By: Sonja Yoerg
ISBN: 1542019729
Publisher: Lake Union
Publication Date: 05/01/20
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars +++
Top Books of 2020 From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a suspenseful novel of love, secrets, and obsession. Psychology professor Jackie Strelitz thinks she’s over Harlan Crispin, her ex-lover and colleague. Why should she care if Harlan springs a new “friend” on her? After all, Jackie has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband and a thriving career. Still, she can’t help but be curious about Harlan’s latest. Nasira Amari is graceful, smart, and appallingly young. Worse, she’s the newest member of Jackie’s research team. For five years, Harlan enforced rules limiting his relationship with Jackie. With Nasira, he’s breaking every single one. Why her?
Fixated by the couple, Jackie’s curiosity becomes obsession. But she soon learns that nothing is quite what it seems and that to her surprise—and peril—she may not be the only one who can’t let go.
My Review
Master storyteller, Sonja Yoerg returns following (2019) True Places with her latest STORIES WE NEVER TOLD. Perfectly paced and brilliantly crafted a compulsively readable and deeply satisfying psychological suspense thriller! I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Be prepared to be “wowed” and blindsided. Unpredictable, chilling, EXPLOSIVE! I read this one in one sitting. Nothing could distract me from this book!
Trust me, you will be enthralled. You will not be able to stop turning the pages until the shocking final jaw-dropping twist.
Meet Jackie and Miles. Jackie is a psychology professor. The couple is friends with Jackie’s ex-boyfriend of five years, Harlan. As the book opens, Jackie and hubby are meeting Harlan and a new woman in his life for dinner.
However, Jackie is totally shocked to see Nasira, her new postdoctoral research associate. Young, beautiful, and smart, Jackie finds herself JEALOUS. What is she doing here?
Jealousy turns to obsession.
“She knew (in her mind, not her heart) that appearances could be deceptive, and that love, desire, and ambition make it harder to see others for who they are.”
However, this is only the beginning. Soon, Jackie will find her life unraveling. Someone is out to get her.
This is no ordinary triangle. There is so much more below the surface, so get ready for the "ride of your life." There are so many stories, lies, secrets, manipulation, and deceit. So how will the players determine who is controlling this game?
We hear from Harlan, Jackie, Miles, and Nasira. You might think this is a game of cat and mouse. There is so much MORE to be uncovered.
Someone is hiding something big. (well more than someone) Someone is a sociopath. Who can be trusted and just how evil and sinister is this monster? How far will they go, and who will be collateral damage? How much of their personalities are shaped by their past?
From past to present, we soon learn nothing is as it appears. Appearances are deceiving.
Yoerg dazzles! This book is darker than her previous books (and man, has she found her niche). More, please! Movie-worthy (fingers crossed). 🎬 However, fans, do not worry, her signature lyrical prose is still apparent throughout.
A twisty, intelligent, wickedly plotted psychological thriller with dark, creepy surprises and best of all the hilarious dark humor! (cover love)
I loved Nasira’s character, and STORIES WE NEVER TOLD is quite thought-provoking. Beneath the pristine exteriors, we see that often the stains will ultimately show.
Sonja does a brilliant job balancing the darkness and the light with the contrast between the relationship between Grace and Hector compared to the others.
"Perhaps everyone has stories they keep in a lockbox, stories they are not willing to own much less share. But if you don't acknowledge your own history- all of it, especially the underside-then aren't you creating blind spots of your own?"
OK, readers, I know you guys say it is hard to keep your mind on reading during COVID-19. Well, Sonja Yoerg's STORIES WE NEVER TOLD hooked me from the first page and never let up. I was not thinking of anything else except "the book." I was transported. One of my favorite thrillers of 2020.
If you loved Heather Gudenkuaf's THIS IS HOW I LIED, Jennifer Hillier's LITTLE SECRETS, Kimberly Belle's DEAR WIFE, Kaira Rouda's THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, and Victoria Helen Stone's JANE DOE, you are assured to devour Sonja's STORIES WE NEVER TOLD!
Get this book on your list NOW!
Praise
“Stories We Never Told is a beautifully told story of love and obsession, a gradual unearthing of long-held secrets that can unravel even the happiest of marriages. Yoerg has a real talent for creating compelling and complex characters who wrestle with real-life situations, leaving the reader wondering who to root for until the very end. Yoerg should be on every reader’s radar.”
—Kimberly Belle, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Wife
“It’s a rare psychological thriller that shows both the dark depths our obsessions can lead to and the unlikely breakthroughs that can let the light in. Sonja Yoerg’s Stories We Never Told does just that, deftly introducing a brilliant cast of characters for whom detachment and intimacy can be equally terrifying. A taut, clever, and satisfying read.”
—Jessica Strawser, bestselling author of Not That I Could Tell
“Sonja Yoerg expands her literary repertoire into suspense with Stories We Never Told, a tale of obsession, love, secrets, marriage, and the lies we tell ourselves. The prose is lyrical and immersive, and the story builds delicious tension. But the characters are where Yoerg truly shines: they’re all so keenly developed, so realistic, and so surprising with their own crackling takes on relationships, academia, and each other that the story itself starts to feel almost immaterial. Until, of course, it shocks the living hell out of you.”
—Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year and In Her Bones
“Obsession, jealousy, and secrets smolder into a deadly fire in Yoerg’s latest, as a woman’s marriage and career implode at the same time her ex’s life seems to be on the rise. Astutely observed and beautifully written with echoes of Highsmith’s Ripley, this one’s got a deliciously diabolical villain to die for.”
—Emily Carpenter, bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls and Until the Day I Die
“Truth and trust relentlessly collide in this beautifully written and riveting page-turner. Talented storyteller Sonja Yoerg will ensnare you from page one—and her determined and endearing main character, twisted by love and betrayed by expectations, will keep you turning pages as fast as you can. Loved this!”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, nationally bestselling author of The Murder List
“Stories We Never Told is Sonja Yoerg at her best—gripping characters, sizzling suspense, brilliantly written. I raced through the pages. Bravo!”
—Kaira Rouda, international bestselling author of The Favorite Daughter
“Stories We Never Told is a superb, slow-burn suspense that brilliantly ratchets up the tension and character development notch by notch, layer by layer, culminating in a chilling, emotional ending. Sonja Yoerg is a master at creating characters you fall into, and her writing is stunning. A must read!”
—Samantha M. Bailey, author of Woman on the Edge
About the Author
Sonja Yoerg is the Washington Post bestselling author of the novels House Broken, The Middle of Somewhere, All the Best People, and True Places. Sonja grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She went on to earn a PhD in biological psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and wrote a nonfiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox, before deciding it was more fun to make things up. Sonja lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. For more information, visit www.sonjayoerg.com.
