book had me wanting to do nothing else but immerse myself in this thriller set in a library.  I enjoyed the multiple POVs in the narrative form.  Librarian/killer nurse vs. runaway writer was a great set up.  The sense of foreboding throughout the book was fantastic.  I would have selfishly loved another chapter of Margo at the very end, but that's the only drawback I can think of.  Great read!

Rounded up to 3.5 stars

How Can I Help You is a dual-POV thriller that follows two librarians, Margo and Patricia. One has a secret, while the other is set on uncovering the secret-albeit for unknown reasons. 

As a thriller, this book wasn't very twisty, but it was an edgy, fast-paced read. I wanted to know more about Margo's story, and I was pulled in by the potential of not one, but two unreliable narrators. There were some loose ends with Patricia's background, and while questions remain, I wonder if her story was purposely left to the readers' imagination. The ending left me torn; I found myself asking, is this a commentary on the intensity of writer/character relationships? I wasn't quite sure how to take this story, but Margo was quite the character, and I was entertained. I still want to know: where did all the damn books go?

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. I don't know if it was an abrupt start into the drama of it all that was a bit disorienting, or if it was something else. I also didn't really care for any of the characters. The story was interesting, and definitely unique, and I ended up finishing the book but I'm not sure it would be top of the list of books I'd recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC!

A very enjoyable thriller. I found both characters flawed and compelling and enjoyed how their mutual obsession played out. However, there were parts of Margo's backstory (such as when she was describing her philosophy and feelings around working in a religious hospital) where I found myself thinking, I kind of wish I was reading THIS story instead. But that's likely my personal preference for what themes I'm looking for in a story.
Can we all agree that Dan, who started dating a writer and then discouraged her writing and who hates public libraries, is the real villian of the story? Margo should have killed him.

A bookseller recommended this as an "airplane book," as in a book you can likely finish within a plane ride, and that's engaging enough to keep your attention the whole time. 

<i>Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the early review copy of this book. I got behind on my commitments and borrowed the audiobook from my local library. </i>

How Can I Help You? is a darkly funny and suspenseful thriller about two librarians whose lives become dangerously intertwined. Margo is a circulation clerk at the Carlyle Public Library, but she's not who she seems. She's actually a fugitive named Jane Rivers, a former nurse who has a compulsion to help people die. Patricia is a recent graduate and failed novelist who also works at the library. She's immediately suspicious of Margo, and when a patron is found dead in the library bathroom, Patricia becomes obsessed with uncovering Margo's secret. The tension heightens right up to the shocking conclusion. 

The characters are well-developed, and their psychoses are somehow relatable? The book is full of dark humor, and Sims does a great job of balancing the suspense with the laughs.

Overall, How Can I Help You? is a fun and suspenseful read that will keep you guessing until the very end. I highly recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers and dark humor.

I love how this book was set in a library and used the setting well!  The library was the perfect backdrop for this story.  The two main characters were well developed and I enjoyed their varying perspectives.  This is a short book and it reads very quickly.  If you are looking for a quick-paced thriller I would highly recommend.  I hope more thrillers are sent against the backdrop of a library!

**Thank you to Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.** 

As a Librarian, I was so incredibly pleased with the accuracy of what it's like to work in a library - sometimes there really are people that watch...unallowed...videos on the public computers with the knowledge that they're going to get caught. It's like some kind of game to them. And - no - we don't get paid to read books all day. 

I really do appreciate this accurate portrayal of working in a library - you can tell that Sims knows her stuff!

I was able to get through this book rather quickly and couldn't seem to put it down, but I didn't really...enjoy it? It was entertaining enough to hold your attention and Margo is the worst of the worst, but it all kind of feels surface level and in the end it was rather boring? Which kind of bothers me because there's a case of hidden identities and a fire! 

I think Sims was trying to write an unlikable character - which she succeeded at - but it was all too a little evil villain-y and made it cringe instead of fun. I believe this is due to - yes, there is a success in having an unlikable character - but there is literally nothing else to her. Margo is evil and we're not supposed to like her, but we don't really have a choice - there is nothing to like about her because there IS nothing else to her character/personality. It's not hard to dislike someone when there is nothing to like, but it makes them feel more like a cartoon villain than a real person. It also feels like a cheap way out to some extent. 

It also doesn't help that we have a dual POV book that features the world's most villainous villain and the most whiny not-writer (who writes for most of this book). It's all flat cardboard characters thrown together to see what would happen if...

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into with this one but I loved it. 2 unreliable and unlikeable characters kept me on my toes. i finished it in one sitting. This author will turn into an auto buy for me.

Unfortunately, this was not my fave. I loved the author's last book, Looker, and I think there she really shined in, illustrating the obsessive relationship between the two women. I didn't quite buy it in How Can I Help You- I liked elements, and certainly appreciated the premise, but overall, this was a miss.

I tried to finish this story, but couldn't. Perhaps it wasn't the right time to read it but I could not get into the story and was not engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced reader copy!

This book was very much up my alley. I loved delving into Margo's past as well as the dual narrator dynamic. I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Putnam Books, and Laura Sims for providing me with an eARC of this book. This is my honest review.
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I'm going to start off this review by talking about another book by another author, but it's important I promise. Earlier this year I read Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater and I found it riveting. A wickedly captivating book about two not-so-good women at odds who somehow still manage to reel you in. I likened it to something grossly fascinating that you can't look away from. Told in two off-putting perspectives and exploring the darker side of the human psyche, How Can I Help You is similar in a lot of ways. Not story-wise, but in the themes they explore and emotions they illicit. Essence twins, mayhaps?
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How Can I Help You is a big cat and mouse game, but you're never quite sure who's the cat and who's the mouse. Margo and Patricia are two nasty little peas in a pod. There's no good guy here, folks! Is this book super graphic horror? No. Will it keep you up at night? Probably not. But will you randomly think about it at 3pm on a Tuesday and wonder if the new librarian at your local library is capable of murder? Yeah, maybe!
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How Can I Help You is available for purchase in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook format.